Same again next year?

[jenga]

I'm coming up to the end of my PaD year now, and mulling over the idea of going into a second year. I know there's many of you that have surpassed your second year by far - I'm interested to hear if you took a different 'view' on it after the first year. I don't want to open the whole 'rules and regulations' argument again, but wondered if you feel you're 'entitled' to bend the rules more once you've a vetaran?

And how do you think you'd fare WITHOUT PaDding now? would you (or do you) still photograph frequently? Could you live without the comments?

[clickaway]

Are you calling me a veteran? lol

When I finished my first year, I actually had much more time in my hands and so had more of an incentive to devote more time to the hobby - most of us dont have that luxury.

I would say you've deserved the right to use the PAD gallery and many others have done the same and stepped down a notch after a year.

I don't know about others, but I really concentrate on using my favourites gallery now, and just skim through the meta to pick up others.

To be honest, I couldn't live without the comments (just ask my therapist...) and that's one more reason for driving me to be a better photographer. I think many of us here on PBase need that.

I've really enjoyed your PAD Fran - your work injects so much humour.

Ray

[sheena77]

Fran, like you I'm coming up to the end of my PaD year. At the moment my feeling is that I will stop, as there have been times when I have really struggled. It's been fun though and I've even had my workmates texting me at 6.30 am in the morning to tell me there's a gorgeous sky they thought would be good for my PaD!

Personally, I think I would feel guilty using the PaD gallery - perhaps Pbase will start a Photo a Week gallery just for me!

I'm not sure how I'll feel if I do stop, although I know I'll continue posting to my other galleries. Maybe I'll miss it so much I start again after a few months break.

[rjyates]

I'll be getting to the same quandary in February - not sure what I'll decide to do when I get there. At the moment I'm struggling for time and inspiration to produce a PAD each day. With a bit of luck by then I'll be through it and decide to carry on!

Ric

[flseabreeze]

So, herein lies the drawback to a strict view of PAD. Chases people away, thinking - oh no, now I can't find the time or subject for taking a picture a day, so rather than offending people with sporadics posts, or posts from archives, I will just go away. Not so good in my opinion.

[vid64]

Same old dilemma!! Towards the end of my first year I spent much time working out how to making it 'different' for year 2. I was going to do it all with film, then, do it all on film with one camera and a 50mm lens, or a roll of 36 a week and post 7... I ended up digital and a list of 12 themes that I would follow. Each month, one of the 12 themes would be picked at random, and 5 pictures that month would have to illustrate the theme. All too complicated of course, and by February, I'd given up on themes and just continued as before. By the end of year 2 I decided to go to a nice round 1000 days. Now I'm on day 1087(?), approaching the end of year 3 and wondering if I should stop... but I know I'll continue into year 4!

My advice - keep going!

D

[johnwaine]

Interesting discussion.

Perhaps, the whole PBase/PAD thing is more than keeping to the strict rules.

The daily comments and contacts; the urge to take more pictures knowing people around the world are waiting to see them; being part of something; etc etc could be difficult to replace!

[mongo69]

Hi guys, just wanna check with you all since you are all experts and experienced in PAD galleries.

When you post a PAD image, must you shoot on that day itself? I was thinking of a 2-3 images, then post them daily.

Well, pehaps, i should change mine to "Almost everyday PAD?"

[aestus]

Well, I was almost faithful to the PAD ideal for a full year. I consider myself to have been a full participant for my first year. After that I slowed down a bit. I renamed my gallery 'AfterPAD' and now add to it when I feel so inclined. Sometimes it's daily for a week, sometimes only once a week, but never more than one a day. I thoroughly enjoyed doing PAD that year, though there were times when I almost quit. Sometimes now I miss it, but I am enjoying the freedom to shoot when I choose without the pressure of doing something everyday. It seems to reduce the number of comments I receive, but that's ok too.

Of course, the unreliability of Pbase of late has been annoying, so I'm actually considering switching service. [/i]

[bobt54]

I applaud all of you that kept to the non existent strict "rules" of taking and posting pictures every day. It was something you were determined to do at the beginning and you kept to it. Bravo. Does that mean that everyone else who "failed" to live up to these "rules" deserves our scorn? I see a lot of self limiting behaviour here and I have to wonder where that is coming from? flseabreeze, who are these people you think you are offending? Is there someone out there keeping score? Is there someone keeping a blacklist of offenders? I think it is sad that you will simply "go away" due to some "pressure", real or imagined, that you must obviously feel, as you will be depriving others of your work.

PAD should be whatever you want it to be. Sheena, Pbase doesn't need a Photo a Week gallery. You already have one in your PAD.

I started out the year posting an old picture from my archives every day. No one complained or cursed at me for doing so. Later I changed to the best photo or the one that I thought most fit that day. Got lots of comments, none of them negative. I enjoyed working on my PAD project and felt none of these pressures or concerns.

I plan to continue on next year as I have ended this year by posting the most meaningful photo I can find. By constantly evaluating and reevaluating my work I have learned a lot from it.

My only question is what to do with the old PAD. I don't think I want to keep the whole thing online, tho I am sure Slug would love it if I did. I have been entertaining the thought of creating a Best Of 2005 gallery. What are you guys doing or have done with your old PADs?

[jenga]

Thanks for all your answers. I've been thinking about it more, and I think the whole point (for me anyway) of 'A photo a day' was to actually post a photo every single day - for probably 95% of the year I've managed to stick to a photo I've taken on that actual day, otherwise I've used something else from the day before, but processed on the day in question. That's MY rules, and ones I was happy to stick with. Unfortunately I just don't know if I can keep it up for a second year, but I don't think I want to stop completely - hence my original question!

Personally I think I may take more at the weekend and post them throughout the week, possibly throw in some themes if I get some inspiration! - just because what I'm limited to taking in the week will get very repetative for a second year.

I started out the year posting an old picture from my archives every day. No one complained or cursed at me for doing so. Later I changed to the best photo or the one that I thought most fit that day.

That's fine (in my view) if that's what works for you - it wouldn't for me, mainly as I don't really like going back through my old pictures too much. I've been on some great holidays this year, and could probably have posted a picture from one of them every single day, but that would mean I wouldn't have had the challenge of finding something new every day - the whole point for me was to use my camera more regularly (which I've done to such an extent that I've actually upgraded twice this year)

My conclusion: - The only people I would say 'cheat' are those who consciously mark whichever the latest gallery they upload to as being their 'PaD gallery' - purely because it will get maximum exposure that way. Which brings me back to my original pondering.... is a 'life after PaD' gallery so very different....

*sigh* I can see now why there's been so many discussions on this subject!

Happy Christmas!

[troonly]

My year completes on the 28th. And it's been fun.

Set whatever rules you like - mine was to take a photo-a-day, and posts asap as I can't lways get to a suitable PC to post on the day. Why set the rule; well it's a challenge for challenge sake, and it did give me a jolt on the days when I didn't feel like shooting It's meant I carry my camera almost everywhere and have taken many shots I wouldn't previously have taken. Learned a bit about PS - but not CSS yet unfortunately (would love to). And of course met some great people from around the world! Not that I've had chance to keep very regular contact.

Will I carry on..... I'll let you know on the 29th (my pbase 'birthday' as my daughter has just described it!).

The only problem now is the cost of pbase. I've too many images and it's starting to add up! I'd host a site, but would miss the rest of you on pbase! That's the real dilema. It has been a great way of sharing photo's with friends, family and for business so perhaps it is worth it. Perhaps they could offer a discount to PaDders after year 1, 2, 3 etc?

[flseabreeze]

Well, Bob - some past PAD threads were rather hostile to the notion of just using PAD as a way to stand out from the daily inrush of pictures, and to get noticed. If one just has galleries, and no PAD, you get lost in the sheer volume of pictures posted on Pbase. The conclusion was, if you are not adhering to the original (stricter) view of PAD, then you were just using the meta-gallery to "generate hits", and thus, should be flogged. A few members just encouraged me to ignore the noise, and perhaps I will. Since I stopped PAD, only a handful of people have been to any of my galleries - without the meta gallery, there are just too many pictures up here for anyone to get any notice.

No to mention, my favorite model (wife) has a love\hate relationship with me posting "sexy" shots of her, so I deleted a lot, and toned down quite a bit. Ah, hell. Maybe I will try again, and just avoid the forums - blissful ignorance. If I do restart my PAD, it will, without shame, excuse, or second thought, be composed of whatever pict I want to post, when I want to, from any time frame !