visual inspiration 365 : Sommer Atkinson

Quote // There is not a single true work of art that has not in the end added to the inner freedom of each person who has known and loved it – Albert Camus

- Well, it’s finally arrived………………the last day of Visual Inspiration 365!

I started this project 364 days ago with the intent to challenge myself creatively, break out of a comfort zone (more or less died a 1000 deaths at the thought of it being out in public domain!) and also direct my energies into something productive (long story but lets just say there was a certain someone that did not have the faintest idea of my interest in him at the time

The simple idea was to upload daily a single photograph combined with a quote that I felt matched it…….and much to my joy, I successfully completed that goal and now have a wonderful collection of some of my 365 favourite photo’s combined with 365 beautiful quotes!

On one hand I’m ever so happy to have achieved what I set out to do, and yet on the other hand, also sad to say goodbye to it as it has been a creative outlet that I have come to love and is practically a habit now.

Although it still takes around an hour to create each one (by the time I trawl through 100′s of my photos + trying to find an appropriate quote + creating the artwork file + upload time), it has become easier and easier throughout the year.

To begin with there, were nights I was up till 2am pulling my hair out trying to come up with a Visual Inspiration, or falling asleep at my computer, drooling on my keyboard…..

Not to mention trying to keep up with the project while travelling through Europe (which was NOT the easiest thing to do…….there was a very cold night in Amsterdam that found me in tears walking around the hotel garden with B, in absolute frustration, so much so that I even kicked a bin like a little stubborn pony because “I am SO over it!? Argh why was I so dumb to even think this was a good idea!!???” ….thankfully B ever so gently persuaded me to calm down and get my ass back to the computer and finish my blog for the night :)

Besides the “hard moments” of this project, there have also been some really amazing moments and when I look at all the photo’s it never ceases to amaze me of the people, places and moments I’ve been able to share as a pixelated memories.

(Now if only I could invent a machine that could time-travel everyone to the exact moment a photo was taken…..now wouldn’t that be ingenius??)

So now, it has drawn to an end and as I realised this morning, this was always a project that was going to have a definitive end, so yes, I’m going to miss it in a sense but I’m also excited to be able to discover what’s next!

And last but certainly not least, a huge THANK YOU to everyone that has been following Visual Inspiration 365 this past year,

….everyone that has commented + emailed kind words,

….creative strangers that have re-shared Visual Inspiration 365 on their own blogs,

….the people that have I have had the honour and pleasure of photographing and featuring on this project,

….friends and family that have seen me pulling my hair out but continued to encourage me to keep going with it,

…dearest friends who quietly and unassumingly been the PR team, feedback panel & cheersquad,

…housemates who have put up with my camera gear, computer cables + cords, screens and electronic paraphanalia having taken residency in the loungeroom whilst I work

….B who has been my personal encourager and quote searcher when I need it + carried his laptop around Europe so I could use it (I broke mine right before we left for Europe!) and patiently put up with me on weekends while I’ve been frantically trying to get it done so we can go out to play………

and just cause I have always wanted to say this in true Oscar Ceremony Style……

“I’d like to thank God, without Him none of this would have been possible”

And I mean that with all my heart.

Thank you , thank you.

Love

Som x

(bahahah anyone would think I’ve won the Nobel Peace Prize the way I write, but in our own way we all have our own little triumph’s…and this is has been mine )