Welcome to the One/Day Project

Here you will find hundreds of photos that I've taken every day since 2/29/2008. I reached my initial goal of making it to leap day 2012 (after 1462 photos), but I'm still going - the new goal is to make it to Monday, 2/29/2016.

Every photo in these galleries is a unique creation from that day. My intent is to create art, and I've taken great care to create most of these photographs. In addition to not uploading simple snapshots, I try incredibly hard not to repeat myself.

Please enjoy, and feel free to comment. Like the shot? Give it a thumbs up. Really like it? Buy a print or digital download.

Thanks for looking!

Photos of setups - I try to take photos of interesting setups so y'all can see.

gallery pages: < 1 2 3 4 5 >

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2010-05-09 Focus Stacked Tulip SETUP
For soft-ish lighting for these macro shots, I used a Gorillapod to hold my flash and reflector close to the lens and subject. It would have been even better with another flash on the other side, but alas, I only possess but the one.
The final image is made up of 17 focus stacked shots. If you're unfamiliar with this technique, you can take a series of shots with different focus points and then in Photoshop you open each image as a layer, and then choose the auto-blend command so it appears that the entire image is in focus. It's great for macro shots that would otherwise have a very narrow depth of field.

2010-04-12 Wet Blue Agave SETUP
First I used a spray bottle to get some drops on the agave, and then rotated it until I found a pleasing blade with drops. Since the agave is tiny, I had to get in really close to highlight individual drops. I used the highest aperture available and adjusted the flash power accordingly to get the max depth of field. The background was draped over our fruit basket, but I ended up not needing it since I was shooting downwards at such a close distance. I needed the flashlight to properly focus on the agave because the kitchen lights weren't bright enough.
For the actual shot, I held the flash above the agave, pointing towards it. The snoot/reflector added more even lighting.

2010-04-09 Dancing Lily SETUP 2
Inside the crate - to hold the lily above the napkins, I tied some twine across the crate and used a clothespin to hold the lily to it. The glass provides stability so the lily didn't fall over. At first I had the flash in front of the flower, but ended up liking it in the back better.
For the full setup, see the 1st setup photo.

2010-04-09 Dancing Lily SETUP 1
To create a homemade soft box, I stuck my flash inside a crate covered in white napkins (the thinnest white material I had handy). I attached a flashlight to the tripod using a rubber band to shine light on the pistils/stamen. Because this light was much warmer than the flash, I had to put a warming gel on it so both light sources would match. The placemat against the crate was necessary so the light from the flash didn't illuminate the curtain, which otherwise was dark enough to completely blacken out the background.
To see inside the crate, see the 2nd setup photo.

2010-03-15 Fennel Heart SETUP
Before I took the shot, I cut off all the fennel stalks except the little one.
I put the fennel on a bowl to raise it up, then also had to raise up the flash using a pot and bowl I had on hand. The snoot keeps the light off the background, so it can stay black. I needed some reflection, so I grabbed a binder and card I had nearby.

2010-03-09 Pre Pesto SETUP
This shot ended up being far more difficult than I first imagined. I knew from the beginning that I would need to elevate the knife in order to get it away from the background, and of course it needed to be level so the oil didn't run off. After trying all sorts of things around the house, I settled on using an alligator clip to attach the knife to the handle of a saucepan. Of course that wasn't level, so I used the lid of the saucepan to change the angle. And of course the knife was too heavy for the pan, so I had to throw something in to weigh it down.
After that, I was good to go and was able to experiment with the placement of the lighting and reflector. The first time I put the oil on the blade I spilled and the pine nuts and cheese left oily residue when I messed up positioning them; I had to use paper towels to clean the blade and start over.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the egg time and pasta pot were not used for the photo. I just like to make sure everything's labeled :)

2010-02-24 Manzanita Shadows SETUP
This isn't exactly the setup I used for the final shot. The differences: I shortened two of the tripod legs to I could put it partway on the bed, and I used the flash diffuser because the light was too harsh otherwise.

2010-02-22 Ripple Fork SETUP
Got a little wet doing this shot. As you can see, I had to put the tripod in the sink to get the right angle. When I turned on the disposal, the fork actually started vibrating away, so I had to hold it while being careful not to block the flash with my arm. The deep sink is great for dishes, but it was definitely a pain here.
Also, I bothered to label the cleaning supplies because I started by cleaning the sink - I wanted a spotless background.

2010-03-09 Pre Pesto SETUP
This shot ended up being far more difficult than I first imagined. I knew from the beginning that I would need to elevate the knife in order to get it away from the background, and of course it needed to be level so the oil didn't run off. After trying all sorts of things around the house, I settled on using an alligator clip to attach the knife to the handle of a saucepan. Of course that wasn't level, so I used the lid of the saucepan to change the angle. And of course the knife was too heavy for the pan, so I had to throw something in to weigh it down.
After that, I was good to go and was able to experiment with the placement of the lighting and reflector. The first time I put the oil on the blade I spilled and the pine nuts and cheese left oily residue when I messed up positioning them; I had to use paper towels to clean the blade and start over.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the egg time and pasta pot were not used for the photo. I just like to make sure everything's labeled :)

2010-03-09 Pre Pesto SETUP This shot ended up being far more difficult than I first imagined. I knew from the beginning that I would need to elevate the knife in order to get it away from the background, and of course it needed to be level so the oil didn't run off. After trying all sorts of things around the house, I settled on using an alligator clip to attach the knife to the handle of a saucepan. Of course that wasn't level, so I used the lid of the saucepan to change the angle. And of course the knife was too heavy for the pan, so I had to throw something in to weigh it down. After that, I was good to go and was able to experiment with the placement of the lighting and reflector. The first time I put the oil on the blade I spilled and the pine nuts and cheese left oily residue when I messed up positioning them; I had to use paper towels to clean the blade and start over. Oh, and in case you're wondering, the egg time and pasta pot were not used for the photo. I just like to make sure everything's labeled :)" href="javascript:openLB(806731493,'',XLarge,'',1024,685);">