More than a month ago, back on October 5, 2011, I reached Day 1500 of my One a Day Project.

1500. Wow. That’s getting up there.  I remember hitting the 100 photo mark way back when and thinking that was a lot.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s my 1500th One a Day pick:

1500th One a Day pick, October 5, 2011

I’m not sure I can draw any grand conclusions about the progression of my photography over 1500 days; this pick show several of my recurring themes, specifically water, reflections and shadows.

And another of photos from that same day which almost got tapped to be the 1500th OAD:

City reflected in a web

That’s a problem with my self-imposed “rules and strictures” of this project: some days I am fortunate enough to have more than one photo that I like, but there can only be one “One a Day” pick.  Ah well – I have all of my “runners-up” marked in my database, too, just in case I ever want to relax the rules 😉

BTW, that “runner-up” photo is one of those illusions/reflections: it’s a reflection of the buildings in the water, with the sky also reflected. The spider web is not a reflection, it is on the railing above the reflection.

Anyway, as with each milestone I’ve reached, reaching 1500 photos was an opportunity for me to reflect on why I’m doing this project, and whether I want to continue. After all, while I take photos every day, I have rarely had time every day to sort and choose the photo of the day.  So, I’m most often playing catch-up with all the sorting and selecting for the OAD picks.

And, I will confess, that there are a few days when I scramble to make sure I’ve taken a photo – that happened quite a bit that first year, actually, when I also was working. It happens less frequently these days, but I have been almost caught short  But never actually completely missed one – thanks, Chris, asking if I’ve taken photos yet. 🙂

So, 1500 could have been a good place to stop, right?

So, why didn’t I?

Well, one of the fun things about doing the OAD project has been thinking about photography every day. As I wander through Tübingen on my way to class, or head out to the Target-like store for yet another shopping expedition, I’m always looking around, evaluating the surroundings to see if I spot anything interesting that I can take a photo of that day. I carry our little Casio point-and-shoot camera in my bag all the time now, so I’m always ready to take a photo when something grabs my attention. I’m slowly warming up to that little camera, by using it more. It’s not as flexible as my big dSLR camera but I’ve been pleased with the results I’ve gotten the last few weeks with that little camera. The two photos above were  taken with that little Casio, in fact, as were the postcard-shots and many of the  river reflection and autumn colors photos I’ve posted recently.

One day a few weeks back, through a necessary series of unrelated events, Chris wound up with the bag that had the little Casio camera in it. So, when I set off to go to my German class that day, I didn’t have a camera with me. However, I was unconsciously still scanning around for potential photo ops as I walked; then I’d realize, oh right I don’t have a camera with me. Bummer.

When I realized that I was disappointed by not having the camera to take a photo at that moment, I realized that I’m still enjoying the challenge of taking photos every day. My oft-stated criteria for when I’ll know it’s time to stop the One a Day project is when I’m bored. I’m not there yet … so onwards toward the next OAD milestone.