Take Everyday Pictures
Do you ever open your folder of digital photos and find yourself getting completely lost in all the wonderful memories? Will you go in search for one picture and wind up looking at dozens of others? It happens all the time at our house. But you know what? We never seem to say, “Why did we take that picture?” Our usual response is something more along the lines of, “Why didn’t we take more pictures?”
Taking more pictures doesn’t sound like something that suits our Simpler Life Series until you look at it differently. Taking everyday pictures is a beautiful way to capture the simple moments of our lives. It forces you to slow down and think about your home, your family, and your community.
Day-to-day life always feels the same each day. We don’t really think of ourselves as growing and changing. We are changing and growing, though. Sure we see young babies developing (which is why parents often capture wonderful shots of their children’s days). For you and me, a lot of those changes happen inside of us. (I prefer to not think of external changes like wrinkles and gray hairs just yet.) These moments in our growing lives are seldom captured unless we’re on vacation or doing something fun. What if you changed that?
Look back on how your life was one year ago. Who were you then? I doubt most of us would remember if it weren’t for photographs. We have endless and cheap access to hard drives. Programs like iPhoto can tag the people in our pictures for us, organize our pictures into groups, and hide less significant pictures when we want to do quick scans. It’s all so easy. So why not take more pictures?
Elise at “Elise Blaha: enJOY It” takes a picture every day of the month. Then at the end of the month, she puts together a little collage on her blog. It tells a wonderful story of the season and her life. Her pictures capture such moments of simplicity that I imagine most of us wouldn’t notice in our own lives unless we take on a project like hers.
So guess what I’m hooked on doing.
My month project: a photograph a day. A glimpse of the everyday, simple moments in the places we live. (May 1 -4 shown above.)
Would you be willing to try an experiment and take more pictures? Small Notebook has some great tips for organizing digital pictures on a PC. And for those of you with blogs, consider photographing some of the small things in your day. Leave a link below so we can all check it out!
May 5th, 2009 at 7:05 am
I seem to be taking pictures of all kinds of things lately. Even the ants on the counter. My latest passion has been improving my photos of flowers and foliage which you will probably notice by the numerous flower photos. I will have to take a look at the organization tips at Small Notebook. Currently I have my photos organized my month. So for May I started a new folder. But special events like a vacation or a wedding have their own folders. Seems to be working for me. I even made a separate folder of flowers. Hubby made a copy of that on his flash drive and now uses my flower photos for a screen saver at work.
May 5th, 2009 at 8:39 am
I take boatloads of photos! Digital photography really makes it so much easier to snap away with abandon. You don’t have to pay to develop each shot, and you can see the photos immediately. Plus, digital cameras almost all have lots of cool features like zoom and macro that standard film cameras didn’t.
Between the digital camera and the kids, we are recording a lot of our daily life over here. And I’m loving it.
May 5th, 2009 at 9:52 am
fun! I am glad you are doing this, you will be happy you did! :)
May 5th, 2009 at 10:15 am
That’s a great idea! I already take so many random photos, which my husband hates, that this would give me a little project to do. Thanks for sharing!
May 5th, 2009 at 11:44 am
This sounds like a fun idea. I especially like the idea of a month collage! I take photos almost every day anyway, so I think I can do it, too. My cousin is part of 365 day photo project at the school where she teaches, and it’s so neat to see them all. I’ll try to remember to do this and post a collage at the end of the month. :0)
May 5th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
I am a picture FREAK!! Have been since I got my first camera at age 4–a blue Holly Hobbie one:) I have oodles of albums and have finally decided: no more! They will take over my home if I continue–and I plan to continue. I am going with the digital storage. I’ll check out Small Notebook (I love her!) for some ideas. Thanks!
May 6th, 2009 at 1:56 am
Great ideas and this sounds like a great project! I love taking photos so this is something I would like to try. I have my pictures organized on my computer, but I need help on creating a collage on my blog. Do you have any good how-to links for that?
May 6th, 2009 at 2:58 am
This was a great reminder; we often get so busy that the days blur together. Stopping to take just one photo would be great!
May 8th, 2009 at 6:23 am
That’s a great idea! I often think that I’ll take more “everyday” pictures when I have kids. But I don’t want to forget my life pre-kids! I should take more pictures NOW, not later.
I just did the whole looking-through-old-pictures thing earlier this week. I found some great ones and made them into cards. And now I’m giving a set away on my blog today. Check it out!
May 8th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I’ve always taken a lot of photos, but not usually of everyday things. Lately–since I started blogging!–I’ve been taking more photos of everyday things. I love the idea of taking a photo every day for a month!
May 8th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Love this idea. Some of my favorite photos are ones that were taken on ordinary days, of regular, everyday life. I took a camera to school one day when I was in the 6th grade and spent the day snapping shots of everyone and everything. I still love looking at those–takes me right back when I see them.
May 16th, 2009 at 9:36 am
What the heck would I have to blog about if I didn’t take pictures of the small things everyday. ;) I am always telling others is the small things that make beautiful pictures. You don’t need the whole item, focus in on something beautiful about that item.