John Grisham + Clouds 365 Project
I am very excited to announce that my image (from Year 2 of the project) “6-15-11 | Chicago Skyline After Rain” is on the cover of the new John Grisham book “The Litigators” UK Release.
Publishers, Hodder & Stoughton revealed the hardback jacket today on their website.
This is one of my favorite days from the project. Stephanie and I took a sunset boat tour while visiting Chicago last summer. It was pouring. We were not convinced that it would let up, but we headed out anyway. Huddled up, cold and soaked from the rain a hour later when it finally stopped. The boat turned around to head back. I watch the beautiful skyline clear just in time to get the shot. Glad we stayed 
UK customers can order their copy of “The Litigators” from Amazon UK or waterstones.com
Click on image to enlarge
Announcing Clouds 365 Project – YEAR 3!
A week from today, I will complete Year 2 of the Clouds 365 Project. 730 days of photographing clouds everyday! I have the champagne ready! I love this project more now than when I started it in July of 2009. I wake up wanting to do this, wanting to share my passion with you, to always improve and learn. So, this was a easy decision. It is my pleasure to announce that I am going to continue photographing clouds everyday for another 365 days! - Clouds 365 Project – Year 3
When I started this project almost 2 years ago, I dedicated the Clouds 365 Project to Art, Learning, Determination, Process, Pattern and Obsession. I have been following these guidelines and really understand them. To find out more, please visit the about section. Year 2 was incredible, I have learned so much and many of my personal goals were reached. I feel I am a better photographer now, technically and creatively. I am developing my own style. I am much better at identifying clouds and understanding weather pattens. I could go on and on. I could not walk away from this if I tried!
This year, there were over 2 million visit the Clouds 365 Project sites. That is just amazing! It is so exciting, interacting with you on a daily basis. Over the years, I have met some truly wonderful people from all over the world. The support and the feedback you give me everyday, without fail, is amazing. I can’t thank you enough. You always make me be my best every day!
Year 2 of Clouds 365 Project will end a week from today. We’ll celebrate it together for a day, but then I turn around and start YEAR 3 on July 1st!
Thanks to my girls for their help though this year and constant encouragement. Special thanks to my wife Stephanie for telling me to keep at it, always giving me a second eye and always sharing her years of photography experience with me. Also, I would like to thank to my friends Laurie, Misty, Justin, Jason and Nicco for your help and being there for me and thanks to our friends and neighbors for putting up with me on the roof and leaving dinners and parties early
I will be launching a new site for Year 3 with some new features I hope you will enjoy. Watch for more information in the coming days on future plans for the Clouds 365 project. I’ll also be sharing some insights from the past 2 years as I look back at what I have learned so far.
Thanks again to all of you cloud lovers. See you for another year!
- Kelly DeLay
Clouds 365 Project is a Webby Awards Finalist!
I am very happy to announce that the Clouds 365 Project has been nominated for The 15th Annual Webby Awards in the Personal Blog/Website category. This is the second year in a row the project has been a finalist! The other finalists in this category are amazing, I am honored!
As a nominee, the Clouds 365 Project is also eligible to win a Webby People’s Voice Award, which is voted online by the global Web community. From now until April 28th 2011, Clouds 365 Project fans can vote online to help the Clouds 365 Project win the internet’s top honor.
It is easy to vote. For the first time, the voting public can sign in to the Webby People’s Voice site at http://webby.aol.com using your Facebook login. Make your voice heard! Help the Clouds 365 Project and get to the polls to vote! Click here for the direct link to the ballot
Webby Award and Webby People’s Voice Award Winners will be announced on May 3, 2011. Winners will be honored at the 15th Annual Webby Awards in New York City on June 13, 2011
The Webby Awards is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 650-person judging academy whose members include Internet co-inventor Vinton Cerf, R/GA’s Chief Bob Greenberg, “Simpson’s” creator Matt Groening, Arianna Huffington, and Harvey Weinstein.
About The Webby Awards:
Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile web sites. Established in 1996, the 13th Annual Webby Awards received nearly 10,000 entries from all 50 states and over 60 countries worldwide. The Webby Awards is presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Sponsors and Partners of The Webby Awards include: Microsoft Expression; Aol; YouTube; Pepsi; Aquent; Yahoo!; Tribal DDB Worldwide; East Media; IDG; PricewaterhouseCoopers; 2advanced.Net; KobeMail; Museum of the Moving Image; Behance; Business Insider and Time Out New York.
Clouds 365 Community – We are turning 1!
It is hard to believe the Clouds 365 Community will be 1 year old on March 1st! I do believe a celebration is in order! (more on that below)
A brief history on how we arrived at this point. In July 2009, I started the Clouds 365 Project and the Clouds 365 Facebook fan page to share the links to my daily images. To my amazement, after a week of posting links on Facebook, there were 4000+ “fans” (now “likes) and they had posted 500 images of clouds the first week to the page. In 5 months we had hit the maximum amount of images for a fan page, 20,000 images! It was obvious, there were a lot of cloud lovers in the world that were pleased with the idea of sharing their own cloud images with me. I was very happy to share my passion and Facebook page However, we needed a place to expand that was away from Facebook limits and control. On March, 1 2010, the Clouds 365 Community was officially launched. When you post with the Community, the link to your image posts to Facebook automatically avoiding the limits! I feel very lucky to share this with all of you. I love your enthusiasm for clouds, it is just amazing!
Here are some interesting facts for the 1st year of the Clouds 365 Community:
- 35,311 images of clouds
- 6,911 registered users from 55 countries/territories (all have posted at least one cloud image)
- 19,355 Comments
- Over 1 Million page views for the year!
Future of the Clouds 365 Community
I have been working on a new site for the Community for a while now. The site will have the ability to manage images (re-size, delete, etc…), have internal communications with other Community members (similar to Facebook and Twitter), discussion groups that you will be able to establish / moderate without me and just better overall site organization. I am developing this on my own at the moment, so it is taking longer than I would like. Should be soon, I will keep you informed. (If you know any WordPress developers, let me know!)
Photo Assignment!
I think it would be great if all of us could post 1 “birthday” themed cloud image at 3pm local time on March 1, 2011. Please post if there are no clouds or if it is grey, be creative! Hold up candles, a sign that says happy birthday, or turning 1. Clouds still should be the focus, but I am sure you can find a way to make it your own Please post your location. I want the skies at the exact time, where ever you are!
March Giveaway
I am going to give away 2 36×24 signed AP (artist proofs) digital prints from Year 1 of my Clouds 365 Project. Printed with archival inks on photographic paper to achieve extra fine detail and rich vibrant colors. The print will be rolled and shipped in a protective tube.
To enter, join the Clouds 365 Newsletter. I will be emailing the winners names in March
Again, I am so proud to be a part of the Clouds 365 Community. Congratulations!
- Kelly
Support the Clouds 365 Project and Community
When I first started the Clouds 365 Project, in July 2009, I started on these principles; Art, Learning, Determination, Process, Pattern & Obsession (read more from the about section). Over time, some things have changed . In November 2009, I added Community to the list because of the overwhelming support on the Clouds 365 Facebook fan page, (101,500 strong!) and all of the wonderful images being shared with me on a daily basis, I created a space for your images to be shared apart from Facebook (clouds365.com/community) to encourage and grow the community of other clouds enthusiast.
In the definition of “ART,” I explained, “After years of neglecting my creative drive in favor of business and management, making this commitment to art is a welcome chance to turn back to something I love.” After a year and four months of photographing clouds everyday, I can say I truly do love this project. I have found my calling. It is not every day someone is lucky enough to be able to say that. Being a web marketer, developer, and content developer, this project allows me to do all that I love and more.
I no longer have a corporate job. For now, I can focus on the Clouds 365 Project and Community. I am not sure how long it will be until I have to go back to corporate America. I have to find out if clouds can be my job! I want to travel to state parks, monuments and beautiful new locations to photograph clouds and share them with the world.
The Plan
To fund future project and community site improvements, community website overhaul, applications, travel and other plans, I plan on selling my work. Here is what is happening so far:
I have signed an exclusive deal with Really Big Canvas – (reallybigcanvas.com) a Canvas Press company, out of Austin, TX to print and distribute limited edition canvas prints and digital prints. I am initially releasing 15 images from Year 1 with more to be released in November and December. More about the prints very soon.
Also, Clouds 365 Project is an exclusive artist with Uncommon Cases to sell my images on iPhone and touch cases. I am very excited about this partnership, the cases are very cool. Check out what has been released so far on the Uncommon Clouds 365 Project artist page
Other ideas and projects in development:
The Clouds 365 Book – Year 1
iPad / iPhone Backgrounds, set of 10
Landscape / Clouds photography tutorials
Post Cards
Calendar
You may have noticed the lack of advertising on the websites. This is deliberate. There are very few companies, services, etc. that I would sell space to. I have been approached, but I have not found the right partner yet. If I do sell advertising, it will be very limited. I want the user experience on clouds365.com and clouds365.com/community to always be a positive one.
Donations
I am working on a donation / pledge program designed to help the Clouds 365 Project and Community. If you donate, you will receive something in return for your generosity. For example, if you pledge $10 or more, your name will be added on the Clouds 365 sponsor page as a thank you. For higher pledge levels, there will be signed post cards, desktop / iPad backgrounds and limited edition digital and canvas prints (from Really Big Canvas). Besides supporting Clouds 365, your funding will help pay for servers, development, etc… Thank you to all who have donated so far! Details coming very soon.
As we did in Year 1, I will continue to contribute proceeds from donations to Smile Train and Donors Choose at the end of Year 2.
I am really excited about the future of the Clouds 365 Project and Community. Let me know if you have any other ideas or questions.
Thank you for reading!
Kelly
Announcing Clouds 365 Project – YEAR 2!
After much discussion with my friends and family, it is my pleasure to announce that I am going to continue photographing clouds everyday for another 365 days! - Clouds 365 Project – Year 2
What an amazing journey. Honestly, I could not walk away from this if I tried! When I started this project almost a year ago, I dedicated the Clouds 365 project to Art, Learning, Determination, Process, Pattern and Obsession. (Check out the About page to learn more.) In year 2, the project is also dedicated to Community—because I could not have done this without YOU. Over the year, I have met some wonderful people from all over the world. The support and the feedback you give me everyday, without fail, is humbling. I can’t thank you enough. You made me be my best every day!
Year 1 of Clouds 365 Project will end a week from today. We’ll celebrate it together for a day, but then I turn around and start YEAR 2 on July 1st!
The future is very bright for the Clouds 365 Community as well. In honor of the important role all of you play in the project, we will launch a new Community site soon—a site that will helps us grow. You will be able to edit your own profile, password, images, etc. The site will include groups, internal communication and tutorials so we can get to know one another better while we expand our knowledge of clouds and how to document them.
Special thanks to my wife Stephanie and my girls for their help though this year and encouragement to continue this wonderful project. Thanks to my friends Manny, Misty, Justin, Nicco and Laurie. You are always there for me
Watch for more information in the coming days on future plans for the Clouds 365 project. I’ll also be sharing some insights from the past year as I look back at what I have learned so far.
Thanks again to all of you cloud lovers. See you for another year!
- Kelly DeLay
Clouds 365 is a project dedicated to art, learning, determination, processes, patterns and obsession. I hope to share as much as possible about this project, extra images and tutorials.
