It has been 60 days since I started my project 365—or as it is this year, a project 366. After these 60 days I have realized some thing that I would like to share with you.

One, finding subjects and ideas are hard to come by. I went into this project knowing that it was not a walk in the park, but now I really can tell you that it takes some dedication and at times the realization that not every photo is or can be great. With that, I also am realizing that this project is more of a discovery of my style and vision, more than it is of making great pictures every day. Also with this, I work full time and am a father of two little boys, which really limits my time to go out and shoot.

Second, RAW rules! I know RAW files have more information in them than say a JPG file, but I have really learned to appreciate the latitude they give in adjusting a photo. With this comes another issue—storage. RAW files from my camera are approximately 25 mb in size. This means an average day of shooting 20-30 photos yields 500 to 750 mb of photos per day.

Third, my computer is starting to show its age. I use Adobe Lightroom to manage my shots an occasionally Adobe Photoshop to make edits. For the most part my computer, an Apple Macbook Pro from 2007 has been great, but when the horsepower is needed for a panoramic or HDR tone mapped shot, one image can take upwards of 30 minutes to an hour to process. Part of the time is due to me processing 3-8 Raw files, which I understand. Today, I ran a panoramic of 7 RAW photos through my works Mac and that only took about 3 minutes total.

Fourth, Your equipment is better than you are . . . most of the time. My camera is an 18 megapixel Canon T1i. I use one of two lenses: 18-55 mm f3.5-5.6 efs and a Tokina 50-135 mm f2.8. The Tokina set me back a bit when I purchased it, but I can say that I love the quality. Even with this lens, I tend to shoot my shots with the standard 18-55 mm lens that came with my camera. I on several occasions have surprised myself at how clean and tack sharp the standard lens can be.

Fifth, I have fallen in love with black and white . . . again (don’t get me wrong, I do like color too). I may be dating myself, but I shot with Kodak Tri-X for years before I went to a digital camera. I even rolled my own canisters and did all of my processing and printing in a lab. There is nothing like the smell of Dektol and fixer in the morning! I love the mood of black and white. I can visualize for the most part what will and will not look good in black and white. Along with black and white, I also love the look of wide angle shots and short depth of field. There is nothing like a shot that focuses your eye on a subject through the use of a shallow depth of field.

Sixth and last, your comments and messages are important to me not only for encouragement, but also for critiques. I am an artist by trade and can take a critique. Please note, that my skin is not super thick but I can take some critique.

Thank you for all the follows and likes. It really does help me continue in the project!

-Brad