A week or so back, I wrote about this year’s 365 Instagram project, which focuses on capturing skies on a daily basis; it is still going strong, as I captured Sky #42 today for the year. In that blog post I also mentioned that I completed a 365 Instagram project in 2013.
The big question after completing a project is what to do with that completion? My decision around the end of 2013 was to pull together a book of the images and publish it (at least electronically, and possibly, if there is enough interest, in print format).

With a wealth of new images, albeit in Instagram format and size, I figured there would at least be some among them that are worth sharing with the general public. Therefore, I have started the process of pulling all the images together in LightRoom and picking my favorites from among them.

Of course, it is easier said than done to cull the entire year’s worth of images to the top 60 or so that will fit nicely in an 8×8 Blurb book and provide a reasonable representation of the year’s catch.
As I also mentioned in the prior post, there was clearly a bit of development in my Instagram skills, as the year progressed, which, when coupled with an increasing amount of inspiration resulted in some very acceptable images (acceptable is a high level of self-praise among photographers 🙂 ).
There were also some themes that evolved, some of which shouldn’t be a surprise to me, if I took the time to listen to my own skills: lots of rather cool landscapes and the odd bit of dramatic sky. A new area of interest that snuck in somewhat unanticipated was that of graveyards; there are lots of interesting graveyards in the New England area and some were clearly worth capturing on days that I passed them during my commute or other travels.

More than anything else, last year’s project taught me to keep my eyes open at all times and be aware of my environment with a keen sense of curiosity. It is rewarding to see a subject, such as a tree, on different days with varying light and atmospheric conditions and capture some of this variety during the year. Trees have always had a lot of power for me, as they remind me of endurance and perseverance despite the best efforts of the elements and time. Some of their shapes can be nothing short of spectacular, such as the ‘Yogic Tree’ in this post (expect more about this tree, as I have visited her many times).
Work on the book is progressing nicely and will complete within the next week or two; I will provide an update with a link to the electronic version when complete. I know that finishing the book will give me a sense of accomplishment and closure on last year’s endeavor.
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