I’m embarking on a new photographic adventure: Project 365, a self-imposed assignment in which I will take at least one photo a day for an entire year.

The concept dates back several years, and I first heard about it last year, but it seems to really be picking up steam lately. By taking a photo every day, you’re forcing yourself to think creatively and think about composition and think about lighting — no matter where you are or what you’re doing. It has the added bonus of documenting your life over the year — you’ll be able to look back and see at least one clue as to what you did on any particular day. Everyone I’ve read about or talked to that has gotten involved in this has said how wonderful it was in developing their photographic skills.

Which makes perfect sense, really. Think about the things you normally identify yourself as really good at. I’m really good at playing piano; I’ve played for 20 years and while I don’t play every day anymore, I did play every day for nearly 12 of those years. I’m pretty good at designing web sites; I can’t say I design a new one every day, but every time I *do* design one I get better.

Photography is no different. Common wisdom says that you need 10,000 hours — about 10 years — of experience before you’re an expert at something. All the photo pros will tell you: you just have to practice. Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot. I’ve been trying my hand at serious photography for a year now, and I didn’t exactly shoot every day (not by a long shot), but I’m still amazed by how far I’ve come just with that little bit of experience. If I successfully execute Project 365, I’ll have squeezed (I estimate) four to five times as much photography time in this coming year as I did in my first year.

I’ve been thinking about getting into this for the last few weeks, and a picture I saw from one of my Flickr contacts yesterday sealed the deal. I thought it was a really cool and creative shot, and I found myself thinking, “I never would have thought of that.” Why? Because I’m not used to thinking like that. I need to shoot every day to learn to think like that.

It’s a little daunting to think about — taking a decent picture every single day for a year. Especially since I’m still a little self-conscious whenever I have my giant DSLR (and tripod) out in public. But I’m going to get over that, and I’m going to get over that bad feeling of “there’s nothing interesting to take a picture of.” Seriously, that really bums me out. But what this project will force me to do is not dwell on such thoughts, but instead think creatively and make a photographic opportunity. Not every day is going to be a great photo, I’m sure — I’m not going to be able to be as selective as I normally would be in terms of what I post online — but it will keep me honest and keep me going.

Here’s hoping, anyway.

Every one of my Project 365 photos will be in my Flickr photostream tagged with “project365″.