Time Machine, originally uploaded by Frank Reyes.

13.365

We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they’re called memories. Some take us forward, they’re called dreams.

I think this quote about time bears repeating too: “Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.” Douglas Adams Any Hitchhiker fans???

Well, I’ve decided to give this a try for the second year in a row now. I did much better in 2009 with over 300 photos, compared to just over 100 in 2007. I think an important factor was that one of the groups I posted to had a lot my friends as participants. So that made it a lot more enjoyable and easier to keep going throughout the year. I learned a lot more about my camera and photography during 2009. I was really inspired by a lot of the photos that were submitted to the group. Check out the final result of my project 365 for 2009.

If you have participated in a photography project like this, what are some of the themes that you used to keep the interest going? I know some have suggested taking a photo at the same exact time every day, a photo a day that features a different letter of the alphabet or number, photos of certain color objects, etc. I’d be interested in hearing what you have done.

Recently I had the opportunity to try the Silver Efex Pro plugin for Photoshop. I first heard about it on the TWIP photography podcast when Scott Bourne stated that it had a dramatic impact on his photography.

My experience with the plugin was similar. It really changed the way my black and white photos turned out. While you can certainly convert images to black and white using Photoshop, the control points in Silver Efex allow you much more control over how and where you make your changes.

I decided to try project 365 once again. This photography project involves taking at least one photo each day for an entire year. I gave it a try two years ago but didn’t quite take all 365. Still, I learned a lot from that experience and have decided to give it another try. This time I have a number of friends that are involved so that will make it a little easier. You can see my photos here.

Animoto.com is a web application that creates MTV-style videos with the click of a button.

Users simply choose a song and images. Animoto then automatically generates a unique video for them. No two videos are ever the same.

Many of the post-production techniques that the founders used while working as producers for MTV, Comedy Central & ABC are used in Animoto’s patent-pending Cinematic Artificial Intelligence developed to think like an actual editor and director. The resulting video is produced in a widescreen format, containing the visual energy of a music video and the emotional impact of a movie trailer.

Here’s a sample video that I put together with a few of my photos.

Then with a click of a button I did this remix.

Very addictive and fun!