Many thanks again to everyone last week who looked and commented!

A little background: I chose to do a self-portrait project about 2 months after getting my first DSLR, a K100D, to help me improve my camera and post-processing skills and to force myself to use my camera every day. I'm sure there are subconscious reasons in there as well, but basically at the time I lived alone and had no children or pets or anything else to practice on, and a couple of my friends had joined a group on flickr that was just for this project.

So for two years now, I've taken a self-portrait every day. I just finished year two on June 30th. I decided to do a third year, but this time I'm trying to do a "matching" shot for each day. Ideally either the subject matter or the mood or the processing or the place or the contours of the composition match the self-portrait. I'm also playing around with my lenses to try to either take two radically different photos with the same lens or to take similar photos with vastly different lenses.

This week, I used the K200D, the DA*200/2.8, the DA 35/2.8 Macro Ltd, the D-FA 100/2.8 macro, the FA 31/1.8, and the DA 10-17 fisheye.

Day 8: Raindance


Day 9: Lindt


Day 10: The Shadow of the Wind


Day 11: Egoist, and a Lesson in Perspective Distortion


Day 12: Eggshell


Day 13: You Learn Something New Every Day


Day 14: Drops

If you missed Week One, it's here.

[cwhans]

I just have to tell you that I am a huge fan of your work. The ideas that you have and how you tell a story with your pictures is amazing. I love the dew drops on the flower and finger the best. Inspiring!

[deludel]

Please help me understand, how would you rate your photography when you FIRST started this 2/3 years ago .. and how would you rate it now?

I've tinkered with this idea in my head, and it's laziness/lack of inspiration that have won out so far. Plus, I admit to being intimidated when I see photos such as yours.

Today, something in how you wrote this inspired me to turn it around .. what if *I* took a photo a day like this .. how much improvement could I stand to gain?

Example: the shot of the sneakers. I would never know where to start, and I truly love that shot. Were you able to accomplish a shot like this back when you started?

[Leaf Fan]

Wow, fantastic, FANTASTIC, photos. Thanks for sharing.

[xs400]

Excellent work. Like others, I am a fan of your work. Your images are very creative, they give me many ideas for future work. Thanks for sharing.

[Irek J.]

Keitha, picture about Day 8 is simply extra super nice. But then all of them are as well, very good effort.

[K McCall]

Thanks to everyone who has responded!

Please help me understand, how would you rate your photography when you FIRST started this 2/3 years ago .. and how would you rate it now?

I went from being a very occasional shooter to being a daily shooter really fast, right around the time I got my first DLSR (April 2007). I'd say that I've improved by leaps and bounds since then, but I still have lots of room to learn, particularly with flash. But I'm generally happy with my composition.

I've tinkered with this idea in my head, and it's laziness/lack of inspiration that have won out so far. Plus, I admit to being intimidated when I see photos such as yours.

I'm delighted that you think my photos are good but concerned that they're intimidating in any way. They're just pictures of chocolates and shoes

Seriously, someone else on here asked me about where I get my ideas. For the shoelace shot, I read an article on reddit about a new way to tie shoes. So I got out a shoe and tried it. And then I thought, "Ah, these laces are cool. I should take a picture of them." Almost all of my shots are inspired by real-life things; I really DID eat all those chocolates that day, and I really DID do gardening all day last week. So it's just stuff lying around my yard or in my house that I play around with.

I kind of noticed that last year I relied heavily on the fantastic scenery around my new home for my self-portraits. This year, I'm going to try to get away from that. So far I'm happy with what I've found just around the house or in the yard.

Today, something in how you wrote this inspired me to turn it around .. what if *I* took a photo a day like this .. how much improvement could I stand to gain?

I cringe to post this, but what the hey:



There's my Day One of the first year. A Chick-Fil-A bag, but hey, look, I'm OOF in the background! I was so taken with the idea of limited depth-of-field in the beginning that just achieving a blurry background was cause for happiness.

That's one of the hardest things about having this online life; it's all out there. You can see how much I improved for yourself. But I don't think it's just taking a photo every day; it's trying very hard to take a good photo every (or most) days. At one point, I had the attitude that the photo I take today should be my best or favorite photo ever. But that got real stressy real fast. So you just have to find a middle ground where you push yourself, but not so hard that it's not fun anymore.

(I'm really competitive by nature, and the only sports I like are endurance ones where I have to make myself take the next step)

Example: the shot of the sneakers. I would never know where to start, and I truly love that shot. Were you able to accomplish a shot like this back when you started?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: "Accomplishing" a shot requires a lot of things. The hardest part, I think, is just seeing that there's even a shot there. Once you get that, the rest is just technical stuff. In the beginning, I didn't have the technical know-how. I'm embarrassed to say how many of my early shots have the most ridiculous camera settings - 100mm, handheld, f/32, 1/10th second, ISO 100, no flash. Seriously, I had no idea what I was doing. But that's why you pick one thing and work on it until you think you've got it. And then you move on to the next thing. And pretty soon, you'll be able to take the kinds of photos you want and probably even a few you don't want

[Ash]

Spectacular, Keitha.
You're an inspiration.
Balancing a competitive streak with enjoyment is tough, but you've done it really well.

[redpigeons]

I will say again this is some of the best photography!!!!

I wish that in two years my project will even half as good .

and I LOVE chick fil A...
too bad we don't have it here in NYC



P.S

do you do any shows? books? and so on

I think its time to take this to the public

[creampuff]

Excellent and inspirational... you've melded vision with technical excellence, the pinnacle of photographic achievement. Thanks for the sharing.

[ikonographics]

Your photos are incredible and such an inspiration. Keep 'em coming!

[Tommy]

Excellent work Keitha! I already look forward to next weeks pictures, and the week after that and the week after that etc...

/Tommy

[Larsenio]

Wow, I just noticed these spectacular photos, and they blew my mind!
I went to visit your flickr, and even more pictures appeared..
Consider me your new fan

[Sailor]

Very neat stuff - I can imagine all the work that goes into these images.

Jer

[Fl_Gulfer]

Have you thought of doing a show with your prints? You know pick some of your best shots and ask a gallery to feature you.
You have a great imagination.