Tips for Surviving Project365

Jamie Whiffen
Jul 30, 2017 · 8 min read

If you have recently started the huge challenge of committing to take a photo a day for an entire year and starting to stumble then I have some tips for you.

This article is an expansion of a recent YouTube video on this topic which you may find easier to consume than reading an article. You can watch it here:

Project365 can be a very creatively demanding challenge at the best of times but can leave you even more frustrated when the lack of inspiration hits as the clock ticks closer to midnight (this has happened to me more than I’d care to admit). I completed my full year of daily photos in February 2017 and upon competition I was incredibly proud and fulfilled but weirdly sad. Do not let that put you off this crazy yearlong task but instead jump completely into it and attempt not to drown in a pool of photos that need editing! This article will give you eight tips and tricks that I wish I knew when starting this journey and will hopefully help you survive Project365!


Tip #1 Bring your Camera Everywhere

The greatest lesson that you can take from this article is to take your camera with you everywhere you go, it’s fundamental in capturing so many incredible moments that go uncaptured throughout your day-to-day. You never know when a photo is going to present itself and I found that having my camera with me at all times allowed me to snap great shots throughout the day. It is rather disappointing when you you see a photo opportunity but miss out on it simply because you left your camera at home or didn’t take with with you on your lunch break.

Considering you have to take a photo every single day regardless of the quality of the actual photo, it is best to have the camera with you as there is more chance that you’ll pick up the camera and capture something instead of waiting later in the day when you are ‘free’ to shoot. Sometimes you’ll forget, other times you’ll get busy and can’t spend an hour in the studio, wandering the streets or planning the photo. It happens. You don’t want to find yourself late at night searching the house for an object or composition rushing to take a photo before you move onto the next day! This can be quite simple during days 0–100 but later in the year you’ve seen every nook and cranny of your apartment and that challenge becomes increasingly harder!

Take the camera with you to the bank, the opticians, work, hospital, a walk at 3am or even when it’s pouring rain outside. It’s the simplest and most actionable step that will dramatically improve the quality of the type of shots you take.


Tip #2 Never use your lens cap

It goes without saying that we’ve all put our camera up to our eye at one point to take a photo and been greeted with darkness. Behold, the lens cap. A great shield to defend against scratches on your glass when not using the camera but an enemy when we need our desperately need our camera. Something that I did during Project365 was to never have my lens cap on my lens, I found it was incredibly freeing in how fast I could spot and take photos that would have been missed had I spent those vital 2–3 seconds removing the cap.

Photos present themselves wherever and whenever and you never know when they will appear, you must ensure that you are ready at all costs to capture what could be an incredible photo. For instance the following photo was taken when I spotted a group of girls asking Charlie Chaplin to take a selfie of them. I knew what was going to happen before it happened, as when you progress during this project your eye will develop the ability to spot shots before they appear.

Surrounded by tourists on the Southbank in London I literally stuffed a water bottle in my mouth, fell to the floor, framed my composition and snapped the photo within the span of 3 seconds. From the image forming in my brain to capturing the photo I had little to know time to think, I had to react in the moment and had the lens cap been on my camera this incredible moment would have been lost.

If you’re someone who worries about the scratches on your lens because it may affect your photos or re-sell abilities then I have a simple solution for you: a UV filter.


Tip #3 Invest in a quality shoulder strap

If you are taking my advice to keep your camera with you everywhere you go it would be smart to invest in a quality shoulder strap. I went for the longest duration of time without a soft flexible strap and I started to develop shoulder pains that would hurt even when I wasn’t holding the camera; after I bought the strap the pain decreased dramatically yet still persisted. Carrying a heavy camera and lens is a sacrifice I was willing to make however. I do not believe that there is a strap out there that will remove the pain completely but the higher quality shoulder strap you can get your hands on the better.


Tip #4 Give Yourself Weekly Challenges

Having weekly challenges that force you into creative restraints is one of the best ways to ensure that you are constantly pressuring yourself to think outside of the box and develop your photographic eye. I had a variety of challenges I would set myself over a weekly duration and then have a week free to take inspiration from whatever caught my attention; this was an incredible way of creating purpose and then flow within the project.

For example I used the following rules to force myself to think creatively:

● Focus only on texture for an entire week

● Experiment with shadows and light, predominantly the use of natural light

● The effects of colour

● Plants & Nature

There might be a really obvious shot you want to get on day one but by day seven you’ve used up all the easy shots and you’ll be forced to look harder and become more creative with the angles you take the photo from, type of lens, the post processing etc. Through forcing yourself to see the world in a new way and look for photos it makes you a better photographer as your eye can spot photo opportunities that you wouldn’t have seen before.


Captured on the Canon 70d with the 35mm lens.

Tip #5 Shoot in RAW

This is incredibly obvious to most photographers but if you are not aware of the benefits of using the RAW image format then let me open your eyes. RAW is a file type that captures more information (larger files too) every time you take a photo which grants greater control over the exposure and colour in post production applications such as Adobe Lightroom. The use of RAW is very powerful when it comes to editing the highlights and shadows in photos, if you are not shooting in RAW you need to change the settings in your camera ASAP!!


Tip #6 Check your Progress Monthly

I found that checking the previous months photos allowed me to gauge how I was improving. In all areas of life everything is gradual and it’s hard to keep track, this is the remedy for that. The improvement that you see will fill you with confidence to keep climbing the mountain. By the time I was at day 295 it felt like I had been taking photos for an age and was near completion when I still had over another 170 photos to go. At this point in the challenge you will feel incredibly drained both creatively and through motivation but seeing the progress will revitalize and pressure you to keep making progress with growing your skill set.

Tip #7 Find Different Styles, Find Your Voice

Starting Project365 was a way of forcing myself to find what I liked and didn’t like about photography, I believed it to be a challenge that would over the year funnel me down from broad styles and interests into a particular area that I could focus on. If you are starting out and don’t have a clue if you enjoy portrait, nature, travel, fashion or studio photography to list just a few then you should decide to keep every door open. Spread yourself across these multi-disciplines and find what you like and eliminate what you don’t like; it’s the fastest way to develop your taste as a photographer. Becoming a confident general photographer is the first step you should take before specializing and delving fully into that topic. That being said if you’re a fashion photographer and want to do a Project365 based on fashion then you can absolutely do that. This piece of advice is for the individuals just starting photography.

Medium has lowered the quality of this photo dramatically. :(

Tip #8 Be Accountable

Keep yourself on target by uploading the photo everyday to Instagram or Facebook. Letting friends, family and followers know you’re attempting Project365 puts the fact that you are committing to this for a year out into the world so you are not the only person aware of your attempt. This is a great way of holding yourself accountable and others watching you progress with this journey.

I found that a lot of friends were interested in my daily photos and wanted to be involved in some capacity, whether that be them starring in the photo, helping eliminate my choices for that day’s photos or by giving critical feedback. Keeping yourself in discussion surrounding your work with others will make you feel more of a reason to continue working. As you start to build up this streak of daily photos that others are paying attention to I found that I was able to keep taking a photo everyday because I didn’t want to let others see me fail.


If you found this article helpful in anyway hit the little clap button down below to show me! If you want to discuss these tips further tweet me at @WhiffenYT..

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed it, hit the heart button below. It allows others to find the article and would mean a lot to me.

FYI: this article originally appeared on my website.

Jamie Whiffen

Written by

I talk about marketing, self-improvement, tech, online culture and career-focused topics. I like making things, sharing them and adapting.

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