28 x 28: February Twenty-Seven

And so we reach the penultimate entry in what has been a sometimes inspiring, and sometimes daunting assignment. I am not fully sure what my aim was at the beginning of February when I decided it would be a good idea to post some item of worth every day for 28 days. To be completely honest, I suppose I didn't consider the implications and creative devotion it would take to keep a blog without a definitive subject updated for a whole month. While I can say that the first week and half were relatively easy to come up with an inspiring endeavor to share, as days marched on I found myself actually notably distracted throughout my day with the thought of having to produce some kind of content. The most important guideline I have followed when it comes to For Your Inconsiderations has been that I would only post something I saw a thread of merit in. Because of this self-imposed editing, one could easily note the frequency (or lack thereof) of my postings before February 2010. This is to say nothing of the handful of half realized articles I have backlogged that may or may not ever be finished that have never been posted.

For all of the complications that arose though, I admit that I found myself driven to find worthwhile things to post in a way I haven't previously been before. Many of the black and white photo shoots I found myself on were a direct result of my desire to share something of true artistic merit that people could enjoy regardless of their relationship to me. The abstract drawing from early in the process was a completely new adventure for me and I learned a lot. I'm also pretty proud of some of the short form writing I did. The haiku's were a lot of fun, and the stream of consciousness writing experiment was one of the most thematically rewarding things I've ever written.

I also learned a few lessons when I look back at the final product. Due to time constraints and general lack of ideas, 28 x 28 ended up being a lot more of a photoblog than I had intended. On the one hand, this was enjoyable because I've always longed to further explore photography. I hope to continue this exploration more privately in the future. Surely, there are much better photoblogs out there and I told myself when beginning this blog that it would not be a copycat of ideas I had gleaned other places. I also learned from this experiment that I identify myself much more artistically than I previously thought. Most to all of the entries this month have been some kind of creative expression. Writing, art, and photography. I had not completely expected this at the outset of the process, but I am happy nonetheless.

Through it all, 28 x 28 has done a few things for me moving forward. First, I have found myself with a drive to seek out new and interesting things to share specifically in the interest of sharing them. I am hopeful that this motivation will stay as strong as it has been without the impetus of the obligations of posting once a day. Second, I find myself inspired to go out and see the world in a greater capacity than I have considered before. I use 'see the world' as literally as I can here. I am at a point in my life that the opportunity to explore the planet is much easier to fathom than it would be even five years from now. Lastly, this little experiment has bolstered a feeling in me to want to create things of meaning that others have at least a passing interest in seeing. The extent to which all of these things last in my consciousness is debatable, but right now as a retrospective I feel like they are semi-permanent revelations.

In conclusion, 28 x 28 ended up being a much more personal experience than I could have predicted. I both further explored my comfort zone while trying my best to take timid steps outside of it. Would I do something like this again? No, probably not. I think day Eighteen is the most solid and damning proof that this kind of process will eventually wear you out. Have I mentioned how embarrassed and sorry I am for Day Eighteen, yet? Still, in subsequent passings of time I hope to one day look back at 28 x 28 as an indication of how I attempted something worthwhile, discovered I am a student of many things and perhaps a master of none, and appreciate whatever output I was able to achieve in my endeavor.

Stay tuned for one more post tomorrow which is going to be more of a personal look forward as well as a retrospective on the last year.