Most cameras end up dusty on a shelf
The story of a challenge: taking 1 photo per day for 100 days
I started taking photos when I got my first cellphone. When I look at them now, they rather belong to the pixel-potage zone than as proper photos.
But this time taught me one thing: there is no need to have a great camera to have fun. Or to have great gear to have fun in any hobby.
Instead of investing big dollars upfront, this phase allows you to have fun, experiment and get to know the craft. By being limited by the camera quality, you end up being more creative to balance out.
#1 — The big boy: HTC Chacha
These are some of my old photos. Not exactly the kind you would hang in your living room, but I keep a sweet memory of this time, a mix of discovery and passion.
#2 — The Swiss knife: Nexus 5
My Nexus 5 felt like a reliable photo companion. It gradually got me to spend more and more time taking photos. Communicating emotions became a big part of the process.
Getting serious about it
Later on, I knew photography was something I wanted to dive deeper into. I went ahead and bought my own reflex.
After getting it, I noticed something interesting: I started to rely too much on my camera. I was expecting it to do all the work and almost forgot to be creative and have fun with experimentations. The bulkiness was another issue. Carrying it around is an effort and a deliberate choice.
This didn’t feel right and I wanted to do something about it.
The way I found to do that was to set myself a challenge: take 1 photo per day for 100 days. I’ll take my reflex with me everywhere I go, and each day and I’ll try to create a better picture than the day before.
To make sure I’ll commit, I told a few friends about it.
The challenge
Featuring:
#3 — Plastic fantastic: Canon 700D + 50mm f1.8
Here we are, on the first day of my challenge. I called it A Pic A Day and started to watermark it apad followed by the day’s number.
I’d like to share with you here some photos & insights I learned along the way. I hold no pretensions of being a good photographer, I want to tell here a story that I hope can inspire you to develop your hobby/passion.
1st insight
Taking one picture a day makes you see your everyday life from another angle. You end up looking constantly for beauty and visual stories.
2nd insight
A “get better” mindset is essential. Be aware of your weaknesses, but don’t doubt your capacity to progress.
3rd insight
Quantity vs Quality approach: Progress is a climb through stages rather than a linear slope.
You need to strike a balance between practice and stepping back to reflect on how you can improve. This cycle makes you climb through the stages.
Doing so also allows you to go from Conscious Incompetence to Conscious Competence :
Some results
During the challenge I gave away some photos as phone wallpapers on Unsplash. These photos were featured by the website team and got some nice attention. As I am writing this, they totalise 3,000,000 views and 27,000 downloads.
However, these are only quantitative metrics. My favorite feedback was the qualitative appreciations of my friends, who sometimes now ask if I can take photos for them.
I warmly recommend you to boost your progress by setting yourself a daily challenge. You’ll enjoy it more than you expect!
Here are some Design daily challenges that you can do:
- DAILY UI
- DAILY UX
- DESIGNERCIZE : Grab a friend and a whiteboard, load a challenge, create a quick & dirty solution over your lunch break. Rinse and repeat every day.
I 💛 panos so let’s end with that:
Take care,
— Greg
