Daily Oak, first report

The first month of Daily Oak has passed, and it is time for my first report on this daily art project.


Let's start with a picture that was taken before I started the project, and which was crucial in my decision to chose this tree as the object of my daily project. In December, on the 19th of the month, I took a first picture of the tree that I had been passing by so often:

Choosing Daily Oak: December 19, 2010

You may remember: Every day that I am in town I will take at least two pictures of the tree, from two different perspectives.


The statistics of this month look as follows:
Days missed: 1
Total number of pictures taken: 98
Days when I visited the tree twice: 5
Days when I visited the tree three times: 1
Visits with more than the two standard shots: 15.


I like going to visit the tree, it has become an important part of my day, and I have no problems planning a slot for the quick walk down the street. 


The two perspectives look at the tree from different angles, and it looks very different from each of the two standard perspectives:

Round: Perspective b, on January 8

Almost Rectangular: Perspective a on January 8

As weather changes may lead to a difference in lighting, I sometimes felt a need to go twice. At first I thought I would simple differentiate the pictures by adding '2' in the file name.

a - Jan 20

a - Jan 20-2

But then came the day when I went to see the tree three times, and I realized it would be more sensible to include the time of day as indicated in the file specifications:

a - January 28, 8:33

a - January 28, 15:30

a - January 28, 17:13

So I went ahead and altered the file names - which included remembering that my camera is set on Mid-European Summer Standard Time... but I think I managed to keep track of the correct times when I had gone.


And then of course there are the additional perspectives. A third perspective has developed, which I have taken 13 pictures of, and on that January 28 I took two:

c - January 28, 8:34

c - January 28, 15:31

It is interesting to see how differently one perspective can look at different times of day, and depending on the weather conditions, of course. This picture was taken during snowfall:

b - January 11, 7:52

And yesterday, on the last day of the first month, I decided that it might be interesting to look at the fourth perspective, or the 'backside' of the tree as well - which is a bit inaccessible, and less attractive in the outcome because it shows how close to the road the tree is actually located, something which you can almost forget when looking at the other photos:

January 31, "backside"

If I remember, I will take a picture of this perspective on the last of every month.


So today is the first day of the second month of Daily Oak, I have already been to see the tree - and today I think I won't go twice, because it is very grey, very cold, and not enticing at all. But if the fog should lift, against all expectations, I could still easily change my mind about that.