To participate in this sober photography project, you can be a photographer, or a painter or a artist of some kind … Time to dust off the camera, and get ready to photograph, draw or paint something lovely.
This is open for anybody (so long as you are sober), you don’t have to be a fancy ass photographer. No inner critic allowed. Are you ready?
Assignment #30 … Take a picture of something that is turquoise.
This is PROJECT, not a contest.
DEADLINE: Saturday October 27th @ 12 noon Eastern. Yes, a short deadline. The longer the deadline, the more likely we are to procrastinate, oui?
The format is open: for photos, you can use your camera phone or a nice camera. For drawings, paintings, just take a picture (or scan) and email to me.
The project must be original, and produced AFTER the assignment is received (like, no going through past pictures taken, it has to be new).
If you suck at photo adjustments or cropping, send it anyway with a note that you’d like me to adjust.
Send as LARGE a file size as you can manage (up to 12MB per image). Don’t reduce for size. the bigger the better.
Um, you have to be sober …
One entry per person per assignment (think of the size of my inbox!)
Send me the photo as an attachment in an email: tiredofdrinking@gmail.com and put ‘turquoise photo’ in your subject line.
NOTE: Find something and take a picture. It’ll turn out better than you think it will. This is a fun project, you remember fun right? I learned all about fun by doing this with Christina.
THIS IS NOT A CONTEST. This is a fun thing. Just take a photo. Just have fun.
Here’s an example of some turquoise photos to get you started.
Time for a new sober photography project! to participate, you can be a photographer, or a painter or a artist of some kind … Time to dust off the camera, and get ready to photograph, draw or paint something lovely…
If you’re new to the blog, you can learn more about the idea of having a sober hobby here. See the results from previous projects here.
This is open for anybody, you don’t have to be a fancy ass photographer. No inner critic allowed. Are you ready?
Take a picture of something Christsmasy, to celebrate holidays, or to show the changing seasons.
DEADLINE: Saturday December 23rd @ 12 noon Eastern. Yes, a short deadline. The longer the deadline, the more likely we are to procrastinate, oui?
The format is open: for photos, you can use your camera phone or a nice camera. For drawings, paintings, just take a picture (or scan) and email to me.
The project must be original, and produced AFTER the assignment is received (like, no going through past pictures taken, it has to be new).
If you suck at photo adjustments or cropping, send it anyway with a note that you’d like me to adjust.
Send as LARGE a file size as you can manage (up to 12MB per image). Don’t reduce for size. the bigger the better.
Um, you have to be sober …
One entry per person per assignment (think of the size of my inbox!)
NOTE: Find something and take a picture. It’ll turn out better than you think it will. This is a fun project, you remember fun right? I learned all about fun by doing this with Christina.
THIS IS NOT A CONTEST. This is a fun thing. Just take a photo. Just have fun.
Here’s an example of Christmas photo to get you started.
Time for a new sober photography project! to participate, you can be a photographer, or a painter or a artist of some kind … Time to dust off the camera, and get ready to photograph, draw or paint something lovely…
If you’re new to the blog, you can learn more about the idea of having a sober hobby here. See the results from previous projects here.
This is open for anybody, you don’t have to be a fancy ass photographer. No inner critic allowed. Are you ready?
Assignment #28 … Sober Breakfast
Take a picture of your breakfast. It can be fancy or not. I can be take-out or homemade.
DEADLINE: Wednesday, September 20th @ 12 noon Eastern. Yes, a short deadline. The longer the deadline, the more likely we are to procrastinate, oui?
The format is open: for photos, you can use your camera phone or a nice camera. For drawings, paintings, just take a picture (or scan) and email to me.
The project must be original, and produced AFTER the assignment is received (like, no going through past pictures taken, it has to be new).
If you suck at photo adjustments or cropping, send it anyway with a note that you’d like me to adjust.
Send as LARGE a file size as you can manage (up to 12MB per image). Don’t reduce for size. the bigger the better.
Um, you have to be sober …
One entry per person per assignment (think of the size of my inbox!)
NOTE: Find something and take a picture. It’ll turn out better than you think it will. This is a fun project, you remember fun right? I learned all about fun by doing this with Christina.
THIS IS NOT A CONTEST. This is a fun thing. Just take a photo. Just have fun.
Here’s an example of breakfast to get you started.
Time for a new sober photography project! to participate, you can be a photographer, or a painter or a artist of some kind … Time to dust off the camera, and get ready to photograph, draw or paint something lovely…
If you’re new to the blog, you can learn more about the idea of having a sober hobby here. See the results from previous projects here.
This is open for anybody, you don’t have to be a fancy ass photographer. No inner critic allowed. Are you ready?
Assignment #27 … Store Windows
Take a picture of a store window, any store selling anything.
DEADLINE: Wednesday, June 28th @ 12 noon Eastern. Yes, a short deadline. The longer the deadline, the more likely we are to procrastinate, oui?
The format is open: for photos, you can use your camera phone or a nice camera. For drawings, paintings, just take a picture (or scan) and email to me.
The project must be original, and produced AFTER the assignment is received (like, no going through past pictures taken, it has to be new).
If you suck at photo adjustments or cropping, send it anyway with a note that you’d like me to adjust.
Send as LARGE a file size as you can manage (up to 12MB per image). Don’t reduce for size. the bigger the better.
Um, you have to be sober …
One entry per person per assignment (think of the size of my inbox!)
NOTE: Find something and take a picture. It’ll turn out better than you think it will. This is a fun project, you remember fun right? I learned all about fun by doing this with Christina.
THIS IS NOT A CONTEST. This is a fun thing. Just take a photo. Just have fun.
Here’s an example of a store window photo to get you started.
Time for a new sober photography project! to participate, you can be a photographer, or a painter or a drawer… Time to dust off the camera, and get ready to photograph, draw or paint something lovely…
If you’re new to the blog, you can learn more about the idea of having a sober hobby here. See the results from previous projects here.
This is open for anybody, you don’t have to be a fancy ass photographer. No inner critic allowed. Are you ready?
Assignment #26 … Christmas (Holiday season)
Take a picture of something Christmasy. If you don’t celebrate, then you can find something else seasonal.
DEADLINE: Saturday, December 17th @ 12 noon Eastern. Yes, a short deadline. The longer the deadline, the more likely we are to procrastinate, oui?
The format is open: for photos, you can use your camera phone or a nice camera. For drawings, paintings, just take a picture (or scan) and email to me.
The project must be original, and produced AFTER the assignment is received (like, no going through past pictures taken, it has to be new).
If you suck at photo adjustments or cropping, send it anyway with a note that you’d like me to adjust.
Send as LARGE a file size as you can manage (up to 12MB per image). Don’t reduce for size. the bigger the better.
Um, you have to be sober …
One entry per person per assignment (think of the size of my inbox!)
NOTE: Find something and take a picture. It’ll turn out better than you think it will. This is a fun project, you remember fun right? I learned all about fun by doing this with Christina.
Here’s an example of a Christmas photo to get you started. I took this one last week in Melbourne.
Novelty. What’s that got to do with quitting drinking?
Our brains want excitement. Life is deemed boring or uninteresting, so we drink to have ‘fun’. It’s like jumping from an airplane without a parachute: fun (perhaps), but dangerous. It’s like gambling: the losing, the waiting to win, then winning but wanting more, not knowing why. The thirst not even quenched by winning. It’s like wanting that one mythical drink, and then drinking more, and more: you’re pouring two bottles of wine on your head and you don’t even know why.
So let’s say you are sensitive, often over-stimulated, a bit ADD. Being sober seems dull. What will I do for fun? How will I unwind (how will I lose track of time and just turn off my brain?).
How do you get novelty when you’re sober? You actively, constructively, with intent. Manufacture it.
Novelty = read, learn, sample, create.
If we need novelty, then we count days. Record our sober momentum. Get high numbers of continuous days sober, don’t break the streak, have a new personal best every day.
If we need novelty, we train for a 5K run. A 10K. A half. A full. Trail runs, triathlons, relays, midnight ‘over the hill and back again with a flashlight’ runs.
If we need novelty, we actively create it. You’ve seen me do this. I’m always experimenting with different ways to build community (what can I learn if I do this? Does this work? Can I apply that technique to this situation?). You’ve seen me create novelty: host a live call on Mixlr, a group conference call with free conference software, send out paper newsletters (with lovely French stamps), write case studies, record one-minute audios, film videos, make longer (ranting) podcasts, conduct interviews, write blog posts, write for Medium, write a book.
I’ve also created a lot of novelty in the catering work that I do: naked wedding cakes, savoury pancakes, can you make a good vegetarian panne cotta, can you use the whey from home ricotta to make bread? (yes)
You say: Being sober is so boring. Without alcohol, my whole life seems dull.
And I say: it’s ok to crave novelty. in sobriety, you CREATE your own novelty. Here are some ideas, you can read them, dismiss them as not applicable, and then pick 5 and do them (ha!).
Survey: go to all restaurants in the Washington DC area that serve dulce de leche cake for dessert. Or find the best tacos. Or sample all of the food trucks outside your office. Or eat a different sandwich every Friday. Document with photos.
Go for a long run, and take a new picture of something every 10 minutes.
You’re a parking lot attendant? Why aren’t you learning Italian on headphones for 8 hours a day?
Read. There is no frigate like a book. Donna Leon, Susan Hill, Nicci French, Timothy Taylor, Ta-Nehisi Coates. Read all of Dickens in order, sampling one perfect phrase per day and posting to Instragram
Write. Get an app like Commit, and do 15 minutes a day, every day, of writing or editing. I’m on day 163 of continuous writing.
Keep an end-of-the-day gratitude diary. It causes you to scan your day while you’re living it, to see if THIS is the best moment of the day.
Track your weekend cycling logged against a map of the country, and ‘ride cross country’ marking your progress.
You want novelty? The world is an amusement park. Your life is as interesting as you make it.
Buy dishes at yard sales and resell on eBay. Or silver. Or baseball cards. Or Led Zeppelin memorabilia.
Use your photography skills to take quirky photos for Airbnb listings in your city (contact the ugly ones, offer to fix for free, create a before and after series on Facebook). do it for free. for fun.
Collect clothes from co-workers and cut them up to make quilts for the women’s shelter.
Grow ten different kinds of roses and document their progress.
Do a daily photo diary of your lunch for a month.
Learn how to make an alcohol-free version of tiramisu with regular grocery store ingredients.
Visit 10 small grocery stores until you find one who will save their dead bananas for you so you can make banana bread and donate it to the food bank.
Take piano lessons with the sole intent to be to learn how to play the Peanuts theme.
Watch 2 versions of West Side Story and 3 versions of Romeo and Juliet and compare. Create a version with sock puppets.
Sample 8 kinds of vanilla ice cream then try to make your own.
Take the train/bus/car to a new town. Eat in a new place. Walk a new way. Go to the new theatre. Novelty.
(Wake up every day with a hangover, mentally wrestle with your brain, dreading the day ahead; quit drinking every only to buy wine at dinner time and begin again.)
OR.
Wake up every day without a hangover, and see the world as an amusement park, where the biggest wrestle of the day is: What should I do first?
Announcing a Book Cover Contest. There will be PRIZES (art + chocolate + chocolate) for three random winners.
TO ENTER: Send me a photo of my book. put it somewhere in your house and take a picture. or go outside. make a shrine. arrange with flowers. (if you got the audio or e-versions, then you have to be more creative with your photo, like you can take a picture of your e-reader!)
This is NOT a contest of artistic beauty; winners will be chosen randomly. I really do have cool gifts to send out. photos of gifts in next email.
Deadline July 1, 2016 (which is my 4 year soberversary).
The format is open: for photos, you can use your camera phone or a nice camera. or you can DRAW something, and then take a picture (or scan) and email to me.
Send as LARGE a file size as you can manage (up to 12MB per image). Don’t reduce for size. the bigger the better.
Um, you have to be sober …
One entry per person per assignment (think of the size of my inbox!)
OK, it’s been over a year since i’ve done a sober photography project! to participate, you can be a photographer, or a painter or a drawer… Time to dust off the camera, and get ready to photograph, draw or paint something lovely…
If you’re new to the blog, you can learn more about the idea of having a sober hobby here. See the results from previous projects here.
This is open for anybody, you don’t have to be a fancy ass photographer. No inner critic allowed. Are you ready?
Assignment #24 … Yellow
Take a picture of something bright yellow. There is yellow all around you but you don’t notice.
DEADLINE: Saturday, May 7th @ 12 noon Eastern. Yes, a short deadline. The longer the deadline, the more likely we are to procrastinate, oui?
The format is open: for photos, you can use your camera phone or a nice camera. For drawings, paintings, just take a picture (or scan) and email to me.
The project must be original, and produced AFTER the assignment is received (like, no going through past pictures taken, it has to be new).
If you suck at photo adjustments or cropping, send it anyway with a note that you’d like me to adjust.
Send as LARGE a file size as you can manage (up to 12MB per image). Don’t reduce for size. the bigger the better.
Um, you have to be sober …
One entry per person per assignment (think of the size of my inbox!)
NOTE: Find something and take a picture. It’ll turn out better than you think it will. This is a fun project, you remember fun right? I learned all about fun by doing this with Christina.
Here’s an example of a yellow photo to get you started. I took this one on my run last week.
Time for a new photography project! You can be a photographer, or a painter or a drawer… So time to dust off the camera, and get ready to photograph, draw or paint something lovely…
If you’re new to the blog, you can learn more about the idea of having a sober hobby here. See the results from previous projects here.
This is open for anybody, you don’t have to be a fancy ass photographer. No inner critic allowed. Are you ready?
Assignment #23 … Bridge
Take a picture of a bridge. It can be big or small. For cars or for pedestrians. It can be homemade…
DEADLINE: Thursday, April 2nd @ 12 noon Eastern. Yes, a short deadline. The longer the deadline, the more likely we are to procrastinate, oui?
The format is open: for photos, you can use your camera phone or a nice camera. For drawings, paintings, just take a picture (or scan) and email to me.
The project must be original, and produced AFTER the assignment is received (like, no going through past pictures taken, it has to be new).
If you suck at photo adjustments or cropping, send it anyway with a note that you’d like me to adjust.
Send as LARGE a file size as you can manage (up to 12MB per image). Don’t reduce for size. the bigger the better.
Um, you have to be sober …
One entry per person per assignment (think of the size of my inbox!)
NOTE: Find something and take a picture. It’ll turn out better than you think it will. This is a fun project, you remember fun right? I learned all about fun by doing this with Christina.
Here’s an example of a bridge photo to get you started, this one taken in Amsterdam.
Time for a new photography project! You can be a photographer, or a painter or a drawer… So time to dust off the camera, and get ready to photograph, draw or paint something lovely…
If you’re new to the blog, you can learn more about the idea of having a sober hobby here. See the results from previous projects here.
This is open for anybody, you don’t have to be a fancy ass photographer. No inner critic allowed. Are you ready?
Assignment #22 … Sky Blue
Take 2 or 3 pictures of things that you see in your daily life that are sky blue.
You might think you don’t see very much sky blue on a given day. But with open eyes, you’ll find lots. Only once you start to look will you realize it’s everywhere … on your way to work, on public transit, in a store window, on the book shelf. I’ll take your images and put them into one frame. Send all of your (1 or 2 or 3) images at once, attached to one email.
DEADLINE: Saturday, February 21 @ 12 noon Eastern. Yes, a short deadline. The longer the deadline, the more likely we are to procrastinate, oui?
The format is open: for photos, you can use your camera phone or a nice camera. For drawings, paintings, just take a picture (or scan) and email to me.
The project must be original, and produced AFTER the assignment is received (like, no going through past pictures taken, it has to be new).
If you suck at photo adjustments or cropping, send it anyway with a note that you’d like me to adjust.
Send as LARGE a file size as you can manage (up to 12MB per image). Don’t reduce for size. the bigger the better.
Um, you have to be sober …
One entry per person per assignment (think of the size of my inbox!)
NOTE: Find something and take a picture. It’ll turn out better than you think it will. This is a fun project, you remember fun right? I learned all about fun by doing this with Christina.
Here’s a sample sky blue picture from our recent trip to Portugal to get you going. Of course, you don’t have to take a picture of the SKY. you can find sky blue in clothes, buildings, signs, books …
christmas store window, melbourne
