...or did she?
Now Playing: tegan & sara - this business of art
Topic: 365 days
Despite the B-grade horror ending to my 365 (366) Days project, you needn't fear: she won't be back for another round anytime soon.
Although I really enjoyed completing my project and I believe I produced some of my best self-portraits to date doing it, I am looking forward to having my life back. I'm not even interested in getting into a Year in Pictures or 52 Weeks project at this stage. I have my work cut out for me just trying to get images of other people and things from the past two years edited now, not to mention getting my business off the ground.
Of course, as self-portraiture has been something I've done almost from the time I started taking photographs seriously I'm not suddenly about to stop completely; but I'm looking forward to doing shoots when I'm inspired and in the mood, not just because I have a daily deadline. No doubt outtakes from the project will also find their way into my blog and website from time to time.
For the record, I only missed 3 of my 366 days and didn't cheat at all: no "I'm still awake so it's still today" or "No one will notice if I use a photo for yesterday that I took from last year / today" from this camp. Although I don't really care if others do that, for me I'd have been cheating myself so I was pretty disciplined in that. If I was shooting just before midnight and went over time those photos weren't in the running; if I missed the midnight deadline by 30 minutes I dealt with it.
The hardest one to miss was my first, but I had to forgive myself the oversight since it was a horrible day: things had gotten so bad with my anxiety and depression that I had to resign from my job.
This last year has been quite eventful as I'd expected, but perhaps not always in the ways I'd expected. I turned 30; I had my debut solo exhibition "Alternate Worlds" at Brunswick Street Gallery; I produced 10 cover images for Vignette Press' Mini Shots; I produced 9 images to accompany short stories in the Big Issue's Fiction edition; I had my first piece of writing (and a virginity haiku and some photos) published in Vignette Press' Sex Mook; I quit a job I'd hated for much of the 3 years I'd worked there and which had driven me to exhaustion; I started another job but had to resign; I learnt a new word: anhedonia; I learnt to ask for help; I visited my parents in Brisbane and a friend in northern New South Wales; I made many friends, both online and in person; I exhibited in various local group exhibitions; I was interviewed by Phirebrush, Frame Lines and had my work in various online galleries and exhibitions; I realised that after taking and posting so many self-portraits it's inevitable that people will start to recognise you in public; I completed a Certificate IV in Business Management (Small Business) and was accepted into NEIS (New Enterprise Incentive Scheme).
Photographically speaking, of the 363 images I took during my project*: 35 were diptychs, 9 were triptychs and there were 2 polyptychs thrown in for good measure; 25 featured my red ribbed-velour couch in all it's sumptuous glory; 9 had alcohol in the shot, however I lost count of how many were inspired by, taken or thought up whilst under the influence of alcohol; I was naked or at least semi-naked whilst taking 56 of them (whether obvious from the image or not), though despite my nickname my bellybutton only made 4 appearances; when I wasn't naked I seemed to be showing my knickers (26) or in a slip (40); I also further developed my penchant for wigs (I bought 5 during this year and wore them and a borrowed wig in 30 shots) and other people's clothing (14), not to mention other people's houses (27); I grew braver and took 36 images in public places, 2 in rented apartments and 13 in my backyard (not as private as I'd like); I also liked to hang out in bathrooms, both mine and other people's (16); I took 3 with alternate cameras (Mac PhotoBooth, an old-fashioned photo booth and an underwater camera); I took 12 using only alternate light including candlelight, torchlight, and computer monitor and television as light sources; I spent three days in graveyards; 69 sitting on, lying in or on my bed; and 5 in the bath; I played dead 5 times, cloned myself 7 times and invited others to cameo in my images on 15 days; 18 were direct or indirect tributes to films, 11 were tributes to other artists, 3 were titled with Dirty Three song titles and 15 were shameless self-promotions.
Tomorrow a new year starts for me: my 31st birthday and the launch of my business. I'm excited and nervous and looking forward to what lies ahead.
Thank you to those who followed and enjoyed my 365 Days journey and who inspire and encourage me to keep going with my photography.
*Numbers given are rough: it's hard to keep count when you're going through 363 images.
