Bonjour!
I bet you thought I’d left you!
I bet you thought I’d given up!
I bet you thought I’d hope you wouldn’t notice my lack of posts!
Or… OH NO, maybe you actually didn’t notice my absence at all!
*welp*
If this is the case, then I hope you’ve been off doing some pretty fantastic things instead. Things like eating chocolate gateau, drinking champagne, dancing like a maniac, laughing so much that your stomach muscles hurt the next day, kissing all manner of cute people and things…and dressing up in ridicous outfits, well, just because you can!
But, well, yeah there’s no escaping the fact that it’s been a month between posts:
- It’s been a month because it’s been very busy. Fun busy, though. And when fun busy happens, I’m having to tell myself to let go a bit and just enjoy it…because fun busy times aren’t always around, and when they are, they cannot last forever. Then, when they are over there’s a shit load of time to fill. You must keep busy throughout these voids to stop you getting twitchy and blue. That time is when you catch up on your posts, admin and homework. This is, I feel, the way it should be.
- Once it got to around two weeks without not only posts, but not even uploading and sorting my photos (*gasp*), I have to admit, I sort of lost my usual dilliagent count of where I was at with photos. As it has been, for most of the year, the whole “photo a day concept” ebbs and flows. It’s just the way it is. Some days I just don’t, or can’t find opportunity, whilst other days I might find myself in several places where I’m surrounded by nothing but potential, inspiring subjects. So I like I said, I’m learning…no, actually….I HAVE learnt to let go of self imposed guilt on this matter….
- I found that I was beating myself up about not fitting in with the criteria of the project. Then I realised that, hey, actually, this is MY project, MY criteria, MY rules. I’m not being paid for it. I’m not getting in trouble or fired for being a late. Noone will be more disappointed with myself than ME for not completing it. And it’s a project that I started and continued for the sole purpose of MY creative and personal growth. So on that basis, why was I stressing? I’m at a point where I know I’ll finish it. I’ve simply come too far for quitting to be an option.
- Y’bloody know what? As it turns out, after 300 days, this project has become a habit. It’s always in the back of my mind, and as a result, tonight when I sat down and went through the painstaking process of sorting, editing and labelling all the photos, I’m actually bang up to date. Phew!
- Sorry about all the dogs this month. It’s really IS meant to be a people project. But I met cute dogs, with cute names, and who let me cuddle them….and sometimes dogs are just easier and nicer to deal with than people (and they can’t say NO to my request, when I’m feeling fragile and tired)
- Speaking of ‘No’… I think I had three no’s in this photo set. That brings me up to approx. fifteen no’s for the total project. Of 300 images. That’s a positive and valuable lesson right there.
- I hope you can see from the photos what a busy and fun month it has been: markets, a Festival of Transitional Architecture, a trip to Sydney, Zinefest…all things that I have contributed to or earned in some way or another through creative and career based efforts. It was a month of payback.
- What you can’t see, however, are all of the amazing people and friends I spent the month with, old friends and new, from Christchurch and beyond. You can’t see the dancing. The hugs. The gin. The food. The Skype sessions across the world. The outfits. The playlists. The swoons.
- I have ALSO been freelance writing for The WIRELESS
- A lot of my subjects have been asking about my project, what is is, why I do it, and how long I’ve been doing it for. And in recent weeks, I say “Since Jan 1!!!”. And then I think “WOW. THAT’S ALMOST A YEAR AGO. A YEAR! I’M ALMOST THERE!!!!” And I am. Two months to go. And as we enter daylight savings, longer nights, and the social calendar opens up, I know I can do this. I got through those horrible few months of winter where I’d drive the empty CBD streets at 5pm, in the rain, on my way home for work, as daylight vanished, desperately seeking someone, just ANYONE, to take a picture of. Those days are over, dead, gone, behind me. Dog days are over! There is literal light ahead. Woot!
365 DAYS OF STRANGERS: WEEKS 39, 40, 41 AND 42…
As always, you can view and follow my entire 365 Day Project right over on Flickr.
Okay kittens, until next time – be good, stay happy.
xo