2021 has arrived with some of the leftover baggage of 2020. As such, the days ahead just might continue to disrupt what we once considered normal and continue to interrupt our hoped-for plans of travel and plans for adventure. While others are making lists of New Year’s Resolutions, why don’t we make a few purposeful plans for photos?
365>12>4>
For now, let’s skip the day by day and begin with larger groupings. First 365 days, the whole year. What is your goal? Is it something new, or will this be the year you work on all your old photos you want to scrap and get caught up, maybe just keeping up is where you are at?
SOMETHING OLD – CATCH UP
If it’s time to catch up, you can gather those photos and prioritize them, putting them in an order of your choosing, ready to pick up and scrap when the opportunity arises. You may want to preselect grid colors and cardstocks for mats for each group of photos and store them in a handy container so everything is ready to go when you have the time.
SOMETHING NEW – BY THE YEAR, BY THE MONTH 365 > 12
If it’s something new, let’s make a few purposeful plans with what we know will likely be for certain. Each year arrives with 12 months packed and ready to go. Annual events that are likely to happen regardless of other events happening are Birthday and Anniversaries. A few others might be…
- Community events – We have First Fridays, Blue Tip Parade, Taste of Wadsworth to name a few.
- Weddings
- Graduations
- New Quarantine Babies
SOMETHING NEW – BY THE SEASON 365 > 4
Then the four seasons Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall…I’ll refrain from breaking out in song (some of you will understand the reference!) I created a chart with each month color coded to match the season. I add the names of those with birthdays or anniversaries.
- Winter: snow fall scenes, building snowmen, sledding down a hill
- Spring: new blooms, community gardens,
- Summer: beautiful sunny day, outdoor activities
- Fall: falling leaves, turning colors, hiking
If we find ourselves once again in lockdown, all of these can be taken without people in the pictures or traveling too far outside your home. If not, I’m sure we will be on the road for adventure as soon as we can!
SOMETHING NEW – BY THE MONTH – BY THE DAY 365 > 12 > 1
Now if long range planning and hoped for travel plans are not being considered, you might consider a few projects honing up on your photography skills. Capture Your 365 has been one of many photo prompts challenges to take a photo everyday for 365 days following a prompt for each day of the week, month, and year. A search on Pinterest or Instagram will take you to many ideas to follow. You can take a selection of those prompts and construct your own list by picking and choosing from a few on each to design your own. After looking several over, you will see that’s pretty much what has been done by many list compilers. These projects will help you to develop new skills of observation and change how you see your subjects when you bring your camera out. It really will challenge you to see the subjects you are photographing in new ways. They are also easily achievable if we continue to find ourselves faced with lockdowns or restricted travel.
You will be able to plan a page with several of the photos you take on your list and fill them in as you go, or complete at the end of the month by limiting yourself to show off your best efforts! I found this was a great project for a mostly squares pattern where you can vary the sizes of the photos. You won’t want to forget to include the prompts as minimal journaling, or expand to larger spaces for more details about your thoughts on the project and what you accomplished.
SOMETHING NEW – BY THE MONTH – BY THE WEEK 365 > 12 > 52
Maybe a Challenge of 52 weeks, one photo a week would be more to your liking, or perhaps focusing on color, one for each month, week or day and taking photos of various photos with that color that work into whatever color of the day is.
Maybe working on a “Year in Review” type layout by the month is more in keeping with your pre-planning plans! Select a pattern where you can add at least 12 photos and choose the moment that stands out each month to add to the layout so that when December rolls around once again you have a completed page!
My Layouts: BY THE MONTH – with PHOTO PROMPTS 365 > 365
I have mounted an 8×8 Mosaic Moments Calendar on a 12×12 grid paper base with the prompts written in each square. On page two, I have used Pattern #454 a mostly squares pattern to showcase my photos. I will fill the places in the pattern with the best or my favorite photos from the month, and truth be told, I’m likely to forget a few days along the way, if you do too, it’s okay!
For a few embellishments I have used our freestanding Snowflake Set 1 to add a little bit more. I’ve chosen to use Purple Cabbage from the New Collection, Harvest with pattern papers of snowflakes and stars, random cardstock and paper from Colorbok’s Paint Splash Collection. The Alphabet die set is from Paper Rose.
I have added white mats to my color bases to make double mats, on the larger 4×4 squares I will likely make these wide mats to show off more of the patterned paper below. The snowflakes are attached with a single glue dot in the center and once I’ve added photos to the squares, I will secure them more permanently. Loose, it allows me to slide the photos into place.
As you take a look at what you might want to scrap in this new year, I hope there are a few ideas here that will spark your own creative juices. It’s always a good idea for you to make a few purposeful plans for photos, so, get the year started well, it’s time to get started!
Andrea Fisher