Before the Nude Year

 Thank you for your interest in my second photo of the day project. I have within the past few months completed my first successful photo of the day, or 365 project, and I’m excited about the prospect of a new challenge. My last, POD project for short, was much more difficult than you might think. It was actually my third attempt at the idea and I was so happy when it was over. I wasn’t happy that I didn’t have to shoot everyday, just happy to have made it a full year without missing a day. As we all know life gets busy and we tend to put stuff on the back burner and tell ourselves we will complete it later when we have a little more time. This is what happened to me on my first two attempts. I let my work get the best of me and just didn’t put in the effort I should have. 

When you start a long-term photo project the first few weeks can seem very easy. Then something goes wrong and you find yourself pressed for time or just not in the mood to do it. It takes some real dedication to snap a photo every single day with purpose. I will admit that not every photo I took during my first POD was a good image. Some nights I would be lying in bed trying to get to sleep as quickly as possible to make the most of the four hours I had and would suddenly remember I hadn’t taken my photo yet. I would push myself back up out of bed, grab my camera and find something to shoot. My composition and subject matter suffered from this last minute push for completion. Shooting did become a way of life by the end. For the last few months I found it much easier to find something I wanted to capture. I still found it hard to compose the image like I wanted due to time limits imposed by work but I got it recorded in camera which is all that mattered. 

For this project I want to put a little more thought into the day’s image and capture something well planned out and composed. Therefore I have chosen my wife as the subject. Shannon is not just my wife but is my muse, my assistant and a retired figure study model. Shannon is very creative and loves adventure. When I told her about my plan for 2015 she jumped on board without question. Shannon and I will choose one pose to capture each day and do our best to create our vision. This March will be out eighth anniversary of shooting together and it has really brought us more happiness than we ever imagined. I hope that over the course of the next year we will learn more about each other as well as have a real opportunity to share something truly creative with all of you. We sincerely hope you all enjoy our little adventure.  JW Purdy