Congratulations to Aaron!

Congratulations to Aaron for finishing his 365 Project on December 31st! His project started out as a New Year's Resolution to sharpen his skills and soon grew from there. Aaron's photostream is a mix of everyday life, stunning portraits, and beautiful black and whites that should not be missed.

Aaron posted some great musings about the 365 Project on his last photo that I am going to share below...in his own words.

First of all it is hard work. Trying to be creative when you don't really give a damn is near impossible for me. Trying to be creative and hold down a full time unrelated job is challenging to say the least. Those that do this 365 thing well are my inspiration (see my contacts - ya'll rock!). On the up side, I tended to be much more interested in photography when I was outside or on holidays, the photo's seemed to flow more naturally and the shots were easier and more fun. Although notably, June, July and August were my lowest frame count months. Go figure?

Second, my knowledge of my camera and equipment grew exponentially. I understand much more about it's capabilities and limitations. My skills with off camera flash improved. Nikon's CLS (creative lighting system = remote flash) finally made sense to me. My studio skills improved to the point of needing minimal Photoshop-ing (a blessing). My skill with Photoshop itself also improved but more importantly I grew into Lightroom and consider it my main editing tool.

Third, I learned that my goal should be to wear out my equipment - or at least wear out the camera body. The aim being to wear it out before it's obsolete. I think my camera is rated for 100,000 actuations or something like that - I still have a LOOONG way to go to wear it out and it is arguably obsolete already.

And last, the camera you have with you is the camera you will use. If it's bulky and a pain to pack you won't bring it. And when you bring out that big camera it will attract big attention (sometimes unwanted). Small point and shoots definitely have a place in my heart. However, if you want some great shots in low light, nothing beats a fast lens and an SLR (my 50mm f1.8 is cheap and awesome). By far the majority of shooting was with the D200 and if you want it you'll have to pry it from cold dead hands : )

Below are Aaron's final shot, three of his favorites, two admin picks, and a slide show of his entire 365 Project. Congratulations again, Aaron!