One photo a day - January 1st to January 18th

Two things have been slipping away from me:

1. Photography. Christmas wears me out, travelling dwindles, and the weather goes to shit. Nothing puts me off going out to take photos more than an overcast day above 30℃, especially when my subjects are typically just the boring old commute.
2. The desire to write for this blog. I wrote a piece last year about concert photography without professional gear, but I didn't end up publishing it. It felt perfunctory - I wasn't saying anything interesting, I was just writing to fill space between pictures, some of which I've already shared here.

I want to take more photos, and I want to post more here - not even for an excuse to write, but more just so that I can continue to catalogue my work in a way that I can easily share.

As a result, I'm challenging myself to intentionally take a photo a day. It doesn't have to be on a real camera, it just has to be done deliberately. I might write about some of them, I might share a few extra from particularly good days, or I might just post them sans commentary and call it a day (hence why I'm posting 18 at a time - two galleries of nine images means that I can make a super compact version of this type of post if I want). This is a low-pressure exercise, and I'm treating it as such.

January 1st

A cool car I saw while getting some groceries. According to a rego check, this is a 1985 Citroen ZCV - hope that means something to someone! This was one of the first photos that I took on my new little pocket digicam, the Sony CyberShot T90, which was a lovely Christmas gift from my lovely wife.

January 2nd

Void of shame here - I hadn't yet decided that I wanted to take a photo a day, and I couldn't retroactively turn anything into a photo for the day.

January 3rd

A beautiful Basque cheesecake, prepared by my beautiful wife. This was the final course of a seven-element degustation journey, all of which was fantastic. Spoiled!

January 4th

Our first day meeting Ruby, the new family dog.

January 5th

Blank spot number two. Once again, hadn't yet thought of the photo a day idea, and all I had was a middling photo of an egg and cheese sandwich.

January 6th

This was meant to just be a quick snap to show Amy a dog that I saw, but I really like how the composition came together. Maybe I'm not completely useless at 24mm!

January 7th

If memory serves me correctly, this was the day that I decided that I needed a photo per day, so I had a few to choose from. Unfortunately, that same middling memory led to me not always being on the ball, as you'll soon see.

January 8th

My favourite Mappins employees. Couldn't even get them in focus.

January 9th

Three for the price of one! We had a night out at Joy in the Valley, which was quite possibly - almost certainly - the nicest dinner of my life. We'll call the middle photo the actual photo of the day, but I loved the light on that scooter, though, so I wanted to include it as well. Will I continue to be this indecisive on future days?

January 10th

The first appearance in this post of Minky, who will be a routine feature in days to come.

January 11th

On the fourth, I had not brought the adequate gear for a proper photo of Ruby. I was not expecting to meet a sweet little puppy that day, and I had not prepared accordingly. This mistake was quickly rectified.

January 12th

This was the first real screw-up of a day - I had completely forgotten the task I had set for myself only a few short days ago. The best I had left was this quick shot of a little snuggle bug.

January 13th

My family normally lets Minky roam a bit, so I gave her a day of freedom - a mistake I will not be repeating, as she, of course, used it to get in a fight with a nearby cat. That's what I get for letting her whinging get the best of me!

January 14th

A sweet little creature on her day of rest and recovery...

January 15th

... and the rest and recovery continues.

January 16th

"Shit, I haven't taken a photo today. Better just grab my camera and take a photo of something random." - me on the 16th.

January 17th

It's not until you lay out all of the photos that you realise just how much one little kitty cat can sleep.

January 18th

And a final two, because both were... pretty poor efforts. These looked way better on a little 3" LCD. A little bit of Lightroom therapy would also help the overexposure in the first image, but I'm prioritising JPEGs at the moment, and it didn't feel worth it.

What I'm listening to: "Welcome to My Blue Sky" - Momma (seeing them tonight!)
What I'm reading: "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" - Philip K. Dick
What I'm playing: Death Stranding Director's Cut (I'm almost at the finish line, I just had to wait to be ready for the final 40-minute cutscene!)