Today marks the end of my project 365 for 2013. Now, I am not saying that I won't do this again, I am saying that I am taking at least 2014 off - probably more. I might pick this up when I have less on my schedule - when I am retired, or at least have more free time. This project took a lot of my free time away, and it became - at times - a chore of sorts.
I learned an awful lot this year, I forced myself to hone new techniques and shoot different things. I short three charity events, and participated in many photo outings, one of which will no doubt become an annual thing for me. I saw new parts of my town and surrounding area. I learned that if you have a camera in your hand, random people will ask if you can take their picture and have it emailed to them. I learned how to coax squirrels with peanuts to get that perfect shot, and how to pan to catch birds flying by or coming in for a fish. I learned to stop shooting when I had my shot of the day, and to come back later to get the rest of the shots for other days.
I learned that even I can't take a bad picture in Tahiti and Bora Bora.
I do have regrets though.
I regret that I never got that shot of the cardinal I wanted. I didn't have time to shoot the northern lights - as the weekend we spent in Algonquin Park was not ideal for that subject. I also regret that the Algonquin trip was a week too late for the good fall colours, and a lot of the colourful foliage had fallen by the time we go there. I regret that I did not explore more techniques. I regret that some of my shots are less than stellar - but they can't all be framers.
I found out that a lot of people were following my blog, although my blogger account only shows one actual follower. Facebook, Twitter and Networked Blogs brought my more people, and my blogger account recorded visitors from Central and South America, Europe and Asia. I also had some traffic from the Polynesian Islands as well.
Canada - 6513 pageviews
USA - 2789 pageviews
Russia - 578 pageviews
Germany - 377 pageviews
Ukraine - 149 pagevies
Indonesia - 84 pagevies
France - 59 pageviews
Netherlands - 48 pageviews
China - 45 pageviews
Serbia - 32 pagevies
Friends and Family who had never clicked "like" in Facebook on any of the shots shared their favourite ones with me. It was really cool to find out that even though people weren't vocal about it, they were following my blog.
The most visited posts were random. Day 227, the shot of our friend's daughter at the Rising Star competition garnered the most pageviews, along with Day 303 - the shot from Hallowe'en. The third highest pageview was page 1, which is where everyone had to go to start looking at the blog unless they had a direct link.
Although this marks the final Project 365 blog entry, it does not mark the last Confessions of a Photoholic blog. You will see more from me, but not as often. Thanks for taking this incredible journey with me, and a huge thanks goes out to my wife, Sonia, for her patience, support, and ability to kick my ass into gear to get a shot of the day even when I didn't want to even look at my camera.
Oh yeah, today's shot. This was shot on the 31st, although I just got home from a NYE party. This is shot on Britannia Road looking off into the sunset. The sky was dark and gloomy until just an hour before sunset. Sonia sent me out to get this shot - we were supposed to be in Milton together for a party and she sent me on ahead and got a ride with friends so I could have a sunset for the final shot of the blog. Thanks again Sonia.
