Day 516

2010-06-11

I am no longer a photo blogger. My term is up.

As the end neared I was tempted to extend this project, but ultimately I think it's better to stick within the original constraints and move on.

I considered jumping straight into another project, and wrote an angry email to a domain squatter who's sitting on day517.com, but in the end that seemed hasty. I prefer to wait a while, consider my options, and I will move forward with another project when I've settled on something as staunchly as I settled on Day 516 eighteen months or so ago.

I started this project as a way to reengage with photography. I consider myself reengaged; I also consider myself a little jaded and will undoubtedly take fewer pictures over the coming weeks. But, I am better prepared to face the next photographic challenge.

The self-imposed rules of the project have suited me well. By forcing myself to take photographs every day, I've gathered a diverse and somewhat disparate array of images… but there are repeating themes and threads to be found. As I move forward I hope to isolate and explore these themes more purposefully, to create collections of images that relate to and add meaning to each other as opposed to focussing always on the one image at hand… but that's an exploration for another day, and another place.

While I haven't written much here, I have at times expressed my opinion, discussed photography, design and travel among other things, and I've not been shy about expressing personal feelings. The final entry needed to have some weight behind it so here I am with gorgeous Cat, who has done more to support me over the past year and a half than any reasonable person could ever expect.

We started this journey together based on a shared dream to live in Buenos Aires. If we were going there, it seemed obvious, we should make a trip out of it, and so we started in New York.

The journey has eclipsed the destination… we're currently ambling slowly around Ecuador and have no plans to move on soon… we have few plans at all and that's the point really. We will not get to Buenos Aires this year; we will return to Ireland before we set foot in Argentina, and that feels great because we are travelling together through this vast continent unimpinged by itinerary or expectation.

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