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Friday, December 31, 2010

Day 365: Trescientos sesenta y cinco (Las Aventuras)

First, let me explain this photo, and then I'll get to recapping my project. Today, we are in Banos for New Years Eve. We decided to go on a "chiva" - a bus that plays loud music - to go see the waterfalls just outside of town. When you get to the first one, you have a chance to take a Tarabita across the ravine to get close to the waterfall. I was way too scared to go, in part because I learned from my training on how to climb ropes about safety in these sort of things, and I just couldn't imagine how on earth this was safe. But Sara, ever the brave one, decided to go for it - cause you only live once, right?

Now, on to my thoughts about the project -

It feels incredible to have finished this project. When I started out, I thought I could do it, but I had never finished something this big in my life. Especially given my year, which has included:

1. Moving in to a new apartment with my partner, and realizing he's pretty much the most amazing person ever;
2. Seeing my sister graduate college and go off to Ecuador;
3. Traveling a TON, including to Miami, Las Vegas, Iowa, Detroit, Upstate NY, Vienna & Bratislava, Maine, Puerto Rico, Virginia, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and now Ecuador;
4. Starting school again, to learn web and print design for real;
5. Changing up my job, and getting a new part-time one to help keep me sane;
6. and getting my art in a photo gallery, even if it is just my local bar.

That is quite a year! To have documented every single day of it with photos makes it feel even more real. And it happened so fast, too! It feels like a month ago that I was taking my first photo!

In looking over my photos, I'm really impressed with how much I've learned, and also how much I knew to begin with. Some of my favorite photos are from the beginning of the project. But taking a photo every day (some days were a lot harder than others) made me a better photographer.

I owe tremendous thanks to Max, for being the amazing photographer's assistant and encouraging me and giving me really great ideas for photos when I had no creativity left. I also owe my sister thanks, for supporting me through the whole thing, and commenting on my photos over and over again. And to everyone else who looked at my photos, commented on them, gave me new ideas - thank you times a billion!

That's all! I have to enjoy New Year's Eve in Ecuador now... where everyone makes a big stuffed doll to represent evil and then lights it on fire at midnight to burn off the bad. Can't miss that!

1 comment:

  1. I've been terrible about commenting, but I've LOVED following this project. I think I'm going to try to do a photo a day for fun-a-day, and your project is a major inspiration. Happy new year!!! (Robot says happy new year too.)
    Take care--
    Deborah

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