January 1 New Snow-New Challenge

January 1 New Snow-New Challenge, originally uploaded by NedraI.

Here's to the New Year and the beginning of a new photo project. Before I begin I'd like to reflect on last year's challenge.

I took on the challenge because I wanted to
* become more familiar with my camera
* improve my photography skills
* use flickr in a more social way
* prove that I could stick with a project for a year

What I learned
* I met all of my goals and I learned enough about my camera to become jealous of my husband's camera and went out and bought a new NikonD90 for myself.
* I took a photo class at a local college to learn more about my camera-which was still my old one-and to learn about Photoshop. My husband had shown me a few things on Photoshop but I used it so infrequently it was like starting over every time. I enjoyed learning about it so much that when I got my new Macbook as part of a grant project I asked for PS for Mac for Christmas-and received it!
* I learned that doing a 365 project is very time consuming. Most days I was uploading more than one picture to flickr and I usually did some editing to the picture. Then it was important to me to write about the day's photo and post it to the blog. Last month I got 10 days behind and it took a long time to catch up!
* I learned that I didn't enjoy searching the house for a photo subject at 11:45 PM.
* I learned that joining three 365 groups and two weekly groups was overkill. I should have just stuck with one.
* I learned it's nice to have another photographer in the house. I only missed a handful of days and fortunately my husband had taken photos on those days so he unknowingly became my guest photographer for the day.
* I don't think I improved on using flickr socially but continued at the same pace. Through looking at other people's posts I've learned about about animal and plant life in other parts of the country/world. I've learned that farm scenes make great photos and next year I'll be looking for the farmers in our areas to be out working their fields. I also learned that if I wasn't sure of a plant/bird name I could ask on flickr and someone will know the answer.
* I've learned to take my camera with me as much as possible. You never know when a great photo opportunity is going to appear.

Downfalls of the Project
* The amount of time it takes
* I started on flickr with the PhotoFriday group. It's a small group and I enjoyed posting and commenting on other photos. I tried to keep up with it but found I wasn't getting there to comment so I quit posting to the group because I didn't think it was fair to post and then never comment.
* As I mentioned above I joined too many groups and ended up spending very little time interacting with other members of any of the groups or joining in any of their challenges.

New Year-New Challenge
* I know without a doubt I will continue to use my camera on an almost daily basis thanks to last year's challenge. However, I don't want to be tied down to having to post every day. Therefore I'm going back to the Photo Friday group and I'll post to my blog as often or little as I want. I'll continue to follow other photo blogs and I look forward to seeing the world through their eyes.

Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to look at my pictures and read my ramblings on flickr or my blog. I appreciate your time to check it out and the comments you may have left.

Happy New Year!