Several years ago we had a story on kodak.com about photographer Diego Goldberg. Every year, on June 17th, Diego takes a portrait of each of his family members. He describes it as capturing the arrow of time as it passes by. He has done this for 30 years!

Many of us were inspired by this simple but compelling ritual. A coworker of mine, Jack Yu, began the same custom on his wedding anniversary. Jack now has nine years of pictures where he can see how his family has grown and changed.

I too, wanted to have a photographic record of my family, so after I was married, I started taking these pictures on New Year's Day. They are always taken at my grandmother's house... in front of her refridgerator... the brightest, simplest spot in her house. My collection looked kind of meager with just Aaron and I, so I added the furry members also. I hope someday I have impressive rows like Diego and Jack.

If you want to try it yourself, here are some tips...

• choose the same day each year to take the pictures... a day with meaning so that you will always remember
  
• find a plain background for your photos, so the subject has all the focus
  
• try to frame your subject in the same way each year, so when the pictures are all lined up they are consistent (I didn't do a good job of this at first... Oscar really wasn't half as small in 2005!)

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Awhile ago I wrote about Through the Viewfinder photography. I was excited not only because it was a fun and interesting way to take pictures, but I was happy to see old Kodak Duaflex cameras getting a new life.

Well, today is World Through the Viewfinder Day and there is a World TtV Day group on flickr for the pictures taken today. I am especially excited that I will be selecting a winner from those photographs that "best utilizes the characteristics of TtV photography to tell a story" and awarding them a prize!

So if you have a Duaflex sitting around give it a try and post your pictures to the group. Winners will be announced on March 17.

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January has come and gone and it is time to start thinking about next year's Christmas presents. It may sound early to you, but ever since I got it into my head that I need to handmake as many gifts as I can, I have found I need to start planning and working on them as soon as possible.

A clear photo cube and my calendar layout

It was only spring last year when I stumbled upon these clear photo cubes and thought they would be great for making photo cube calendars for all of my friends and family's Christmas gifts.

Oscar and Stewie throughout the year

Why start so early? I wanted the calendars to feature Oscar and Stewie... I liked the idea of forcing their presence onto everyone's desk. Since I wanted each dual month (two months to a side) picture to somewhat match the season, I had to take pictures with the calendar in mind all year long.

A folded calendar cube and the assembly process

A completed calendar cube

Of course if you don't want to spend countless hours folding and assembling cubes you could create a calendar online at the Kodak Gallery. Then all you have to do is take pictures with the calendar in mind all year long. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

If you would like to see larger versions of the pictures I put in my calendar and how I made it, check out them out in this EasyShare Gallery album.

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