Exasperated Calculator

One year ago I started a project to take photos every week, mainly as an exercise to force me to use my camera more.

It’s been a successful failure. I didn’t actually get my camera out each and every week, but I’ve done enough to fill in for 52 sessions worth. And I’ve used my camera a lot more, and learnt a lot about photography.

Am I getting any better? As an exercise I went through and graded each of my ‘weekly 5’ photos on one through five stars. It took a couple of passes, as initially I had nothing at five stars and only about six at four stars. In the end I had:

• 1 star: 56 photos

• 2 stars: 101 photos

• 3 stars: 60 photos

• 4 stars: 33 photos

• 5 stars: 10 photos

We’ll get to my top 10 for the year in a minute, but there was definitely a slight trend towards improvement: less bad photos, more good photos in the later weeks. Still, that means that out of the 3,862 photos that I took in 2009 there are only 43 photos that I’m quite or very happy with – a bit over 1 per cent. Not bad for a beginner, I suppose.

I won’t be doing this next year, but I’m going to try and get out at least once a month or so just to take photos. I’m also about halfway through making up my 260 main photos for the year into a couple of books, which I’ll pay the ridiculous charges of Apple to get printed in hardback as a memento of my year.

Would I do it again? Probably. I’d probably tweak the rules, maybe only saying ‘take 10, choose 1’. Sometimes I found it hard to stretch a subject out to 30 photos, and it was especially hard to then find 5 of those that were distinct and interesting individually. Still, that was part of the exercise as well.

So now, as the grand finale for the 52/30/5 project, my 10 favourite photos of the year (in chronological order):

So what’s in store for next year? Stay tuned tomorrow for the official announcement.

For week 52 I had been hoping to go to Gininderra Falls, but that’s apparently been closed for a while. What I did find was a couple of dumped and destroyed cars, though:

The full set is on Flickr.

Week 51 was taken at Grevillea park on the front of Lake Burley Griffin.

A windsurfer on the lake:

A swan and a gosling:

Buildings in the Kingston Foreshore (known as the Daleks):

The lake front at Grevillea Park:

And Lake Burley Griffin looking towards the Carillion:

The full set is on Flickr.

Week 50 was taken at the Point Hut Pond in Tuggernaong.

The basketball hoop:

A nearby slide:

Monkey bars:

Ducks taking flight:

And a tower that is part of the play ground:

The full set is on Flickr.

Week 49 was a quick round of self portraits in the front yard.

The full set is on Flickr.

Week 48 was taken in Edison Park in Woden.

Edison park has been suffering from the drought, the normal pond has been drained and has grown over:

The wooden path to the middle of the pond:

An anchor (a memorial for something or other) in the park:

And a swing:

The full set is on Flickr.

Week 47 was taken around the Treasury Building in Canberra.

The building:

The flag and coat of arms from the front:

And one of the car parks:

The full set is on Flickr.

Week 46 was taken in the Parliamentary triangle in Canberra.

Old Parliament House in HDR:

The War Memorial over the lake:

The National Portrait Gallery:

The High Court:

And the surprisingly Christmas-y local map sign:

The full set is on Flickr.

Week 45 was taken at another bay near Lake Burley Griffin.

A seagull:

Birds surrounding a tree:

A cycle path:

Contrails in the sky:

A magpie in a tree:

The full set is available on Flickr.

After the final break, the last few photo sessions for my project have been finished, and will be uploaded by the end of the year.

Week 44 was taken at Telopea Park near Kingston.

The park:

A storm drain:

Some cyclists passing through:

A HDR view of a tree:

And a tree in the bright sunshine:

The full set is on Flickr.