365 Community: Congratulations to Esperantista!

Congratulations to Esperantista who completed her 365 on 30th June with this photo:

Esperantista kindly agreed to answer our finisher interview questions and share her favourite photos from the project.

What inspired you to begin your 365 Project?
I wanted to learn how to use my camera, and I thought it was a good way to start. Taking a look on some other 365's, I admired the way in which photography grows up along the way, so I said... Why not?

How would you describe your photography in just a few words?
People usually tell me that my pictures have a positive, creative and romantic feeling. I really don’t know, but maybe it’s true. The most of the times, I like to see the bright side of life.

What surprised you the most about doing the 365 project?
I thought it was much more easy! When I started the project I was sure about finishing it, but half way I was without inspiration and I realized that it was really at that moment when the real challenge began.

What did you learn during the course of your project?
Mainly, to be more creative. Before that, I only used to take pictures of the things I saw. I couldn’t think about "creating" a picture. The pressure of having to shoot something different every day, led me to experiment and to create my own situation for taking a picture. And I have do a lot of things for first time, new techniques, self-portraits (I had never done before!), zooming, panning... Moreover, I wanted to learn photoshop, so I followed many tutorials to do cloning or levitation and it has been very funny.

Do you have an interesting story about taking one of your 365 photos that you would like to share?
On days 200, 284 and 340 it happened exactly the same. I was taking a walk on the outskirts of the city, looking for some inspiration, and all three times, in different places, a white horse surprised me coming out from nowhere… I live in a big city, so seeing a horse is very, very strange! And I saw it in three different places and at three different times! Always a lone horse, and always white. I thought it was a sign!

What are your future photography plans?
My plans are to continue learning. The world of photography is infinite, and the more you know, the more you wanna learn. I would like to improve with the use of external flashes, and change to a better camera when I save enough money. The 365 has been the best photography course I’ve ever taken, I admit, but there's a whole world for learning, and I'm just a beginner.

Some of her favourites:

Somewhere in La Mancha 332/365 - The 365 has allowed me to know much more better the place where I live (Spain). Every weekend I tried to go out of the city and discover new places. Probably I wouldn’t do it without the project

Checkpoint 314/365 - I met my life partner on a day 10, and to celebrate that, we have been taking photos of ourselves once a month from the beginning of our relationship. So there are a few truly romantic shots in the project, usually taken on a day 10. Love has made us so :)