What is this?
This is 91 Days. In short, it’s a project to take a photo every day for the months of July, August, and September 2022.
I need more detail. What is this project really about?
In short, movement. Look, the past two years have been absurd in the worst sense of the word. They’ve been surreal, illogical, full of anxiety and complex interpersonal negotiations even when doing something as simple as going to the store. But you know this. You were there.
This year, though, we’re finally getting back to normal! Only, what does that mean? The news is still dark and full or horrors, daily life is still full of complex negotiations and free floating anxieties. But we cope. We have to. And, if we’ve gotten good at anything over the past few years, it’s coping.
We’ve been out walking, riding bikes, exploring forgotten corners of familiar neighborhoods, and getting back in touch with our own backyards. As we move back to “normal,” it’s too easy to let these newfound habits and lifestyle changes vanish into the deep waters off the shore of yesterday.
This project is my personal attempt to keep myself involved in local exploration, in getting outside my house, and away from the computer.
What prompted all this?
Years ago, during the early days of Blogger and Wordpress and other blogging sites, I had a habit of making a new blog every time a new idea struck me. Most of them are gone now, nothing but digital detritus clogging up my archives, but the ideas remain behind. Some of them are even relevant.
Like, this one: limitations are powerful. When we set constraints around our creativity, it focuses our attention and pushes our art to new places.
When I first started playing with cameras, every roll of film brought with it limitations. Not only in the finite number of frames, but in whether I could afford to buy more. Every shot had to be composed, every snap of the shutter weighted against the composition in my head.
And so, in the early days of Blogger, I had both my first digital DSLR Camera (a Pentax *istD, still a fantastic camera) and my first camera-equipped cell phone. Suddenly, the major constraint of all my years of photo work had vanished.
The light of all that freedom blinded me. I needed to put some context to what it was I was trying to achieve if for no other reason than it would help me define what I wanted to achieve. I decided on curation. I would post one photo a day for 91 days. It didn’t have to be shot that day, just thought about and selected for that day.
It was a good project. I enjoyed it. I’d like to do it again.
What’s the format for the project?
The plan is to use this space, SubStack.com/91days as a hub. I’ll be posting one photo a day, tagged with #91days to my Instagram account. Outtakes, alternate shots, and possibly digital alterations (e.g. filters and processing) will be posted in my group 91 Days on Flickr. The daily photos will be collected into a weekly round-up along with commentary or whatever else I feel like writing about, and sent out as a newsletter.
The project will run for the 91 days between July 1, 2022 to September 30, 2022.
Isn’t that 92 Days?
Yeah. About that. The original project, back in 2004, was scheduled to run from June through August, which is, you know, 91 days. I registered the Blogger domain, made a logo, got everything ready. And then things kind of fell apart for a minute and I need up having to postpone the project to the following year. Specifically, July of the following year. So, my 91 days ended up being 92 days.
So, why change not change it? I dunno. I’m stubborn. I like the name and wanted the thematic contrast between the original version, 17 years ago, and whatever I do this year.
Besides, 91 days just sounds better, you know?
This sounds fun. I want to do it, too.
Fantastic! There are a few ways to participate (aside from just taking pictures).
Put your photos up on Instagram and tag them with #91DaysPhotoProject or #91DaysOfPhotos.
Join the Flickr group 91 Days and interact with others in the group.
Look for threads here on SubStack where you can post your photos and leave comments for others in the group (note: I reserve the right to not make any threads if it’s going to be just me!)
And, of course, subscribe to the newsletter:
I want to support the project but I don’t want to participate. What can I do?
Thanks, I appreciate your support. If you’re interested in the writing that goes along with my photos, you might enjoy subscribing to the paid edition of my weekly newsletter, Learned. It’s about words and language and comes out every Monday night (Japan time).
If you’d rather skip the words but contribute to my new camera fund, you can buy me a virtual coffee at Ko-fi.com.
But the biggest and most important way you can support the project is by interacting with the content across the different platforms (SubStack, Instagram, and Flickr) as well as by telling everyone you know.
Whichever you choose, again, thank you.
What happens after the project is finished?
I don’t know. This is a purposely limited experiment for me. If it works, if I’m happy with it, then maybe I’ll do some prints or try to put a book together. If I’m not happy with it, then…I’ll just do nothing, I guess. Either way, that will be the end of this newsletter (for the moment).
I have more questions. I just can’t think of them right now.
No worries. Feel free to ask at any time through any of the project’s platforms.
