In November 2009, friends and Half Moon Bay residents Diane Costello and Nancy West, both artists and photographers, were talking about respective projects each wanted to implement in the new year.

"I was telling her about my 365 Day project, where I was planning to take a photo of Gromit every day of the year," Costello said, referring to her golden brown and white-colored Boxer who was 1 year and 2 months old when the project began. Costello has lived in Half Moon Bay and the Coastside for over 20 years.

While West was not planning a daily photo project for 2010, she was thinking about doing a collaborative project with a friend that she found on Photojojo, an innovative website offering creative ideas and projects for photographers.

By the end of the year, the two had decided to each commit to a 365-day project and invite two more women who were friends with Nancy: Laura McHugh, a Half Moon Bay mixed-media artist who has lived in town for 5 years, and Ann Schroeder, who lives in Houston.

The four women chronicled their work in a blog titled "4 women 365 days" where each would post the photo of the day on the site. A selection of the photos were organized into an 88-page Blurb book that can be viewed and purchased online.

"It's amazing how on certain days, we would all post something the same color, or something similar," said Costello. "It was kind of eerie...like we were all on the same wavelength."

"I learned I liked working with collaborators in that kind of arena," West said, a fine art and dog photographer. "It helped me stay on task and grow as a photographer." A native Californian,West has lived in Half Moon Bay for 12 years.

McHugh wrote in the Blurb book that she agreed to take part because "I knew that being in the company of three professional photographers would help me to up 'my game' in my own photography."

As predicted, McHugh concluded in the book that "...by the end of the year, I had improved my composition, choice of subjects, and decreased my need for post-processing."

Today and through the weekend, Half Moon Bay Patch will post each woman's favorite photos of the year, along some of the stories behind them.

Costello, a fine art photographer who specializes in pet photography and custom hot rod and classic car photos, said that while the first six months of the project were exciting, by three to six months into the year, the committment to take a photo every day became challenging.

Costello said that at times, she would think to herself "How do you make a dog look different every day?"

Highs and lows characterized the year, Costello said, which she said are all part of being an artist.

But overall, the highs outweighed the lows, it seems.

"I saw a huge growth in my photography," Costello said.

And as she wrote in the Blurb book about photographing Gromit daily: "He was growing up right before my eyes.  It was a wild ride but I would not have missed it for the world."

Costello's five favorite photos that she took for the blog in 2010 are attached in the media box to the right. Her thoughts on a few of these photos are included in the comment box.

Tomorrow we will feature Nancy West's photos, the second of the three women living in Half Moon Bay who participated in the project.