Project 365 day 365: Year's End

This was the day when I didn't want to post any of my photos. It was already 3 o'clock when I extricated myself to walk around the garden, and the trees blocked what light was left from the overcast sun. I photographed burgeoning buddleia buds, catkins, winter flowering jasmine and ivy berries, but when I downloaded them, too late in the evening as always, nothing was really in focus, probably because I was too shaky for the inescapably low shutter speeds. I have included one photo as an extra, to complete my 365, but this was not how I wanted to end my year. I embarked on a hasty review of my year's photos, and cobbled together a selection of my balcony and back garden views, one for each month of 2021. The app refused to produce a simple grid of rectangles, insisting instead on cropping meaningless vertical slices from some or all. I resorted to pasting them onto a Powerpoint slide, by which time it was almost 1 am, so the jpeg file I saved had the "wrong" date. J was asleep in her wheelchair, having watched Big Ben and the fireworks with me. I decided I had to put her to bed without writing a journal entry;  so I'm late again, and my New Year's Day photos are still in the camera. I hope at least one is in focus.

I set out to take daily photos for a year; I don't plan to stop, though I will stop counting so assiduously. I value the bits of time snatched to walk around the garden or up the lane, and the intention helps me to claim these moments. Daily photography has helped me to gain confidence with the camera, to use settings without needing to think too hard what I need to do, to frame my observations more readily; and I love observing, noticing and trying to capture the shapes, colours and details of my Downs landscape. 2021, like most of 2020, has been spent almost entirely at home, shielding and supporting my daughter, and photography has helped me to chart a way through these days and months.

I also love following others' journals, glimpsing varied locations and lives, admiring beautiful images and enjoying everyday snippets. I wish I had time to comment more, look more often and follow more people, but the friendliness of this kind and positive community has created a context for my project and offered a wealth of worlds to explore. I'm grateful to those who follow me, comment and encourage, to those who host the challenges which have nudged me towards more varied subjects and a wider range of styles, and to those whose expertise and commitment keeps Blipfoto running. Thank you to all of you for helping me through a challenging year and inspiring me to keep on looking and recording. I hope 2022 will bring more varied photo opportunities - but not for a while yet. Happy New Year!