Daniel Hedrick

Ever since I got my first camera, I’ve been using photos to document my life. I know I’m not alone on this–people have been making vacation albums, school albums, etc. as long as there have been cameras.

You may have run across mention of the Project 365 somewhere–one photo a day for a year. I tried that a few years back, using self-portraits, but found that I often forgot to shoot my ugly mug on a daily basis. Apparently, I wasn’t alone, because I stumbled upon the 52 Week project.

I decided to skip the whole self-portrait thing and just go for one photo a week that was indicative of the week in which it was taken. Now I can look back through the 52 pictures and each photo jogs my memory a bit to help me remember events throughout the year.

As a bonus, it forces me to remember to bring my camera everywhere. I generally do, but now I’ve got this project in the back of my mind all of the time. It keeps me motivated to take photos, but doesn’t register as overwhelming like the Project 365 did.

I would definitely encourage anyone who likes photography to create their own 52 Week project. Make it your own; 52 flowers, 52 photos of your dog, 52 sunsets… There are endless possibilities. Just keep it fun, and in a year, you’ll have a great collection of photos that help tell a story.

More 52 Week examples on Flickr.