Motivation sometimes needs to be seeded with a bit of inspiration. Today I put together a short video of images I made in an effort to motivate myself to get back in shape. My goal was simple: to take one image with my iPhone on the way to gym and then process that image while I was at the gym. I only allowed myself to shoot one image so that I left some incentive for future trips and that image had to be processed while I was at the gym either walking on the treadmill or using the elliptical.

My hope was that I would get hooked on the challenge of finding a new image daily and in the process build a healthy new habit. The project definitely motivated me to get back in shape, which I desperately needed after herniating two of the discs in my lower back last year while chopping wood. (I know…I’m getting old and slowly turning into a city slicker.) More importantly, it reminded me that it’s not about having fancy photography equipment but instead learning to see things differently. I’ve made this same trek to the gym hundreds of times before, but giving it purpose helped me to actually use my vision. I think the real irony is what started out as a challenge to myself to get in shape turned into a personal challenge that gave my creative vision a workout as well.

I hope you enjoy the video and for those of you who need to know, all the images were taken using an iPhone 4 and processed using Nik Software’s Snapseed.  Enjoy…John