Colour and cameras

Amy’s 365 project: A picture a day to fit a monthly colour theme, shot on a different camera every day

Amy Davies loves a challenge. in 2014 she joined a small group of photographers taking part in a 365 project with a colour theme. The idea was that when the images were all displayed online they would create a colourful rainbow. Deciding which colours should be assigned to which months was not an exact science: the leader of the group chose her favourite colour, yellow, to coincide with her birthday in June, and Amy’s favourite colour, turquoise, for the same reason in February. But taking such a relaxed approach wasn’t without its problems. ‘For the first few days we were shooting similar colours: light blue, turquoise and dark blue,’ recalls Amy. And as if that wasn’t hard enough, Amy decided to shoot with a different camera every single day. ‘For the first few days i used different cameras by coincidence,’ she explains, ‘so after that i just thought let’s see how long i can keep this up.’

At the time Amy was working for a photography magazine, so finding cameras to use was not an issue. ‘Once people knew about my project they were happy to lend me kit,’ she confirms. What’s more, Amy was relaxed about what constituted a camera. ‘i used a lot of phones, and even my iPad,’ she confesses. But in June Amy left her job to go freelance and no longer had access to a camera cupboard. ‘After that i had to do a sort of begging game,’ she laughs. she also turned to friends, and strangers, for support. ‘One time towards the end of the project i was at an event and somebody pulled out a phone i hadn’t used,’ she explains. ‘i asked if i could borrow it and, as it was gold month, i took a picture of a light switch and asked them to send it to me!’

Thanks to Amy’s determination, she made it to the end of the year, but at times it was touch and go. ‘After i left my job i did a lot of travelling which meant i had to take multiple cameras with me,’ she reveals. ‘i had a list of all the cameras i could use and i had to work out which were the lightest and smallest. i got a few unusual looks when i turned up at airports with a bag full of cameras.’ Despite a serious wobble in October, when she only had three cameras left on her list, Amy stuck with the project, and finished it without missing a day. ‘On 31 December i was so happy,’ she laughs.

Silver, Pentax K-S1: ‘This is the (in)famous Selfridges in Birmingham. I’d been planning to take this shot for “silver month” right from the get go’ Pale blue, Olympus TG-630: ‘This is not the most technically proficient photo, but I love the emotion behind it and it reminds me of that time’

Orange, Samsung NX1000: ‘This collection of tickets reminds me of how grateful I am not to be wasting my time or money on our decrepit rail system after leaving my job’ Pale blue, Sony HX10V: ‘The light coming in from the ceiling had just the right shade of blue’ Gold, Canon EOS 100D: ‘On the last day of the project I felt a huge sense of joy and elation that I’d got through the whole year without missing a day. Now I was finally free!’