Today is day thirty two of the 100 Days Project. As of two days ago, the last day I had posted a photo to my insta was day nine - 23 days ago. Three weeks; almost a quarter of the project behind. The time had come, the walrus said, to speak of many things - like catch up or give up. Pick one, because the time for decisions was now.
It felt like a lot - twenty three days missing. Two and half times the number of photos I’d managed to take and share. Was it worth even trying to catch up? I did contemplate just pulling the pin, but I knew I would regret it. I’d already given up last years project 365, I didn’t want to fail a second time. Catch up it was.
I grabbed my camera, a pencil, a piece of scratch paper, the calendar app on my phone. Turning the camera to play-back mode, I started making notes. Day 10, need to shoot. Day 11 I could pinch a photo taken for a blog post. Day twelve was missing but I had two contenders for day thirteen so let’s use one of those. Day 14, 15, 16, 17, tick tick tick. I wasn’t failing as badly as I thought.
In the end, of the twenty three missing photos, I only needed to shoot five photos tot fill the gaps. I went to my phone, looking for clues for what happened on those days. I was able to come up with something representative of one of the days missing, and something independent of the day’s happenings for another. As at the time of writing, I still need to come up with photos for days 22, 23, & 24 - Sunday 10th, Monday 11th, Tuesday 12th. Almost two weeks later, it’s not likely I’ll be able to come up with something that I could pass off as shot-on-the-day. Capturing the magic of the everyday only requires me to have my camera to hand and my eyes open. It’s “easy”, in terms of daily photo projects.
The silver lining of catch up photos, is they push me out of the luck of the incidental. I have to take the time to think of a concept, set it up, shoot it, tweak it, make it work. It's these gaps to plug that push me creatively, get me to try something new. It is a lesson I learn and relearn every time I attempt this project. I wouldn’t say that it’s a lesson that doesn’t stick, because when I have to catch up, my mind starts whizzing straight away.
Romanticising the every day is a crucial part of these projects, every single time I attempt it. It’s where the storytelling lies, it’s taking the mundane and weaving it into something magic. It’s celebrating a life of little moments, a quiet life, one lived mostly unseen and unfinished. The slices of life captured in the split second of a shutter click that would normally go unnoticed, but the further into the past they slip, the more I love looking back on - the messy toy room, the little notes on the chalkboard, the rain on the window pane that soothed me back to sleep after being up with a toddler in the night.
The concept photos, the ones that require more time and energy and thought, they are the ones that push me, that I learn from, that become a launching point for something else. A lot of the time, there’s less storytelling, the photo is more art than documentation. It’s fun and playful and a counterbalance to the rest of the project. To do a whole project in this style, though, would be to doom my project to failure. I don’t have the time or bandwidth to be creating set-ups every day. Instead, it is a little treat for when I need to mix things up and keep myself rolling along. The success of the project is determined by how well I can balance the two different types of photos.
Along with my 100 Days, I also have a Card A Day project that will (hopefully) go all year. It too tends to fall behind, and I have been known to stand at my desk and punch out ten cards in a single session. In both projects, when I get behind, especially when I’m as far behind as I have been with 100 Days, it can be so tempting to give up. Previously, I have done. And the only thing that’s more frustrating that looking at a list of gaps to plug, wondering when I’m going to find the time and creativity to tick off those missing photos? It’s getting another month or two down the track, when it really is too late to catch up and instead would be better to restart from scratch, and be kicking myself for not pushing through, thinking of the moments I might have missed capturing, the satisfaction I won’t have that would have come with a finished product.
Once, I went a whole year without blogging. The longer I left it, the harder it was to come up with a reason to return. But return I did, and I am so glad I did; even though it’s more sporadic now, I have a wonderful archive to fall down. Right now I feel like I’m on instagram too much, getting three or four photos a day posted while I get up to date. I know, though, in a couple of weeks, when I’m caught up and back to daily posting, I’ll be glad. Even more so in five or ten years, when my babies are grown and gone, I will be glad I caught up, and captured our everyday for one hundred days. The catch up is hard, but even with three photos still to take, I’m so proud of myself for doing it. Future me even more so.
ON THE CRAFT TABLE THIS WEEK



After a busy couple of weeks, the mojo is back with full force! It was hard to narrow it down to just three photos to share.
one// a couple of different projects on the hop, one using my sketchbook as a starting place, one pulling from some past fiction exercises
two// with the weather cooling and my cross-stitch done, I’m making a welcome return to crochet. I’m about half way through part four of this mandala blanket, and hope to have it done before it gets really cold
three// Mr10 roped me into some Cricut work this week to make sure his lego planes were the right kind of realistic, converting the generic lego decal to a QANTAS logo
IN OTHER NON-CRAFTY FUN



one// we received a new boardgames this week that I found on Kickstarter last year, and it was a fun way to spend Saturday afternoon learning how it all works. I think we’ve got a handle on it now and are looking forward to our next game.
two// while I was crocheting this week, I started binging Population 11 on Stan. It was a fun watch; an Aussie dark comedy, with the local sergeant played by one of my favourite actors from Wentworth. It’s 12 episodes long and well worth checking out.
three// I’m enjoying being back in the kitchen baking on a regular basis. This weeks offerings included an orange poppyseed cake, which (judging by its disappearing inside of 24 hours) was a hit and will likely be making a regular appearance from now on.
It feels so good to be back in a season of creating. In the past week I’ve been weaving, crocheting, paper cutting, art journaling, sewing, and of course, photographing my daily life. We’re off to the big smoke for the weekend to take the children to the museum, and today’s job is to narrow down my options to pack. I think I've just about got it down to a reasonable level. Maybe. Current options include crochet bag for in the apartment, hand sewing and small collection of jounraling/skethcing supplies for my backpack, and my camera with two lenses (35/2.0 & 85/1.4). A book, definitely, and maybe my iPad? Let’s see how much I can sneak in…
What are you creating this week? Have you fallen behind on a project and been glad you made the effort to catch up? I’d love to know your thoughts!
-Rach
I’m behind on working in my travel journal and the tiny sacred journal I made specifically for my trip to America. I’m giving myself grace however because I returned home very sick. I’m on the mend so today I stuck some things into the journal and last night made a little sketch.
As I was reading about all the projects you have on the go I thought, wow Rachel that’s a lot! Then I realised I too have multiple projects on the go including a newly committed to photography project to attempt to receive a bronze level in contemporary photography with the Australian Photographic Society. Somewhat scared but excited too