Closing in on 1,000 Consective Days

At the time of this writing, it is Day #840 out of 1,000 days.  And I have yet to take my picture of the day.  Hopefully will soon I will take it.  "I can't mess up and miss a day now."

Those have been my thoughts over the last couple of months as I have continued my trek to a 1,000 days.  Here's some background on how this crazy journey started.  

The final photograph of the 365 - Year 1.

It was in late December 2015, that I decided to take the simple project of a 365 photo project and go for the highlight of 1,000 consecutive daily photographs.  Now, if you asked me back then in 2013 that I would be embarking on a 1,000 day photography project, I most likely would not have been interested or I would have been stressed out about it.

But that hasn't been the case at all.  And I think it has to be due to the fact that I didn't make that a goal from the start.  Rather I changed the goal during the project.  The realization or thought of 1,000 days didn't come until later.  And over the coarse of doing this project, I discovered that it is okay to change the goal and that change WILL happen no matter what.  

Some of the tools I use during the 1,000 day photo project!  :)

Another factor with this project that kept me going and my nerves rested was that I was not doing it alone.  I had a great group of friends that help me along the way.  My friend Justin made a Facebook group for this project in 2014.  The group became a support system.  It was the place were we encouraged each other and shared our photography daily or weekly. ;)  Doing this kept me and my friends accountable to the project.  I can honestly say that without them there, the 1,000 day journey would not be happening.

Here's a side note with the 1,000 day project.  The 1,000 day project is happening because of my friends that I mentioned above.  It started out originally as a 365 photo project.  It was supposed to be only one year.  But when some of my friends didn't get to finish it their first year and wanted to do it again, I jumped in to help them.  And again, some didn't finished.  But instead of not completing the second year, I decided to go for it and complete year two.  It was then that I decided that ending at year two didn't seem like anything special.  720 days seemed basic and nothing incredible.  So I thought hard and long about what would make it seem like something special.  And that's when the lightbulb went off!  I'll go to a 1,000 days.  Hence the 1,000 journey was born.

So if it wasn't for my friends not completing their projects, I wouldn't be on this journey.  After writing that, it seems a little weird.  However, the case, they are a vital and important part in this journey.

Another reason that I haven't been stressed out about going to a 1,000 days, is that it has become a learned habit.  With any project, persistence and habits play a major role to its success.  During year one of this project, it took me a good two months to make it a habit without a daily reminder.  Once it became a habit, it become second nature and the stress of thinking, creating, and taking a photography of the day went away.  I knew without thinking about it I had to do it. So with that out of the way it was painless.

I will also like to note that there have been some very close calls with me missing a day.  The worst was when I took a photograph at around 11:56pm.  That was cutting it close.  The beauty of this project that it does push your limits, creativity, and goal setting to an extreme.  But like I like to stay if it doesn't kill you it will only make you better.

Follow me on Instagram: @oliver_asis

In top of having friends and it becoming a habit, the journey to 1,000 days has taught me the valuable lesson of taking time for yourself daily.  If not daily but at least weekly.  I have known how easy it is to not take care for ourselves.  Life happens, we get busy, and we become complacent, especially with ourselves.  It is highly important that we take the time to devote to ourselves.  To some, it can feel selfish, I too felt this.  But I have changed that stance.  And now self care is my number one priority.  It is above all else.

The reason, I change my opinion on this is because I realized that not taking care of myself is not going to do anyone any good.  And that I would not be able to accomplish all the things that I want for myself.  It has been a long road for me to see this but it is solely the truth.  I realized that at the end of the day, only you can devote the love and care to you.  Only you know what makes your tick, what drives you, and what makes you happy.   I understand now, that we can not make the way we feel about ourselves based on how others view or think about us.  Only we can make ourselves happy and sad.  It is only us.

Nothing is impossible.  :)

The 1,000 day photography project has been a journey were I can tangibly see where my highs and my lows have been.  It is the place were I can see the people, places, things, and experiences that have highlighted my life.  Looking back at the days I've photography so far has been a way for me to travel back in time and re-experience the moments, memories, and feels of those days.  I can't think of a better project to all you to do that.

Even though, I only share 1 photograph to represent that day.  The photo, that represents the day helps me remember the moments and things that occurred during that day.  It is a cool thing to have.

So now with me closing in on a 1,000 days, it is coming apparent and this project is coming to a close.  Will I finish off the 3rd year?  Who knows at this point?  But in all likeliness, I will continue the project in some form.  

And how will I celebrate this milestone?  Well I don't have anything concrete yet but my vision is to have a photography show to showcase all the photos from this journey.  I know for sure that in some way I want to show what 1,000 days in a life is like.  So off, 2.5 years of photography.  And I would also take this opportunity to show other works that I have yet to highlight.  So stay tune for the details as they become more concrete.  Until then, I still have 160 days to go.

Thanks for reading.

Keep up with the project here:

Photo 365 - Year 1 - 2014

Photo 365 - Year 2 - 2015

Photo 365 - Year 3 - Journey to 1,000 days. - 2016

The final photograph of the 2015, Project 365!

It's been 9 Months...

Hello!  It's been 9 months or more so since I last posted here on the blog.  I'm sorry.  This is the part were I tell you I was busy, I was doing this, and I was doing that.  Partly true and not the whole truth.  The truth is that I didn't make it a priority for me to do it.  I honestly didn't.  I rested on my laurels thinking that will help get me back into it.  Well it didn't.  I know that now.  And I regret that it has taken me this long to get back here and report.

This is part were I will make a Declaration / Promise to myself.  I promise to at least every week to post here and share something.  It can be anything.  Anything related to my photography journey.  So there is my promise.

I, Oliver Asis, promise to share and post here on the blog at least once a week for the foreseeable future with my photography.

With that now out of the way, let me give you an update via pictures.

1)  I visited my 18th and 19th National Parks; Redwood National Park & Death Valley National Park.

My friends, Randy, Hollie, Erin, and I at the eastern enterance into Death Valley National Park. 

2)  I won the Adobe Creative Jam Mobile Photography category with both the Judges & People's Choice.

This was the winning image from the Adobe CreativeJam San Diego 2016!  Theme was Boundaries.

3)  I've become the President of the Professional Photographers of San Diego County (PPSDC).

4)  I've recently started working at 3rdSpace, it has become the official home of the business side of Oliver Asis Photography.

The 3rdSpace Town Hall meeting.

5)  I'm getting closer and closer to taking 1,000 consecutive photographs everyday since January 2014.  September 26th, 2016 will mark the 1,000th day!

6)  I've recently got involved in a photography project at my coworking space called; San Diego Unseen!

3 Ways to Executing Ideas

So here is a situation that I find myself in a lot lately; I'm surfing the internet via Facebook and Twitter mostly and you come upon something cool.  You click on the link.  And read the article.  After reading the article you get inspired and yearn to do something about it.  Then you take all that energy and plan out how you will accomplish that task.  But after that things fall into place and you don't do it.  Does this sound familiar?

The thing that I'm taking about is execution.  The idea of executing the idea.  As of late, I have found myself in this place that I would call a tough and a rough place.  I have these ideas and I can't seem to execute it.  So what is a guy to do?

Here are 5 things that I know have worked to get me out of this funk.

1.  Get the ideas Down on Paper (seriously)

I already mentioned that I do this a lot.  I have Moleskine note books filled with ideas that I have yet to execute.  And that is completely okay.   It is okay because the ideas are out of my head and somewhere tangible where they can be seen and also can be shared.  I don't have to think about these ideas because they have already been thought about and are out of my head.  Keeping such ideas in your head can be a problem because you will forget, lose, and not remember them when the time comes to execute it.  While having on paper, you have it out and somewhere you can reference in the future.  The only thing is, you can't lose the paper with the idea.  ;)

2.  Make a Schedule

Make and give yourself a schedule.  Make the time to go and do something.  It may not be the idea at hand but you have to do something at that set time and day.  The reason being is that you have do something is because you want to make it into a habit.  Practice this enough and you will find yourself doing and having more time to execute an idea.  I have found that doing a daily ritual such as taking a photograph can be hard at first but one it become a habit, it just another part of the day.  When this happens the effort "seems" less and doesn't feel like a burden.

3.   Share you ideas with someone

When you have some ideas one of the best ways to get them executed is to share it with a friend and family member that you will keep you accountable.  Sharing these ideas out loud with someone will not only provide your motivation to do but it will also give you an opportunity to build it.

The thing about having an accountability buddy is that he or she can keep on you on the progress of the idea and knowing that they are watching will keep you on your toes to continue.  I would suggest that you don't dictate when they check in with you rather let them do it on their schedule.  The best accountability buddies will do it when they observe you not making progress and will keep you on task.

So when you find yourself in a place where you can't seem to execute; write it out, make schedule for your ideas, and tell a friend or family member, having them hold you accountable.  And you will find yourself on the road back to executing your ideas.

How else do you get your idea executed?

Top 10 Photos of 2014 No. 1 - The Red Moon Rises

And the drum roll please…the No 1 of 2014 is a photograph of the Blood Moon.  It seemed that this year of all years the Blood Moon got quite an attention in main stream media.  We were privilege to get two opportunities this year to see and photograph it.  There was one in April and there was one in October.

The first one, I was got to hang out with my friends Garrett and Justin while we took the photographs.  We stayed to photograph for a couple of hours before the clouds started to block and fade out the moon.  So we didn’t stay for the whole thing.

However in October, I photographed the Blood Moon, in the front of my house.  I stayed out from 1am to 6am and made it to work.  It was rough day none the less but so worth it.

What 2014 thought about photography is this:

1.  Photography is about experiences.
2. Photography is best shared with family and friends.
3. Photography is always fun.

Top 10 Photos of 2014 No. 2 - Galaxy

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The No.2 photograph of 2014 is the photograph of a Bristlecone Pine with the Milky Way in the sky.  This was one of those trips that simply was just done for the photography.  My friend Randy and I took this last minute trip up the mountain to capture this scene.  We simply just went for the heck of adventure and photography.  Even though it was a short trip, it was well worth the effort.  There is nothing more spectacular that being in out in the world, seeing the beauty, and creating a photograph.