2011 Project 365

by Danica

Back in 2009, a friend brought to my attention Project 365, a way to document your year through photographs, typically starting on January 1st. I thought it was a fun idea, and though it was already September when I heard of Project 365, I took part in it anyway. Eventually, I got too lazy to take photos every day, and resolved to begin it properly on January 1st 2010. But in the chaos of New Year’s celebrations, I neglected to take a photo and, again, resolved to begin the project the next year.

A conversation with Jane led us both to decide to take part in Project 365 in 2011, both with polaroids and with notebooks made specifically for three hundred and sixty-five journal entries. Now 2010 is coming to a close, and I’m anticipating the photo I’ll take on January 1st, 2011 to kick off my Project 365. My photos will document a year of firsts, challenges and milestones both in my life and in the lives of the people that make up my world.

FIRSTS.  There are a ton of things I wanna do next year that I’ve never done before. One of those things is to watch a movie in a cinema on my own. Another is to drive to the beach (I’ve never done it, mostly because my parents don’t think my car would make it). Another is to drive to the city. Another is to see a proper Australian sunset (I live on the east side of the country to the east of some mountains). One ‘first’ that I’m looking forward to is my first concert – Michael Bublé.

CHALLENGES.  I’m supposed to find out for sure on January 20th, but next year I’m going back to university. The challenge will be to get back into learn-and-study mode, as well as to make a genuine effort to make friends (I was such a loner at school last year). I’m sure there are a lot more challenges that’ll come my way next year, but they’re not the kind that you can really predict.

MILESTONES.  Apart from finally beginning the course that I’ve been wanting to do for a few years now, my baby brother will be turning 20, and my baby sister will be turning 18 AND graduating from high school. Can you say “old” any other way… (I’m only turning 22 next year.)

I have two important tools that I’ll be bringing pretty much everywhere to document my 2011:

INSTAX MINI 7.	365 DAYS NOTEBOOK.

(I didn’t intend for both my camera and notebook to be white. It just so happens that I thought the white version of both products were prettier than the coloured ones.)

I’ve always wanted an actual polaroid camera, but thought they were out of my lifetime until the Fujifilm Instax mini 7 featured in one of the Fully Sick Rapper‘s videos (and I think the specific video is no longer on YouTube)*. Anyway, I asked FSR what the model was (he called it a space camera in the video), I hunted it down online, eventually ordered one on eBay on December 15th and received it last Monday!

kikki.K is one of the coolest stationery stores around, so when I saw the 365 Days notebook, I just had to have one for myself. But what was I going to use it for? At last, I finally had a reason to buy one of these books! The images on the kikki.K site only showcase the book in red and black, but they should have white ones instore.

The new year is going to be fun; I can feel it in my bones. This project is going to give me something to remember it’s memorable and not-so-memorable events by. One day when I feel like life isn’t worth living and I feel like dropping everything and giving up (God forbid), I can flip through my notebook and the stories will teach me to

– “Keep moving foward.” – Walt Disney

* Update 15.02.2012: The video’s still on YouTube. I know ’cause I saw it the other week. I just can’t seem to find it right now. When I do, I’ll provide the link here.

 
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