One year ago today, I posted the first in my year-long series of projects called 52 things. Today, I want to spent a little time reflecting on that experience.
During the year, I accomplished quite a bit. For starters, I made some new chromedecay and solo releases available (8/52, 9/52,10/52). This was a big accomplishment, as I find it really rewarding to work on music, but often quite hard to do the hard work of finishing it and making it available.
Along with putting out some finished products, I also worked on a decent bit of new music (5/52, 7/52, 14/52, 32/52, and more).
As part of this project, I spoke at the Maker Faire Detroit’s Ignite session. This was a nice mid-year chance to reflect on the project and talk about the motivations for doing it. It was a great experience.
I didn’t set out to to this, but as I worked on more photography projects, I decided to start a new photography business! This process really helped me define what I enjoy about photography, and helped clarify my vision about what relates to chromedecay and what should be personal or commercial work. The final project this year points toward that, as I will be working on making a series of chromedecay photographic prints available in 2011.
In addition to photos, I also made some video art (39/52 and 43/52). The power of the Canon HDDSLR camera I’m shooting with makes it possible to produce HD video with small, easy-to-use equipment and that’s made the video production and editing process more enjoyable than I’ve ever experienced.
To go along with all this photography and video work, I made some DIY gear that helped me do what I wanted to do (4/52, 6/52, 16/52, 30/52).
I still didn’t get every project on the list done (witness the still half-completed DIY USB foot controller!) but that’s OK.
So, what are my plans for my personal projects and for chromedecay in 2011? Well, on a personal note I’ll be building my photography business, which has become a nice way to push myself as a photographer and hopefully make some money to cover the cost of gear and build up my independent business. I have lots of other personal projects lined up as well.
For chromedecay, several things will be the immediate focus. One thing that I touched on this year was the company7 project I’m involved in with friends of mine. Our band will be meeting weekly this year to work on new material, and if last week’s first scheduled rehearsal is any indication, it will be an extremely productive year. This is definitely pushing me in lots of directions, as I’m playing guitar, recording, doing production and electronics programming, and capturing the whole experience in photos and video. My goal is to have a finished EP released on chromedecay later in 2011.
In the more immediate future, I will be releasing a series of chromedecay photographic prints for purchase by the end of January. This is something I’d wanted to do for a long time, and with encouragement by Joshua Schnable and the last project in the series, I can now see more clearly how I want to structure it. Look for that soon.
Now, I’m off to shoot photos of The Press Delete (previous photos I’ve shot of them were week 41’s project). They are playing at the Mittenfest festival here in Ypsilanti.
Thank you for a wonderful 2010, and here’s to a great 2011!
Excellent year of blogging, look forward to more!