I've come to realise that when you're doing a PAD, you can't hit it out of the park with every shot. Usually you lack the time to find a spectacular subject in glorious light. Often you lack the opportunity, though it's easier with a micro like the E-P1 along for the ride so that your DSLR doesn't have to be. But more importantly, it's not always the grand visions of saturated sunrises that ultimately matter, though I'm grateful for having had the opportunity of grabbing some of those along the way too.

As I look back over my first year of PADing (and try to ignore the huge gaps), I find that it's probably the more mundane shots that will be more important to me in years to come. The ones that remind me of time and place, and of people who may have passed through my life briefly (some that I wish never had, fewer I wish had stayed around) even though you, the public viewer, will have no idea who they are. But I will.

Recently I came across an Excel file; an attempt that I'd made at a personal budget in 1999/2000. Places that I used to frequent, things that I used to buy, things that were part of the everyday tapestry of life. Then suddenly something changes, and I don't go there / buy those things / see those people any more. The places, the events, the people, slip from memory.

This is part of the Christmas decoration at Rhodes, a place that I (currently) go to quite often. It looks similar to the way it did last year. It may look similar again next year. But if for some reason I'm no longer going there next year, or the year after... this will still remind me of the place I once went to, and the people that I met there.

It's as good a reason to PAD as any other, and to not apologise for the mundane ones.