Rachel O'Hara: January 2013

When I did my 365 project in 2011 I remember being totally freaked out when eleven days in I was already thinking, “Oh no. What have I gotten myself into?” But then suddenly the days, weeks and months flew by and suddenly the project was complete. I felt so happy, so proud, so empty knowing I no longer had to keep a promise to myself to document each day. I surely wasn’t up for doing another round, but I still missed posting my photo of the day and writing about it. I didn’t make any resolution to start another photo project in 2012 and I sort of kicked myself a few months later when I felt like I had no personal creative outlet anymore.

As the New Year resolutions and ideas began popping up in my inbox, Twitter and Facebook feed, I saw Photojojo’s newsletter article entitled 7 Photo Projects to Start on January 1st. Of course 365 was in there, but Project 52 caught my eye. One girl’s blog was made up of 52 self-portraits - one a week. I’m usually behind the camera (despite the amount of Facebook photos I have accumulated of myself over the years) and the idea of documenting me once a week for a year seems intriguing. It also seems a little scary and daunting since I’m not sure how crazy I will end up getting with this project.

For now the guidelines are simple:

1. One photo a week by me of me taken on my phone, on my computer or with my camera and or some camera-like recordable device.

2. The photo can be as straightforward or as abstract as I want.

3. I will post the images on my Tumblr once a week, my Blogspot each month and possibly start a Facebook album.

4. Enjoy it. It’s MY project about ME. It’s personal and should at least bring me creative joy. Hopefully others will like it too. But even if you don’t, I should.

So that’s it! Here’s to a new year and a new project. I have high hopes for 2013.

Check out the first five weeks of photos below. The text that goes along with the photos is on my Tumblr if you want more insight on what was going on, why I took the photo, etc. For now, I'm 5 weeks in. Only 47 more to go.