365 -The Month of May

I don't know how I stumbled on the 365 - photo a day idea but it is one of the best things I have done ever!!

This is a mosaic I have made from the May highlights.

The stories of my month in both Beijing and UK (1 week)

Rufus balancing a basket, 

modelling the new PTA apron design 

keeping neighbourhood watch. 

Buying a house in Suffolk

Remembering dear Uncle Ralph who died

Welcoming my son Jesper and friends to Beijing

 Mum in hospital with a broken leg

An unexpected sail home from Holland when ash grounded planes

A crane upending in a neighbours garden

making soup with Cathy

delicious desserts

beautiful blossoms

Fun with my 365 Bj group

They say a picture paints a thousand words and this mosaic certainly paints a few hundred!

I feel like an advocate for starting 365 groups on Flickr.

You just don't know how much fun life can be with 365!

How many of you can guarantee you can smile or laugh within a minute of opening your computer?

This is what 365 can do for you.

Let me tell you a story..... 

about how I went about it and then see if you want to try it for yourself.

Back in February 2010 I came across a 365 group, probably on Flickr. 

I googled '365' and found all sorts of groups doing just this. Some huge. 

I wanted something intimate with people I knew - but what I didn't know was who would want to join me. 

Well I knew my eldest daughter Astrid would and she was the first member but who else?

So I decided not to try guess - just send the same email to all friends and family in my address book.

There were challenges for people - 

anyone in China would need a VPN site to circumvent the great firewall of China!! 

Some people would need coaxing to get started in Flickr 

and many needed encouraging to make time.

I wanted as few rules as possible, not wanting to scare anyone off

Take one photo a day

for one year

starting February 14th 2010 (The start of the Year of the Tiger)

Don't use photos taken previously

don't post more than one for any day

Retrospective posting is ok (not more than 6 uploaded per day)

If you miss some days no worries - either take 2 on the following day or miss 

Add the date to your photo in the title or description

Have fun

 This is not a competition

 Comment on others photos

Optional : make a mosaic at the end of the month with all the photos together in one.

Maybe I just have the most incredibly funny and insightful, creative friends ever (yes they are really)

But we have so much fun with comments, 

 themes for the week and silliness

but also artiness, 

 technique sharing 

and general looking out for each other 

(when someone doesn't post for a few days everyone else is concerned are they ok)

The common denominator is me

I know everyone

but they may or may not know anyone else.

 It doesn't matter 

because we are like one tribe, family, bunch ... 
whatever you want to call it ...

It is just the best.

We are spread over the world -

USA, UK, Denmark, China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam

The great thing is with all these time zones, someone is always posting

whatever time of night or day you look.

35 people signed up to join the group and maybe 18 post regularly

with about 10 diehards who have one for everyday.

 It all works.

 Even if you only post 5 a month , 

I guarantee it is 60 photos more than you would have had at the end of the year.

It is a bit like meditation...

the first few times seem hard... 

What if it's 9pm and I have forgotten to take one?

Just the snap the film you were watching on TV - or in my case Rufus again!

The practice of not missing a day makes it all ok. 

Afterall I am not trying to sell these photos.

 But I love what they mean to me.

That is what I remind everyone 

at the end of the day 

you are doing this for yourself...

not to win praise or prizes

If you would like to see more of what we have been doing go here: 365 -year of the tiger

If you need help setting a group up just let me know.

I have a passion for this and would love to help

P.S. Just double click on a thumbnail if you want to read the comments