Considering starting a photo challenge? In this post, I’ll walk through what I learned from sharing a photo a day for 200 days!
Why I decided to share a photo a day
In September 2022, I started grad school at Brown University and was slightly overwhelmed adjusting to the workload. I knew I was wasting a lot of time on my personal social media account and no longer felt aligned with what I was previously sharing online.
Gradually, I began sharing more photography-related content on my personal account and for some reason, I felt like it didn’t belong there. And I kept having a recurring feeling that I needed something to help me commit to working on my photography while in grad school.
Soon after, on a random Wednesday, I was walking through downtown Toulon with my camera and had a lightbulb moment. I decided I wanted to ditch personal social and commit to sharing a photo a day for 365 days on an old photo page (@mekennasmoments). As soon as I got back to my car, I posted a story on my personal page announcing it.
And then, on the next day, September 15, 2022, I began my 365-day photo challenge.
You can see my first post and read the rules I set for myself here.
Now, I’m 200 days in.
In this blog post, I reflect on what I’ve learned so far!
9 Things I Learned Sharing a Photo a Day
1. The importance of having a system and being organized
I began this challenge on an impulse. The next day when I went to look for photos to begin posting, I realized that even though I had taken thousands of photos over the years, I didn’t have many edited photos to choose from. However, I did have a sea of unedited photos in Lightroom.
Before my photo a day challenge, my routine looked like this: return home from shooting, upload photos if I remembered, cull them randomly, and upload the good photos to Lightroom. Then find 1-2 photos I liked to edit and use. Otherwise, the rest of the photos just hung out there unedited… for basically ever.
As you can imagine, my laziness led to me having thousands of unedited photos sitting in my Lightroom… Yikes. I quickly realized I needed a better system.
This photo-a-day challenge reminded me of the importance of treating my personal photography like I used to treat my client photography.
Now, I always upload photos immediately after shooting, cull them, and upload the good shots to Lightroom. I edit them within the next 1-2 weeks. Then save my edited photos to a folder on my computer.
I even began posting some of these as photography albums on this website back in October 2022.
Thankfully, sharing a photo a day for 200 days has helped me become way more organized!
2. The importance of planning ahead.
For my photo-a-day challenge, I focused on sharing a photo a day rather than taking a photo a day. For this reason, I was able to post pictures I had already taken (a way to help myself sort through semi-recent pictures)
For the first few months, because I was unorganized, I didn’t have many edited images to choose from to post. So each day, when it was time to post, I went on Lightroom, picked and edited a photo for the day, and then shared it.
And it was stressful. It took me forever to find an image and even longer to post it on Instagram.
So much for reducing how much time I wasted on social media, right?
This photo challenge forced me to, begrudgingly, plan ahead.
From the moment I began this project, I created a photo album on my iPhone to store my posts in.
Eventually, I realized I could organize and plan my future posts there for free. So, I started to.
Now, I tend to have around 10 days of photos planned on an album in my iPhotos app. Just enough photos that I don’t feel panicked when it comes time to post but not too much that I don’t have to get out and take pictures.
Sure, I have always known that planning ahead is important but this challenge has really solidified its importance to me.
3. The importance of having something to keep me accountable
Have you ever tried to complete a challenge on your own and found yourself somehow forgetting about it or quitting it only a few days in? Well, you’re not alone. I have too.
For this reason, I decided to share my pictures online every day. I knew I needed something to keep me accountable. Otherwise, I knew I would find myself 30 days in and somehow forgetting about it.
The decision to commit to posting on social media and having an account to keep me accountable has been crucial. If I didn’t announce that I was doing it, I am not sure if I would have followed through.
I can almost guarantee that nobody would notice if I missed a day, but I would know. I committed to sharing a photo a day. So I HAVE shared a photo a day. Now, there is proof of that if you look at my Instagram page.
Speaking of making commitments to yourself… if you’re looking for a mental toughness challenge, check out this post: 75 Hard Challenge: Review Experience and Tips
4. The importance of reflecting on your work.
When I began this photo challenge, I needed photos to post. So I looked back at all the images I took over the past 2 years living abroad in France. I was bummed to discover that I had so many random shots of random things. I found myself wondering what the heck I was thinking when I took them.
In my non-client photography, I realized I never really knew what I was trying to accomplish before I went out to shoot. Most of the time, I just wanted to document everything. Which led to a lot of random images.
This photo challenge forced me to reflect on how I was using my camera and the images I was taking.
Since then, I have changed the way I approach my personal photography and what I shoot. I’ve tried shooting different subjects from different perspectives and worked on creating images that tell stories.
Now, when I use my camera I always try to ask myself why I am taking an image and what I want to create.
Recommended read: 8 Reasons You Should Do a Photo Challenge
5. The importance of setting an intention and sticking to it.
I started this photo challenge with the intention to help myself get more consistent with photography and see where it would take me.
As soon as I started this project, I decided to disable my like count on my Instagram posts and focus on my intention. However, soon after beginning, I caught myself making reels to “grow” my account.
Yes, Instagram reels have more reach than static posts on my page but I intended to share a photo to help myself get better at photography… not to grow my account with reels (at this point).
I had to get real with myself and call myself out. Since then, I’ve focused back on my intentions and stopped sharing crappy reels (videos are not my thing, at least not yet). If I do have the urge to share a reel, it has to be in addition to my photo for that day.
This photo challenge showed me the importance of setting an intention for whatever it is you’re doing and calling yourself out if you stray away from it.
6. Life feels better with a creative INSTAGRAM account
Ditching my personal social media account and switching to an account that focuses on photography has been a game-changer for me.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I was tired of having a personal social media account. I couldn’t help but cringe at myself when I looked back on my old stories and posts. I found myself no longer wanting to share my personal life or see what people I knew were doing. And I didn’t want to waste time pointlessly scrolling.
I felt out of alignment with myself and wanted to focus on other things in other areas of my life.
Since I ditched my personal account in 2022, I have so much more free time!
I don’t feel the need to share what I’m doing, what vacations I’m on, what workouts I’m doing, or any of that kinda stuff that no one really cares about anyway. I started learning to cook more things that I never made time for before, I picked up blogging again, and just generally feel happier. Which is sad to admit.
So far, I am digging the shift. But I will say, I still don’t feel the desire to be on social media and I still catch myself wasting time occasionally. So, who knows, maybe after my 365-day photo challenge is up, I will ultimately quit Instagram but for now, I’m here and willing to see where it takes me.
Recommended read: What is a 365-day Photo Challenge and is it Right For You?
7. Sharing what you like, attracts people like you.
To be vulnerable here, I’ve often felt like there was no one out there that got me or wanted the same things I wanted.
To give you some background, I’m an INFJ and generally pretty private. In the past, I mostly shared my obsession with working out and all things in the health sphere online. But hardly anything about my photography.
I saw a post recently that said you may feel lonely because nobody knows the real you. Phew.
By committing to this photo project, I feel like I’ve shown a part of me that was normally hidden.
In doing so, over these past 200 days, I’ve interacted with some cool people on social media. I’ve discovered that there are, in fact, so many people like me out there.
Now, I realize, your people are out there but if you don’t share who you truly are, they can’t find you.
By being yourself, you attract people like you, to you.
8. The cure for perfectionism is messy action.
I am a terrible perfectionist. Like the worst out there. With literally everything I do.
I have a graveyard filled with personal projects I’ve given up on because I couldn’t “perfect” them.
I knew I wanted to improve my photography but my perfectionist tendencies were holding me back.
On my personal page, I only ever used to share my “good images”. When I started this photo challenge, I told myself to experiment and forced myself to share the “experiments” online.
I knew the photos weren’t the best and I knew I couldn’t perfect them. Despite that, I shared them anyway.
When I look back, sharing those less-than-perfect images was great for me.
The world didn’t end when I shared them. CRAZY RIGHT?
As a side note, one of these experiment photos was reposted on a large travel page (repost is below and you can see my original post here). I was beyond surprised that out of all my photos, this bad experiment photo was reposted (Murphy’s law, eh?). but again, working on my perfectionism!
9. Progress is slow and gradual, and that’s okay.
Instead of trying to be perfect, I’ve focused on “getting 1% better every day”.
Being okay with not being perfect right now is helping me get better in the long run.
Not surprisingly, I think my photography has gradually gotten better because of this.
I’m back to shooting full manual again, my editing has improved, my style has gotten more consistent, and I’m getting better at capturing images that communicate something!
As cheesy as it sounds, it’s a great reminder to just focus on getting a little better each day.
It’s all part of the process. Embrace it and don’t judge yourself too harshly.
Looking for a lightweight travel camera? Check out my photography gear here!
Summary: 9 Things I Learned Sharing a Photo a Day For 200 days.
Sharing a photo a day might not seem like that big of a deal but let me tell you from experience, it is!
I knew I wanted to work on my photography yet my actions weren’t aligned with that goal.
At the beginning of this photo challenge, I encountered massive resistance and had to figure out what I needed to work on to get past it.
In the 200 days since I started this challenge, I have learned:
- The importance of having a system and being organized
- The importance of planning ahead.
- The importance of having something to keep me accountable
- The importance of reflecting on my work.
- The importance of setting an intention and sticking to it.
- Life feels better with a creative social media account rather than a personal account.
- Sharing what you like, attracts people like you.
- The cure for perfectionism is messy action.
- Progress is slow and gradual, and that’s okay.
I can’t wait to see what the next 165 days show me!
Have you done a long-term photo challenge or are you considering beginning one?
If so, I’d love to hear about your experience or questions in the comments below!
