The reasons behind doing a 365 photo challenge for me have varied in the the years I've done them. The first year was about self esteem and learning that I am not a hideous monster. The second year was all about learning to use my camera. The third year was about being aware of the new space I was in. I didn't finish year three for obvious reasons, but I did learn something with the 280something pictures I took. The photo challenge made me take my camera with me every where. And use it. Even though I'm not doing a 365 day project (and probably won't for a very long time), I still carry my camera with me every where I go. What I've noticed lately though is that I don't take the time to use it. I'll see something and think "I should take a picture of that", but then I won't stop and actually do it. Part of me feels like I've done enough by just noticing that something needs to be photographed. It's not like I have any aspirations of being a photographer. I just want to take pictures, hopefully pretty ones. And every once in a while I take a picture that I, myself, can't stop looking at because I think it's beautiful. A picture that I look at and think "Wow! I took an awesome photo!". Because that's a really hard thing to do. Not take the picture, but give yourself permission to not look at your own creation with out such a critical eye.

It's a practice and one I need to get in the habit of doing more often, and one I encourage for you to do too. Just maybe, if we can look at our own creations with out tearing it down, we can look at ourselves in that way. And maybe even each other. Happy Love Thursday.