So this marks the end of my 365 project for 2019 and a delayed wrap-up post of the month of December. 31 images uploaded in the last month of the year and 365 images uploaded throughout the whole year. I must say I am pretty pleased that I was able to keep it going…although it was not as difficult as it was in 2014, 2016 or 2018 (when I didn’t even upload the taken pictures for more than half a year). Still…365 images, that’s A LOT! It’d be way too many to put into an exhibition and probably too many to put into a photo book, unless you print them fairly small (which is how I will do my Blurb book of the project).

I’m happy with how the project turned out, and some of the pictures are actually good enough that I’d consider printing them large, especially some of the images I’ve taken with my Kiev 60 medium format camera throughout the year. It feels like I’m starting to understand how to use that camera to glean that extra bit of “pop” that medium format can give, when it’s done right.

The cover image of this blogpost is of course the last image of the year, taken right around when 2019 ended and 2020 began. I went outside with my Fujifilm XT-3 to see if I could capture some of the fireworks being shot off all around my home. I snapped away A LOT of pictures, and ended up with this one and a few more that I figured were okay…and so, so many that I could delete right away because they pretty much sucked. All part of the process I’d say!

*Day 341 - December 07: Nothing spooky in this old mine...right?*

One of the most fun parts of going out to photograph in your area is when you experience a brand new place, somewhere you’ve not been before. That is the case for this picture. It’s taken in the long-since defunct underground limestone quarry/mine at Ignaberga, now turned into a tourist attraction. I was there experiencing their annual Christmas market and I must say it’s one of the more exotic locations I’ve seen for a Christmas market! Quite spooky too in parts, as you can see in the picture. ;-)

One of the things I’ve enjoyed a little bit (and will no doubt do more of in the future) with my new Fujifilm XT-3 is shooting during the parts of the day when the light is not entirely favorable to photography. Night photography is fun when it works, which I think it does in this case. I didn’t shoot this as a black and white, but I discovered that when I looked at it in Lightroom that it worked better this way. The overall light temperature in the RAW image was VERY yellow so I decided to convert it to this state. I also kind of like the fact that I chose to portray such a colorful situation in monochrome…

*Day 355 - December 21: Like father, like daughter*

Just a quick cell phone snap that I did while out doing my last bit of Christmas shopping. I saw this father and daughter in front of me on the escalator and had to stifle a small smile. It’s fun to see when children take after their parents…be it in style or interests etc. I may be somewhat biased in that regard, given the way I share my interest in photography with my father. Also, I don’t know how the heck the dad has managed to get his pants THAT wrinkly…in fact, I don’t think I want to know!

*Day 361 - December 27: A smile across the street*

Occasionally you get a picture to look at least somewhat like the way you pictured it on your mind before taking it. This is a rare case of that. I saw the two women across the street, waiting for the light to turn green. I figured it’d make a nice contrast between the softness and humanity of the two women and the loudness and angularity of the cars zipping by. A quick turn of the shutter speed dial and I managed to grab a few frames of the situation before the light turned green and we could all cross the street in safety. The guy wolfing down a hotdog next to them was not in my composition though…perhaps we can look at him as a bonus?

Ever so often I get to enjoy a peaceful moment in the woods…not that common around here, since it is a pretty agricultural as well as densely populated part of the country. Still there are pockets of woodland here and there that we get to enjoy. This was taken at one of my very common photographic subjects, the woods at Skrylle, outside Lund. My dad and I discovered a footpath we hadn’t tried before, and it turned out to be full of woodlands that were devoid of people and full of scenic areas. Quite lovely and a nice way to recharge on the last but one day of 2019. :-)

The 365 Project 2020

We’re now 20 days into 2020, so that’s a nice symmetry in a way. I’ve decided to continue with my one-picture-uploaded-per-day-to-Instagram routine this year too, since it is a nice way to encourage myself to think photographically on a daily basis. Like last year it will not be a strict rule that the image must be taken that very day…I’ll let myself use images from the buffer, taken on other days if there’s no opportunity to take a picture on that particular day. That way I think I can make this my 4th successful run in 5 attempts. :-)