I have recently started an art project. I call it:; 31.

The idea behind it is that I take a self portrait of myself everyday that I am 31. As I recently reached that milestone the project has begun. I am doing it for a couple of reasons.

1) to challenge my view of myself. How I look, what I wear and how I change during this year. I have already seen from the few photos I have added that yes I do really look big and much more masculine with the weight I have put on. This may even help me loose the weight I need.

2) to give me opportunity to improve my photography skills. I like photos and now I have to take photos. I have a reason and the more people I tell the more need I have to take the photos, no chucking it in. I have found that my camera is no good and needs replacing. I have been using my camera phone for the photos so far. I need a camera with effects so I can try the arty shots that I really want to take too.

I invite you to take a look at my blog for 31. I probably wont add every photo online but I will try to add as many as I can. Please feel to leave a comment if you like.

http://365project-31.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html

I hope you can keep it up Fiona, sounds like a really interesting and challenging project

Hugs

Tara

Hi Tara,

I have actually been really good so far and added each of the photo's of the day. I'm quite enjoying it so far.

I have to admit I'm taking a much greater interest in photography equipment and what could be good for a background.

I was going to do the same thing after my gastric bypass, but couldn't have access to a camera everyday, so that kind of squashed it. Good luck girl, I'll be checking up on that site.

Z

I'm currently looking for a good camera. So far I am just using the camera on my phone. Luckily its a decent 5 mega pix, with a few features to play around with.

I need to get myself something better but i'm such a technophobe it may take a little while to work out whats good. Any shutter bugs out there can tell me what to get?

Does anyone know a good alternate to photoshop? I'm paying that amount of money for touch ups

Hi Fiona,

I'm no expert on cameras, but I have bought 2 in the last year and I can share what choices I made and why.

I needed to replace my Kodak 8mp digital mostly because it requires a serial port on the computer and those are just about impossible to find in this USB era.

I wanted a camera I could get creative with but not one that was as complicated or expensive as a SLR with changeable lenses. I also wanted to be able to capture images that were far away in high quality. I take my dogs on nature walks/hikes almost every day and I like to take pics of birds, rabbits and the odd coyote in the distance. Also I wanted something I could get a snap of cars and bikes (loved your Norton t-shirt by the way) when I spotted them.

I took a look at what was out there and settled on an Olympus SP-565UZ. It has SLR like options so as my skills increase I won't need to upgrade for a while. It also has 10mp resolution and a 20x optical zoom. There are cameras with higher resolution and higher zooms, but for my budget, this one fit the bill. I did a lot of price comparing on the internet and got it for about US$300.

That camera is fairly small (compared to a SLR) but it is hardly a "pocket" camera and it is not designed for harsh conditions and my nature hikes take me into some fairly rough and wet terrain. I did another internet search for small tough camera. I chose an Olympus 3000 Stylus Tough. It's pocket/purse size (smaller than lots of cell phones), 12mp, 3.6x optical zoom, it will survive a 5ft. drop and 10ft of water and comes in pretty colors. Again, searching around the internet I found it for about US$200.

The fact that both were from Olympus had more to do with their features and the best prices I found than any brand preference.

To sum up, decide what features you want in a camera, read lot's of reviews and research the best prices on the internet. Hope this was of some help.

Best,
Melody