Several years ago, I joined an online group who took a picture a day. I was taking classes to get my Photography Certificate and I thought that committing to taking a photo a day would help me work on my skills. While the daily practice has definitely got me to try more techniques with my camera and practice, I have realized what I really love is that I’m capturing lots of memories along the way. I’ve also shifted to use my phone camera more and I think this is a great way that anyone could “journal” their year without picking up a pen.
The Photos
Each photo will mean something to you….even if no one else knows the story. In the case of the photo above, I took this on a walk two days ago. It was early morning, the sun was just rising, and the light was hitting the small tree perfectly. The tree was turning to fall color and striking against the backdrop of the larger green trees. I snapped a quick photo on my phone. While this image might not have captured exactly how striking the tree was, the image reminds me of the peaceful, warm late summer morning while I was relaxed and enjoying the outdoors.
I think the best photos are the ones that you just happen across during the day. Moments with family and friends. Moments that mark a point in time that you want to capture. I have also enjoyed having photos of things that seem mundane at the time you take them. Like a photo of breakfast with my son before school – now that he is in college we don’t have early morning breakfasts together…but I have an image to remember those “mundane” daily moments.
The Story
As the year progresses, I put my daily photo into a Shutterfly album. My process for this is to go into the program each weekend and upload the photos for the week. I have all the layouts set up with the right number of days for the month and little blocks where I can write a quick summary that highlights the events of the month. At the end of the year, ordering a print of the album is quick and easy….no multiple hours pulling photos and creating a year end album. Below are the images from my March 2020 album. I love that the images tell the story of the swift shift we had from a weekend in Florida to a “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order and a bit of challenge getting food and toilet paper! Then, the second half of the month was spent cleaning, adjusting to work from home, taking walks, ordering carry out, and watching eSports on TV. Without the photos, I’m sure I would forget some of these things over the years ahead.
Tips and Techniques
Tip 1 – Use Your Phone – Your phone is with you all the time….when you see something interesting or memorable moment take a quick picture. You may end up with 5 or 6 photos each day and you can decide what is best. When you get to the end of the week, you can pick the seven that best reflect what happened. No one except you will know if two photos came from Thursday and you didn’t choose any you took on Tuesday.
Tip 2 – Join a Group – This isn’t for everyone, but sometimes having others on the same journey helps encourage you along the way. I’m a part of 365 Picture Today. Each day there is a different prompt or challenge. Often I use the prompt, but sometimes I just capture an image that fits what happened in my day.
Tip 3 – Archive Through the Year – Get in the habit of putting the photos into a digital album at the end of each week or each month. This way, at the end of the year your album is finished and you don’t have to find big blocks of time to finish. Also, if you are creating on a regular basis, the small blurbs you write about the week or month with be fresh and top of mind.
Tip 4 – Have fun! There is no right way to do this. Your photos don’t have to be perfect or live up to someone else’s standards. Take pictures of what you love and what you want to remember in the years to come.
Summary
I would definitely encourage you to give the daily photo journaling a try. The most difficult part is to get in the habit of taking more photos. If you don’t keep a traditional journal, this might be right for you. If you don’t do scrapbooks, this might be a good way to capture the memories. Let me know if you have tried photo journaling and what you think of the practice.
Until next time, capture those moments!