1/365: Happy New Year!

1/365: Happy New Year!, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

January 1st

So much sparkle! Happy New Year!

Two thousand and eleven!

You can find the description of the place where I took this photo at the end of this post, but I want to mention something else while the day is young. Can you guess?

PROJECT 365!

I wrote about it just before I started last year, but did you know 2011 will be my fifth year? Just in case you don't know, there is only one rule:

Take one photo a day, every day, for one year.

I think you should do it too. January 1st is the best day to start, for those of us who make resolutions. And this one is fairly easy. You just take a picture. It doesn't have to be good, it doesn't have to be spectacular, it just has to be YOURS.

Reasons why you should do it? Here. Five good ones. 

Photo Project 365 is:

1. a photo diary of every day of the year (those who have kids or other ongoing evolving projects should find this most convincing)
2. an excellent way to improve your photography (without really even trying!)
3. a creative project! We all need something creative in our lives. 
4. a great incentive to carry your camera everywhere you go (have you ever said 'I wish I'd had my camera on me'? Yes? Then this project is for you.)
5. a good way never to find yourself saying 'I need to take a picture of that some day.' SOME DAY IS TODAY!

Go on. You know you want to at least give it a try. If you fail, you've lost nothing. If you succeed, you'll probably want to try again next year. ;)

And now for the description which originally went with this photo:

Lodz is a flat city. Very flat. Its highest point is a semi-artificial mound piled in 1969 to create a small (K-15) ski-jumping slope. No bleachers or judge tower were ever built, and the slope fell into ruin in the eighties. I hear some resourceful young volunteers fixed it up just this last year. Interesting to note that people had already been ski jumping from the natural portion of the mound in the 1930s.

Anyway, the mound itself stands 230 m above sea level and is called Rudzka Góra, which means 'Mountain of Ore', as it lies in an area of town where bog iron used to be extracted. There's an artificial bobsleigh track that runs up the top (awesome fun), and when half the town showed up to watch the fireworks they all clambered up by holding on to the lift cable.

You can see part of the track in the photo, behind the people. On an ordinary day you're not supposed to climb over the fence and get that close to the track and the equipment, but New Year's Eve is special. You're probably not supposed to launch fireworks haphazardly in a crowd, either, but that's what people did. I did not get hit, but it was close. Fireworks are stupid, but they're a beautiful kind of stupid. From the Rudzka Góra, I saw them go off all over town. I didn't get exactly the shot I wanted, but I got others which were equally good, and next year I know what to do.

No one got hurt, it was loud, it was beautiful, I had the best time. I don't like parties at all, but on New Year's there's an inevitable pressure to do Something, so I am always looking for a good place to be that doesn't involve drinking and dancing. Especially since I'm never invited anywhere that WOULD involve it!

365/365: Waiting for the New Year

365/365: Waiting for the New Year, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

December 31st

I went up on the Rudzka Góra, an artificial mound which is the highest point in Lodz, and waited for the New Year. I was alone, at first, but then suddenly half the town showed up, and they must have all been very drunk to have made it up the steep, slippery, snowy slope in their dress shoes and high heels. I applaud the precaution of those who carried sleds, to make the descent easier.


By the way, this is my last photo of Project 365 2010. I am doing it again, a fifth time, in 2011. Will you join me?

I'll write something about that later, after I take a New Year Nap, but meanwhile here is a link to my post from last year which explains Why You Should Totally Do It.

Project 365 2010- don't forget to start!

You lazy bums, you promised! Where are the photos?

I just phoned up my sister (whose 365 blog I will link to once she starts one, and whose lovely photos I link to meanwhile) to remind her. The fact of the matter is it is January 1st, and if you don't start today, you will find it much harder to start tomorrow. People are odd creatures. They like milestones. They like clean slates, fresh starts, new beginnings, laundered underwear. January 2nd is rubbish. January 1st, ho, now, there's a date that commands respect!

Go take that picture before you fudge up your chance of a clean streak on the very first day.

Me being the party-hater that I am,  I spent New Year's Eve chillin' (oh and how) on a bridge over the Vistula, waiting for the city to provide a memorable firework display and praying the fog would not spoil it. The fog obliged but the city did not, and so I have only a mediocre photograph to mark the beginning of my Project 365 2010. No matter. It is symbolic, it was taken precisely at midnight, and it will do.

Happy New Year, everybody. And comment with links to your 365s, please, so that I can follow you.