Throughout the month of February I’m going to be posting 28 previously unseen and unpublished pictures from my recent photography project, 366 Pictures. Each day I’ll bring you a picture that didn’t get published last year as a travelled around the world. If you’re not subscribed to this blog then now is a good time to subscribe (for free – see below) and if you don’t know what 366 picture was then read on..

Last year I took up the challenge of publishing a single picture every single day of the year. It was a leap year so there were 366 days to photograph. I thought it would be a relatively easy project that would enable me to capture the flavor of my travels while not consuming much time. As it turned out I was wrong about that, in reality it became a hugely time-consuming endeavor, but one that was also hugely rewarding.

As luck would have it, my year was actually a pretty interesting one, but I believe anyone can find interesting and beautiful things in their day that are worthy of a photograph. Life can be pretty monotonous and routine at times, and in truth most of us like that rhythm and predictability. The problem with such routine is that it is the thief of time. Without even realising it, days, months, and entire years can pass by almost unnoticed and uncharted.

We like routine because we find some comfort in the sense of safety it gives us. But if you had to find something beautiful, in your day, every day, could you do it? Sure you could, but it would probably involve you breaking out of some of your routines, and going beyond the familiar.

And there is the reward. In seeking out something beautiful, or interesting, each and every day of the year, I found myself engaging with my days in a way that I had never previously done – and I like to think of myself as a pretty engaged kind of guy!

With my camera never far from my grasp, I found myself walking through my days constantly searching for the picture of the day. Nothing was merely background anymore, I now looked at everything. I would walk different ways home, talk to more strangers, and stop to watch buskers I might have once hurried by while listening to my iPod. The task of finding a picture was soon transformed into the adventure of finding one, and I found many.

I’ll grant you that because of my travels I was rarely stuck to find a picture. In fact, as well as the 366 pictures I did publish, there are almost 400 other photographs I prepared for publication that in the end didn’t get chosen.

Of course, there were days that might otherwise have passed without note if it hadn’t been for 366 pictures. Those days, when finding a picture was more of a challenge, were actually some of the most creative days in my year. Whereas ordinarily I would have let the day come and go, I was now compelled to do something with it, to go out and retrieve something noteworthy or interesting from the mundane or unremarkable. As a result of this not one day was lost.

Throughout the year I took many thousands of photographs (I deleted more than 16,000!). While I was regularly taking pictures, I also embraced the fact that not every moment can be captured. Sometimes there are moments you just have accept that you’ll only see again in your memories.

So with 2012 behind us I’ve decided to share a handful of the pictures that didn’t get published last year. This month you’ll see 28 previously unpublished pictures from 2012. I’ll tell you a little about them, maybe give you a little ‘behind the scenes insight,’ an untold story here and there, and a link to the picture that actually got published on the day in question.

If you would like to follow along then why not subscribe to the spam free email list so you get the pictures each day in your email. It’s free and easy to sign up, just put your email address in the box below and remember to click the link in the confirmation email you get.