She came up with the idea at the beginning of 2010, to make photographs during the year, cataloged on a month-by-month basis, such that by the end of that year she would have collected a series of photos that could assembled digitally in "a book" and then printed professionally (MPIX does it for you, as does Apple, for a reasonable fee). What's so special about that you say...people do photo albums all the time. Well, here's the difference.
Her idea was to use photos that are about "things in your life". Common things you see all the time. Photos of scenes that change during the year, such as the grass in your yard, or the trees in your neighborhood. Photos of places you went, family you interacted with, people you saw, pets you fed, dentists who cleaned your teeth, doctors who took your blood pressure, FedEx and UPS men who delivered your special packages, repair people who replaced your broken hot water heater. Just common things and events, but stuff which would be interesting at the end of the year to revisit all over again. I thought this was a pretty cool idea, so I selected it as my 2011 "project". The photo at the left is one I'll use. A picture of a road in Martinsville, Virginia I drive all the time, but taken from atop a bridge crossing the highway. I might go back to this same vantage spot next summer when the grass will be greener and the trees and flowers will be in bloom. You get the idea.
Consider a "project" of your own in 2011. Especially if you're getting up there in years.
