Photography challenge gives me another excuse to get outside

I’ve been stuck inside far too often over the last few years, so when I ran across a good excuse to get outside more, I jumped on it. And it’s been working quite well.

With the kids involved in 4-H and school sports, and with all our other obligations, it seems to get harder to get outside all the time. So anytime I find a good excuse to spend more time outside, I take it.

The most recent excuse came in the form of a photography challenge. A friend and fellow photographer invited me to join him in an attempt to post one good photo to the Internet each day. It’s called Photos 365, and the idea is to post a good photo every day for a full year. The catch is that the photo has to be posted the same day it’s shot.

It’s harder than it sounds. First of all, there’s the rule that it has to be a good picture. I figured that one would disqualify me right away. But as it turns out, I’ve been able to get a photo each day so far. I don’t know if they’ve all actually been good, but at least they haven’t been terrible. And for me, that’s an improvement.

The trickiest part is getting a photo every single day, whether it’s good or not. And since I’m primarily an outdoor photographer, that makes it even more challenging. Some days, the weather doesn’t want to cooperate, and the light is absolutely horrible. That makes me have to try new things to get a good photo – things I haven’t had much practice with.

But the best part of the whole thing is that it forces me to go outside. And since I’m posting most of the shots to my website, and people can buy prints of them on that site, my wife is OK with me ducking out to go get photos.

That’s where you can help me out. The more photos I sell, the more time I can spend outside. So if you’re in the market for some photos, please go to my gallery at TyStockton.com and place an order. You’ll be my friend forever if you do.