Did you know was a Project 365 dropout?

It’s true. I started my first daily photo project mid-August 2009 and by October I found myself struggling to keep up. After 60 some odd days, I was done posting daily, and by day 76 I realized that catching up on 20 missed days was just not going to happen.

I was kind of on a “time to change my life” kick, and was looking for self improvement projects. I had already begun working out and losing weight, and I decided I would pick up photography full time and futher develop my skills. Inspired by a couple of photography tweets that had this crazy hashtag #project365, I knew I had to check it out. By the end of the week I had combed through hundreds of people’s projects, thousands of photos, from iphone pictures to amatuers to professional photographers. I was hooked, in, ready to go, excited… worried about the committment, but pumped.

So what happened? I’d like to think it was a combination of things: Not anticipating time commitments, travel interference, trouble keeping track of days because I started mid-month, not having a systematic way of storing and sharing my photos, not having a group of peers to encourage and support me, and many others. It was a daunting list and in the end I had to give it up… for THAT attempt.

You may be wondering why I’m sharing this with you now? The truth is, I gave up on my project 365 last year, but in no way did I fail. Finished or not, I accomplished more than just starting a photography project – I reignited a passion in life that I had neglected. Not only that, but I now have 76 gorgeous photos for my portfolio that I would never have had, had I not tried at all. I also ended up learning from my previous attempt, and am now on day 155 of THIS year’s project (and going full steam ahead with no plans on stopping).

My challenge to you? Challenge yourself. You don’t have to take up a photo a day, or even a week. Just get out there and make pictures, write stories, draw, create! Failure only comes when you do not try.

Below I’ve picked out my top 10 favorite photos from last year’s “failed project365″. As you can see, it was anything but!

[If you'd like to see all my daily photo pictures, you can check them out on my Project365 Flickr set.]

1. A quick cigarette fix waiting for the band to take stage:

2. Downtown Orlando skyline in black and white:

3. Miami Vice in Orlando:

4. Rescue me:

5. Like a rock:

6. Liquor City in all it’s glory:

7. A girl and her camera:

8. Tampa theater, revamped but still old school:

9. A shot in the dark, downtown Tampa Bay:

10. My new pet, Spike:

See now folks, this is why I love Project 365, or photo of the day (potd), or Flickr 365, or iphoneography, or whatever you want to call it. It is about community, inspiration, and pushing yourself to continue to get better or enhance your artwork and skills.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been inspired by viewing people’s photo projects. I gain ideas, or build off of concepts and really push the limits of my work, and I hope my pictures help to insight creativity in other’s projects. So when a chain of inspired photos occurred through my fave’s project’s, I thought how cool would it be to challenge everyone else to show me how they would envision the shot…

It all started with @paulgiunta’s Day 102 photo of his gear:

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I (@christawatson) felt inspired by this and wondered what it would look like if there was something behind the wide open glass:

My nifty fifty wide open

Paul Giunta's Day 102 | Wide Open

Then my always favorite, cool and quirky @joeyjoeyjoey decided to step it up with his interpretation:

AND THEN, had another one of Joey’s friend/fan @j00zt1n posted THIS photo:

So the Challenge? How would you do this shot differently? I’d love to see everyone’s take on this…

UPDATE! We’ve come full circle as Paul added his 2nd interpretation to the mix: