November, Project 365 Retrospective

This has been a hard, hard month for Project 365. Like many other people who are a part of this year-long project, I'm tired of trying to be creative. Nothing around me seemed particularly interesting. So this month, I turned inward and was creative with myself. What's unusual about this month are the seven self-portraits I took. While there is nothing remarkable about the photos, it is remarkable that I took them and posted them online. The vulnerability and exposure that came with those actions has been very uncomfortable, but in an odd way, very freeing. I've felt more connected to this community of Project 365ers, but also to my academic work. (Yes, an odd connection.) As Jayfish noted throughout this month about the self-portraits, I'm hiding behind something in each of them: my hair, glasses, a scarf, photoshop . . . The act of putting myself "out there" in all my reality was tough . . . I wonder how much of myself I hide (or manufacture) in my writing. More than I thought I was, surely. So the act of producing self-portraits opened me to the possibility of writing more authentically.

I took a lot of "on the sly" portraits at Starbucks this month as I spent quite a bit of time there reading and writing. I like these photos and how they demonstrate Starbucks' place in the community as a "literacy sponsor."

Aside from the self portraits and Starbucks, the photo I like the most this month is the one of the bird flying overhead. That was a very tough shot, and I took dozens and dozens trying to get it come out right. The photo itself is presented without post-processing or cropping. It is as it was.

OK, one month left. I'm striving in this last month to be a little more creative and bold with my photographs, to take some creative risks. We'll see where it goes. For your Project 365ers, anyone thinking about continuing through 2008?

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331/365: 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Literacyless

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330/365: Cujo Cat


Cujo Cat, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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328/365: What I might look like with light eyes . . .

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327/365: Believe


Believe, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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326/365: Bird, in Flight


Bird, in Flight, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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325/365: Thanksgiving Day Fire


Thanksgiving Day Fire, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

@ 10:02 PM 3 comments

324/365: Starbucks as Literacy Sponsor

These shots were really taken on different days. I just spend a lot of time at Starbucks.

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323/365: After the day's been washed away

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322/365: Starbucks as Literacy Sponsor


Literacy, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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321/365: Self Portrait #4


Self Portrait #4, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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320/365: Self Portrait #3


Self Portrait #3, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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319/365: Self in Rearview Mirror


Self in Rearview Mirror, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.
I'm running out of 365 subjects.

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318/365: Literacy, with Attitude


Literacy, with Attitude, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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317/365: Play


Play, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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316/365: Sunset from Office Window


Sunset from Office Window, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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315/365: Falling


falling, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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314/365: Reading


reading, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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313/365: Orange Brush


orange, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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312/365: That caveman is everywhere....

From my office window on Friday.

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311/365: Forgotten


forgotten, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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310/365: I Notice the Dirty Window


dirty window, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

(Another Barthian reference . . . but I do notice that I don't walk enough.)

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309/365: Beam, another perspective


beam, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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308/365: Photoethnograhy


Photoethnography Project 1, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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307/365: The Breakup


The Breakup, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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306/365: Back and Back


Back and Back, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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305/365: Sometimes I'm on the inside . . .

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304/365: Fragmented Elements


Fragmented Elements, originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

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