900 Days of School: A Personal Project (Part One)1 min read time

“Photographic projects can be as short as an afternoon or as long as a lifetime.”
― George Barr

I just finished my thirty-first year teaching young children in the public schools of the Carolinas.  The past twenty-six years have been spent teaching at the same school located in Charlotte, NC.

Since I am in the final years of my career, I have begun to reflect upon what a rewarding way it has been to spend much of my life.  As a result, this past summer, I decided to take on a personal project to try to capture some of the magical moments and scenes that I have had the pleasure to witness during my career.  I decided to take one photograph a day each day for the final five years of my career.  I titled this project 900 Days of School as that is roughly the number I would teach before retiring.  This school year was the first year of my project.

When I began the project, I was not quite sure where it would lead.  What I found is that it really took on a life of its own.  I will be sharing, throughout the summer, the magical places my project took me in the first year.

The project began with things I saw around the school.

My desk is always very tidy at the beginning of the year.

What I found was that these images were just the beginning of a wonderful journey throughout the school year searching for the beauty of what I experience every day as an elementary school teacher.

I hope you will follow this magical journey with me throughout this first year of the project.