April
2014 is over and so is my thirty day challenge. I managed to take--and post on my blog--a
photo every day. There were a couple of exceptions when I knew I’d be away from
home and extra busy. Those days I posted
a photo I’d taken during the same time and scheduled the post.
Day thirty--Sunset over the
Lost River Range of Central Idaho.
As
Matt Cutts promised in his TED Talk, taking a photo every day
did make the time more memorable. I also
became more familiar with my Nikon camera and a little more confident in my
photography skills.
I
don’t know if I can do ANYTHING for 30 days, but it seems that amount of time
is about right for changing a habit or trying something new. As Mr. Cutts said,
small, sustainable changes are more likely to stick.
Sun disappearing behind
Diamond Peak
Not
only did I take a photo every day, I ended up putting up a post every day about
the photo or photos. The time and effort
this took increased my respect for entertaining and skilled bloggers like Val, Pearl and joeh who put up a daily post
consistently.
Another
thing I noticed was more incentive to go on a daily walk or bike ride, even in
the rain. Which makes me wonder if neighbors
have noticed me walking about and have perhaps labeled me the Weird Wandering Woman
with the Camera. I could become a noted village character like Kmart Cruiser,
Biking Boo Radley, Merle Big Trike, and Granny Nightgown.
Someone else who paused to
appreciate the sunset.
A
photo a day became more time consuming and challenging as time passed when I
found it more difficult to come up with a new subject. I didn’t always leave the house with a
specific photo idea in mind and often when I did I found a better one.
For
example when I came across the squirrels with the pizza I was prepared. And when I ran out of easy subjects I pushed
myself to learn a little more about creating Gif’s in Photoshop.
The
month of May is next and there are plenty of other challenges to try for thirty
days such as: give up TV or some kind of
junk food or a bad habit. Write a
gratitude list, learn and use a new word daily, write a poem, keep a journal or
work on some kind of fitness or skill. There
are lots of 30 Day Challenge sites on the internet which provide more
ideas. As Matt Cutts said, “The next thirty
days will pass whether you like it or not.”
