Day two, and already a lesson.
I hadn’t taken a decent photograph all day. It was getting late, and the prospect of failing a 365 project on the second day seemed particularly pathetic.
It was after 9pm and my son was setting up for a rooftop DJ set and had his smoke machine going, so with the clock running out I grabbed the camera and tried a few shots of the lights cutting through the smoke.
This was the best of them.
And I wasn’t particularly happy with it.
The original crop was better. It included my son standing at the left of the frame, which gave the picture a little more context and helped the composition. Unfortunately, he took one look at it and asked if I could remove him from the shot. Fair enough. Out came the crop tool.
Almost 24 hours later, it has amassed an impressive zero likes on Instagram.
I can’t say I’m surprised.
But perhaps that’s the point of doing a 365 project. If the intention was simply to publish 365 photographs I already knew were good, there wouldn’t be much point in doing it.
What I learned from Day 2 is that this is going to require more effort than simply carrying a camera around and hoping something presents itself. I need to think ahead, look for opportunities and occasionally actually plan a photograph.
There will inevitably be days when that doesn’t happen. Days when it’s late, I’ve got nothing, and I take a Hail Mary shot of a smoke machine on the roof.
This was one of those days.
Not my best photograph. But it’s Day 2. I’ve got another 363 chances to get better.