As I approach the 100th hour of this project, though I am comically far from my goal of 10,000 hours (status bar: 99% incomplete), I still feel a sense of proud accomplishment and renewed zest to keep on keeping on.
Perhaps it is the fact that I took this last set on New Year's Day and that has me reflecting, but I really have come a long way from six months ago. When I began this endeavor, if you had asked me what I expected to gain from this experience, I would have referred you to this blog's tag line: "Looking at the world through a viewfinder, going on adventures, establishing a work-life balance, and reclaiming my personal life." Yes, I have learned some technical aspects of photography, and yes, I have exercised my creative right brain in developing an artistic eye... but as with most of life's experiences in which you pour your mind, body, and soul, it's been so much more.
Focusing on this personal project has really been a process of self-discovery: gaining a firmer understanding of what I want out of life, what I value, and what I want to spend my time doing. From the time I was a small child, I was always taught the importance of delaying gratification - to work hard and save to reach a goal... but nobody ever taught me how to enjoy the ride along the way. It's an unpredictable world out there; knowing how to find happiness is just as important as working hard and saving for a rainy day. At least in honest conversation with my closest friends, I've found that my generation doesn't always know what makes us truly happy. We like to think we know because of what society or our parents tell us, but all too often once we actually attain whatever that is, be it material object or professional accomplishment, we end up feeling like we were sold a false bag of goods. At the end of the day, there are 7+ billion people in this world and I have no doubt that we find happiness all a little differently - it truly comes down to identifying what drives your happiness, be it person, place, thing, or experience.
And after that rather long-winded attempt at profound rumination... actual photos:
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| Chance juxtaposition in the line for The Jungle Cruise at Disneyland, colors punched up in post-editing |
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| Long Beach, through the periscope of the Scorpion attack submarine |
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| Rivets along the hull of the RMS Queen Mary, holgaish filter applied in post |
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| Up to the crow's nest |
Review Hours: 1
Hours to Date: 99
