Sunday 30 October 2011

Fifty Two Weeks Equals a year

For a while I've been contemplating a project that would involve taking a photo of the same spot every week for 1 year.  As always I've been procrastinating like crazy.  It's raining. I'm tired. I forgot my camera.  On and on..  I've know the shot I wanted to do the series with for some time.  There is a lovely set of fields if I drive home from work along the back roads.  No matter how crappy the night's work was, driving this stretch of road always lifts my spirits a bit.

I finally rememberd my camera the other night and so the series is begun.  I just have to decide what area of this spot to shoot and at what orientation to have the cam.  The first entry in the blog will include the various shots I took.  From these I will decide which I like most and following entries will have only 1 photo.











Above Photos taken Oct 26 2011

The last photo here is the one I've decided to mimic on each visit.  Of course without doing some survey work and planting stakes in the ground I can't be certain to recreate the exact angle so I'll just wing it.  I'm not that precise a person and I'm already slightly wary that the land owner is going to come inquiring why I'm stopping by his property every week and taking pictures.


Week 2
Date: 2011/11/01

Slight bit of frosting on the ground but nothing significant.  Clear sky.  Morning.



Week 3
Date:  2011/11/07

Damp post rain morning.



Week 4
Nov 14, 2011

Bright sun after night showers.



Week 5
Nov 24, 2011

Heavy cloud cover, 5 degrees celcius, huge wind storm imminant!



Week 6
Nov 30th 2011

5.50am, foggy, cold, dark.



Week 7
Dec, 6 2011
10.30am
Heavy Overcast, 5 degrees C



Week 8
Dec 16, 2011
9am
Drizzle and Mist
6 degrees Celcius
Horrible cold, I feel like crap!



Week 9
Dec, 20 2011
10.00am
Clearing off after heavy rain.
Still got the damned cold!


Week 10
Dec, 27 2011
9.45am
A gloomy day displays my Christmas Spirit.


Week 11
Jan 02 2012
10am
Slightly less gloomy than last week... so why is my mood so washed out?


Week 12
Jan 09 2012
10.15am
Less forboading today thought they're still predicting rain.


Week 13
Jan 17 2012
10.00am
Winter has arrived!


Week 14
Jan 23 2012
10.30am
And winter is over!


Week 15
Jan 31 2012
10.00am
Golden morning. Brilliant Light.


Week 16
Feb 6 2012
9.56am
Blue sky, no clouds and warm for February.


Week 17
Feb 13 2012
9.33am
Much the same as last week, although it's poured with rain all this week.


Week 18
Feb 20 2012
10.06am
Iffy weather, cherry blossoms have started and snow drops are up.  Three weeks till vacation.  God I need it!


Week 19
Feb 27 2012
9.44am

Overcast and breezy.  The air is warming up.


Week 20
Mar 5 2012
9.51am

Cloud with bits of blue.



Week 21
Mar 17 2012
1.37 pm

A rare break in the horrible weather that has been my week's vacation.  Rain, Rain, Rain and then of course the brief blizzard that soaked and froze me during a bike ride.


Week 22
Mar 22 2012
9.40 am

A bit misty today, but spring is definately started.


Week 23
Mar 30 2012
9.43 am

On again, off again weather of spring makes things constantly iffy.  Torential downpour in one section of the city and bright sun in the other.


Week 24
Apr 02 2012
9.49 am

A small break between showers.  The blossoms are fully out on many of the fruit trees.  Bees are starting to buzz about. I've a raindrop on the lens cover!


Week 25
Apr 10 2012
10.41 am

Overcast.  The world is definately greening.  Average temperatures are up and I'm out riding my bike and not getting soaked.  Good my poor bike needs a tune up!


Week 26
Apr 16 2012
9.38 am

I believe we're half way through!  I really like this shot.  The greens are incredibly green and the large amount of sky has forced the camera to close down aperature, making the land bits darker.  I wonder when the thistles will fall over and new ones replace them.  I wonder when the people owning the land will move that damned mower unit out of my shot!



Week 27
Apr 24 2012
9.32 am

Things are starting to get green... FINALLY.  In the last few years winter has really been affecting my mood.  This year I mitigated the effect by loading lots and lots of Vitamin D.  It really did help... but there's nothing that can replace good old fashion sunlight.


Week 28
May 1 2012
11.06 am

The sun's back so I've been at the lake today before taking the photos.  Everything is so much greener with the sun here.



Week 29
May 5 2012
12.27 pm

Streaky clouds in the sky illustrate how windy it's been lately.  The lake's been almost a no go due to how chilly it is.


Week 30
May 14 2012
11.41 am

Bright sun, wonderful day.  The buttercups are out.



Week 31
May 22 2012
9.35 am

The clouds are coming in.  They say we in for some rain.  While the rain is good for plants and gardens I really wish the blistering hot, dry weather would start.


Week 32
May 28 2012
1.15 pm

Sun and new yellow grasses.  It's a nice day.


Week 33
Jun 04 2012
9.40 am

Hazy, not quite clear but still a bit warm.


Week 34
Jun 12 2012
11.41 am

Still with the iffy weather.


Week 35
Jun 19 2012
1.15 pm

Bright blue and warm here.  Clouded and breezy at naked lake.  Go figure.


Week 36
Jun 27 2012
6.07am

Early morning light and rolling clouds.  New thistles.



Week 37
July 3 2012
2.50 pm

It's been so long since I posted anything in this project that I'm at a decided lack for words to describe what was going on at the time.  I really should have been taking notes.



Week 38
July 9 2012
12.24 pm

Hay bails and turkey vultures and a clear blue sky.


Week 39
July 16 2012
12.48 pm

The blackberry bushes are really starting to go!


Week 40
July 25 2012
12.50 pm

The grass has greened up, we've had some rain.


Week 41
July 31 2012
12.33 pm

All summer long at naked lake we've been bitching about having had no summer.  I look back at the photos in this project and I realize that a great many are blue sky.  It might seem we wouldn't bitch but the lake is this weird vortex that captures cloud and funnels wind.  It's less than 3km from this field and it's sunny here.  Quite literally there can be clouds at the lake and chill wind when it's lovely here.

Weird.


Week 42
Aug 9 2012
2.26 pm

Wider shot showing more field.  Thistles in bloom.  Blackberries coming along.


Week 43
Aug 12 2012
10.59am

I really should make the attempt to take the pictures before noon.  I'm far more enthusiastic about morning light than that of the middle hours.  Some others photos I took this day have reminded me that this was the first day I picked blackberries.  It's now mid Sept. and I still have a freezer stuffed with them waiting to be made into jam.


Week 44
Aug 20 2012
1.48pm

Bright blue sky and it's 1.48pm so I've probably been lazing around in the sun at naked lake.  Already the 20th and I'm dreading the end of summer.



Week 45
Aug 27 2012
12.44pm

High overcast with a 2nd try for hay by the grass.



Week 46
Sept 2 2012
1.54pm

54km bike ride today with this photo being in the last 1/3 of the journey.  Headed out Lochside trail, took pictures of a bull and then some huge pigs and some chickens.  Then I rode over through Saanichton and down W.Saanich road, past prospect lake to naked lake, had a swim a yap and a rest there and then to this location for for the photo then home along the Galloping Goose trail.  Not a bad day at all!


Week 47
Sept 11 2012
11.15am

Technically not the best shot in the series.  The bright light reflecting off the clouds fooled the camera into shutting down.  What I was wanting to do was show the big clouds that were floating around.  It was an odd day due to these things dotting the sky all over the place.  I hadn't realize it was sept 11 until I got home and that realization brought to mind how I'd been stocking frozen vegetables on this day in 2001.  A mundane task that I'll never forget now.


Week 48
Sept 18 2012
12.27pm

Summer refused to die although the sun's position in the sky is such that naked lake is a no go for the rest of the season.  The light simply doesn't reach the dock early enough to accomodate my schedule.  Oh heavenly tree topper in the sky... why do you foresake mine desires?



Week 49
Sept 26 2012
9.39am

A beautiful lens flare next to some high swept cloud.  This and the yellow in the field really show that fall has started.  The temperatures are down and the light seems paler.


Week 50
Oct 03 2012
11.09am

Still with the good weather.  Summer is loathe to die.


Week 51
Oct 10 2012
11.15am

The leaves are starting to turn.  This sport of a broad leaf maple has held out remarkably when it's taller siblings are in full colour.  The blackberries are putting on a bit of a show too.


Week 52
Oct 17 2012
9.38am

The 52 week of this project's year has some high thin cloud and the blackberry leaves are protesting their season's end.  I think the shutter having chosen to shut down due to camera angle creates a suitably gloomy feeling to the project having only one more picture to go.


Full Circle
Oct 26 2012
9.11am

Let me assure you that matching the first shot's and last shot's date wasn't planned.  I'm not quite that organized.

Well the project is over and it's been an odd process.  Initially I was incredibly excited to be doing a documentary set, but as the year came to its middle I became very conflicted and somewhat bored with the whole thing.  Parking the car, walking down the side of the road, sitting on the ground and snapping away without much thought.  Things changed in the fall when I started to see how far I'd come and how close the end was.  As green leaves turned orange or yellow or brown I was mourning summer's end but gaining interest in the project.  I'm glad I stuck it through and I'm not quite sure what I'll do now that I don't have to haul my camera to work once a week so I can take another shot during the drive home.