What Happened to Taking One Picture a Day?

A year ago, I had a certain practice of taking a '0.5' photo of at least one thing I was doing that day. In my mind, I told myself that I was appreciating the little things of life. If I were to scroll through my camera roll back in 2025, I'd have a photo from every single day.

Carpe diem, or so I thought. And maybe it was. I'd capture all moments of life, mundane or exciting.

However, if you were to go through my camera roll (which I sometimes scroll through like reels) this year, you would find large gaps between groups of photos. Sometimes, even after a large function with friends I dearly care for, I come back home with nothing to show for it. In the perspective of my camera roll, that event never existed.

And it's strange. Because I stopped taking as many photos once I bought my first "real" camera. You would think that I would take more as a photographer, but that was not the case. And this makes me scared, because this would mean I've lost the ability to look for the little things in life.

I've mentioned this to a couple of friends who do photography as well, and they echoed the same sentiment. Talking to them, one of the more logical reasons that came up for this shift of in my habits is that my standard for a good photo has increased, and so taking a photo of something mundane is not as exciting anymore.

But I would have to disagree. Being a photographer has taught me to be observant. In order to take a good photo, you have to always keep looking. In fact, I do think I see more, and may I dare say appreciate the not-as-exciting things more. I just don't take a photo every day.

There are times I'm in a particular moment, and I want to take a picture, but I more often than not choose not to.

I think to explain my position towards this new habit (or lack of it), I'll quote a scene from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty:

 Walter Mitty: When are you going to take it?

 Sean O'Connell: Sometimes I don't. If I like a moment, for me, personally, I don't like to have the distraction of the camera. I just want to stay in it.

 Walter Mitty: Stay in it?

 Sean O'Connell: Yeah. Right there. Right here.

When you take a picture, you lose ownership of the moment. You can now share it to anyone who cares to look, and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, that memory is no longer yours. When you view a moment through a screen, you trade an internal experience for a digital file. It's been commodified.

I think there is something beautiful about seeing something wonderful, and keeping it to yourself.

Don't get me wrong. Sharing memories builds friendship and makes the world a better place, but there is no need to share every single moment of your life. To push it even further, one hot take of mine is that not every day should be remembered. Being present does not have to mean remembering everything that happened.

It's like eating food: we can't remember what we had for lunch yesterday, but it was essential to our entire day. Instead of using photos as a crutch, we can live in the friction of the present.

My camera roll is pretty bare lately, but my life feels a whole lot fuller.