5. Night Out. Yes, this post that I just published last week ranks in my top five list because I've neglected my poor blog just that bad. I'm committed to turning it around, though, and this post is actually a good example of that because these photos were part of a year-long backlog of unsorted photos that have now been edited and uploaded. This was a fun night out for a friend's birthday from back in March.
4. STOP SOPA & PIPA. Back in January of 2012, our Congress and Senate were going to vote on some terrible bills that would have had a severely detrimental effect on the internet as we know it. On January 16th, websites across the U.S. participated in a "blackout" to protest the legislation. The blackout was literal - visitors to protesting sites would simply see a black screen with maybe an explanation for why the site was basically nonfunctional. I couldn't figure out the HTML to blacking out my blog and all the websites that could teach me how were blacked out! So I just sort-of made up my own version of the blackout with this post on that day.
3. (tie) 365 Project 2012 ~ Week 2 and 365 Project 2012 ~ Week 3. Once upon a time, I participated in the 365 project - repeatedly. I took photos and blogged about it - for three weeks in 2012 (and varying amounts of time in previous years). All three weeks ended up in the top five list. These two were tied at third. I have to say that these posts have me wanting to participate again, but also up my game a bit.
2. Scoop.It Topic ~ Photography: Inspiration & Technique. In addition to blogging here about photography, I curate a topic on Scoop.It that is filled with links about the subject, from random photo inspiration to different capturing techniques. Check it out and follow me if you're on Scoop.It - I'll follow you back! This actually tied with Sam Can Shoot Top Posts for 2011, but is it really good form to include a previous year's "best of the year post" in a new yearly countdown? (See what I did there?)
1. 365 Project 2012 ~ Week 1. This post is just a little painful because it draws attention to how many times I've attempted the 365 project of taking one photo a day, every day, for a year. It's just so easy to slip up - all you have to do is have a bad day, busy day, sick day... I'm determined, though. I started again this year with my 365 project, and not only do I want to do this every day, but I want to actually do what this exercise is supposed to do: Increase my skills and open my eyes to new ways of looking at things. Or at least, that's what I think its supposed to do.
I hope the brevity of this list, and the shortness of the corresponding post at my other blog, True to Words' Top Posts of 2012, will inspire me to be a more prolific writer, blogger and photographer in 2013.
Part of the reason for the short lists is that I was working too much, still taking photos, but getting behind with sorting and uploading. Now I've carving out more time for creative work, because it really is important for my well-being.
On the negative side, as far behind as I am, my blog suffered for it and now I have a long slog yet to get through them all.
On the plus side, though, I think in that time I've sharpened my critical eye for the photos I'm willing to upload vs. how many I actually take. When I look at earlier portions of my Flickr stream compared to now, my sets are much smaller and the quality of the images is much higher.
I took most of the year off blogging but continued practicing the photography craft, and got better. Now I hope to do a better job of sharing the things that I've learned through Sam Can Shoot and learning even more along the way!
