A Picture A Day (PAD and PAW)

I can't remember when this became popular...I think it was in the aughts, the 2000s, whatever you want to call the decade of 2000–2010. People would commit to posting a "PAW" (picture of the week) or "PAD" (picture of the day) on their websites or sharing sites. Digital made this more feasible than it had been with film.

I always kinda deflected that off a thick carapace of grumpiness (or cynicism), like, yeah, whatever. Of course I never begrudge other people whatever other people want to do, because it's their business and as long as it doesn't hurt anybody I'm okay with it. And of course there is the great Jamie Livingston Some Photos of That Day project as the apotheosis of the PAD notion. In its own way, "Some Photos of That Day" was as epic a project as August Sander's documentation of the German people in the interbellum period. But PADs and PAWs weren't something I was going to get all a-flutter about. It never seemed like they were for me.

But I think I might be changing my tune. Here's a weird thing I first noticed when I lived in Maryland three decades ago: I seemed to take a lot of good pictures whenever I was reviewing a camera. Why was that? I puzzled over that mystery for a while, but the answer turned out to be obvious—very obvious: when I had a camera to review, I had to strap it on and get out and collect some snaps with the dang thing. Without a lot of plans or ideas or highfalutin' constructs. Just get out of the house and gather data—exercise the camera, feel what it felt like to use, get some "test shots" to see how everything worked. Whether I wanted to or not.

I needed to, because I needed to use the camera and get some results in order to write something sensible about it. For a long time, my commitment to my readers (this was at Darkroom Photography magazine which later became Camera & Darkroom) was to use a camera for three months before writing about it. I've been lazier lately.

I was always aware that I had a problem sticking to the testing mentality: each time I went out for tests and trials, eventually I would revert to just taking my own kinds of pictures for myself, same as always. I'd start out trying to be good and putting the gear through its paces, but I'd end up just being me and doin' my thang.

I interviewed Ralph Gibson once, and one of the things he said to me was, I find that whenever I go out to shoot I always come back with something. I'm paraphrasing, so that's why that's not in quotes. Could have been ...I always get something. He said that early on he would wonder, when he went out, whether he would get something good or not. But as time wore on and he got more seasoned, more experienced, he realized that he was good enough that he would get something every time he went out looking for it.

So I've now been through three short periods with the new axe (now more than a year old actually!) during which I made an effort to take a PAD. A picture every day. Just get out with the camera, look around—join the hunt—find something that works. Not just any exposure; something I'm halfway satisfied with.

And you know what? That really works. Whaddaya know.

Here's the bottom line: when I get out with a camera, if I'm being halfway picky about when and where, good things happen. Once I get into the "head" (mindset, it's also called) of looking for pictures, then I start taking notice of possibilities at all times, not just when I'm photographing. Right now I've got eight or ten ideas for future pictures in my head, and there are at least three locations I've only seen in the afternoon that I want to visit early in the day when the sunlight's coming from a different location. My visual mind doesn't turn off just because I can't stop to take a picture because I have to get to the dentist or whatever. I'll tell you one thing I do different in picture-taking mode: I simply use different roads to get places. Or take detours. Not because I'm specifically hunting for opportunities, just because I might see something I haven't seen before. I'd say a third of my pictures are ones I've taken when I return to something I've already seen.

Now, this might not help you because maybe you don't photograph near home (some people reserve picture-taking for vacation or mountain hikes or some other specific activity), or maybe your projects are specific and require arrangements or permissions, like a friend who photographed his high school classmates in their current oldster lives. But if you want to get pictures, and if you enjoy it when the magic happens, the baseline is that you've got to get out into the world with a camera in your hands. And plain old quantifiable goals along these lines can really help. A PAD or PAW is just one of these goals. You can get creative with them if you want to. For instance, I suggested to one shy street photographer that he should collect refusals. That is, he would approach someone and ask them if he could take a portrait of them, and every time somebody said "no" he got a point! It was a way to turn a negative into a positive. The game was to collect fifty points and see how many actual portraits he collected along the way. Because a lot of people would say "yes," too—as long as he was asking. 

I used to be "above" the PAW and PAD idea. (Looking down on it.) But each time I've tried it for a few weeks, it has worked great for me. It's been just the motivation I need to take an hour and get in the car or at least make sure that the camera is in the car and ready to go.

Try it; you might like it. Even if you think you won't.

Mike

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Featured Comments from:

Kristine Hinrichs: "This is one area where I have significant expertise. I am in my 13th straight year of 'Project 365"—taking at least one photo each day to post on social media. I have not missed a single day. In that time I’ve progressed from snapshot quality images to award-winning work and currently a solo exhibition. Because I’m posting publicly, I'm clear that not every day will be 'art.' However, I know that in order to produce worthy images I have to be there to take them. I found some of my best photos when I was just 'out looking for something interesting.' I find it gets easier as time goes on—it’s a habit like reading the paper, making morning coffee, etc. I find this has also made me much more aware of my surroundings—I see things that many people just pass by."

Bengt Carlsson: "You know what Mike? I've done a PAD for 10 years now, still doing it. It's been the best decision in my photography life. Seriously. It's made my photography evolve. I'm publishing my photos on a website, Blipfoto.com. Since my mother tongue is Swedish, I still feel a bit restrained when it comes to communicating in English with other members on that site, but I still produce photographs every day. Some of them are good, many are so-so, but I wouldn't have grabbed any of them without this PAD mania. A good habit, highly recommended!"

Nikhil Ramkarran: "Every time I have tried one of these exercises, I have gotten photos that I am very happy with. I can't speak to objective quality; I doubt that I could ever meet the standards of the majority here, but for my own peculiar tastes, top quality. My main problem is that the pressure quickly becomes incredible, and the minute I adjust to anything other than one a day, I peter off within a month or so. I must obsess obsessively or not obsess at all."

Chris Bertram: "The photo-a-day thing was really my way into photography, so I'm grateful for it. Back in 2007 (16 years ago already) some friends and their network started a 365 Flickr group. I had a simple 1 megapixel(!) Fuji camera, but then things got competitive. So I bought a Nikon D40, and started to read about photography, look at photobooks, the history etc. Did some dabbling in film with a Rollei and a Voigtlander Leica-clone for a while too. Anyway, I've not done it for years, but the competitive nature of it in our group forced me to learn and develop. At some point I started reading TOP."

S Ware: "Long time reader, breaking silence as a PAD project proponent. I’ve been doing a photo-a-day project for a few years, and it has contributed greatly to my enjoyment of photography, if not necessarily to the quality of my photos. Since the stakes are so low (it’s just a daily snapshot, after all), runs of a few days or weeks of 'meh / done it before / just plain boring' snaps fade into the background when looking back over a previous year’s PAD. It’s a great habit! Now I need to figure out how to make myself do something similar for deleting old images…."

Mike replies: Yes, there must be a corollary in terms of later editing...such as, at the end of a year of PAD, first you winnow the year's PAD shots to 100, and then, after contemplation and solicited feedback, to 40. So the product of a year of photographing every day is a portfolio or set of 40 curated pictures.

Of course this would have infinite variations, including actually showing one photo for every day as Hugh Crawford did with Jamie Livingston's Polaroids.

Dave Millier: "I started publishing a photo of the day on my website on 22 November 2022. It's useful because it keeps my website active. Just got back from a trip last night and I'm five days behind as a result. The guilt is strong in me.... My approach is not to aim to shoot and publish an image on each day. That seems silly and a rod for your own back. Rather, I publish an image each day taken from a recent batch of pictures. Eventually I run out of pictures and have to go on another shoot. The incentive is do enough shoots as to not completely run out of pictures. It's worked so far."

Paul McEvoy: "I sometimes wonder what happened to some of those old photo blogs. They were around when I was just getting serious about photography. There was a guy in Toronto who did a lot of color architecture stuff, a young guy who did full-frame 35mm black and white...a million of them. The Internet has gotten a lot less interesting with everything filtered through Mark Zuckerberg products. There was such a weird and interesting variety of blogs of all sorts back then. Music and otherwise. It was mostly cool back then and now it's mostly not.

"Says I who doesn't have a website but has an Instagram page...."

Comments

[Pierre Charbonneau]

A photo a day keeps the doctor away.
Especially if you aim well.

[John Krumm]

That reminds me a little of what Brooks Jensen talks about, only when driving with a friend on a photo excursion. They would set an interval, maybe 20 minutes, and every 20 minutes they would pull off the road and find a picture. It didn't matter how ugly or boring the scene looked, they only needed a safe spot to pull off. He said it was both a challenge, and that the randomness of the spots allowed them to get photos they would not have taken otherwise. The temptation is to wait for the perfect spot, and it might never arrive.

[hugh crawford]

Mike, there is an oratorio of the Some Photos Of That Day project. I think you might be in it. I don’t know much about it other than a sample that was forwarded to me where I go nude bathing in a popular pond. For those who don’t know, an oratorio is sort of like an opera, except not so much with the sets and costumes, although obviously this has some visuals.
https://pacnyc.org/whats-on/number-our-days/
Performances are Apr 12—14, 2024 and there are still some seats available.
I am told that the venue is rather spectacular https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/13/arts/design/perelman-performing-arts-center-review.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

I could never figure out how Jamie had the discipline to only take one photo a day.

[Dave Stewart]

Was impressed with a project you linked to in a post back in 2009, "Larry Strung made a portrait a day of his fellow residents of Hamilton, Ontario, for an entire year." (https://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2009/01/hamilton-ontari.html)

Couldn't do the likes of people photography daily myself, but the thought of doing a photo-a-day was noted. Some time later, in replies to another post, there was mention of Blipfoto. I started using that in 2011, and have been using it near enough ever since. Miss the odd days now again, and there are plenty of dross days when mojo or time is lacking.

This does potentially tie in with other previous topics here: one camera, one lens, one year (OCOLOY), and variants of it; and filtering/selecting just a single photo from days of plenty.

[Bear.]

You nailed it when with "mindset". PAD/PAW or whatever other approach you choose is a pragmatic technique to trigger mindset. What works for me are exhibition deadlines (which compel me to produce) and vacations (because I have time to play and enjoy)...

[Jeff]

Seems like this might finally be the time to take out that M Monochrom (if you still have it), with the goal to write something about it once you’ve exercised it, and you.

[s.wolters]

PAD and PAW seem to me methods for camera owners in panic. They have bought this expensive gear and now they have to do something with it. Doesn’t matter what.
The approach that works best for me is to find an interesting subject and then make a narrative about it. Can be anything.
Not all the images haven to be equally good when you when you’re telling a story and sometimes I end with only two or three nice images. I am just as much a gear head as most TOP readers, but the subject always comes first.

[Stan Waldhauser]

I am reminded of Jim Brandenburg's "Chased by the Light," (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLv4MhVq0Mg), but he clicked the shutter just once a day!

[JoeB]

A few years ago our local camera club decided on a project or assignment for each of us to take a photo, just one, every day for 30 days. Most of us did that.
Of course the quality varied with each of us, I found it to be a challenging and stimulating assignment. My seeing a worthwhile photo improved with the self imposed limit.
I also found without the push to do this I stopped after the 30 days.
I've go to get back to it.

[Jack Luke]

I'm glad you're in a good picture-making groove, Mike. It often feels, to me at least, that those prolific spurts are harder to come by as life becomes more life-filled.

On this, and I don't wish to come across as highfalutin and worthy, but the comment "...I need to take an hour and get in the car or at least make sure that the camera is in the car and ready to go" stood out to me.

Might I suggest you try, where feasible, swapping the car for a bike, Mike? The cycling pace is mindful enough to really take in the details but sufficiently brisk to see enough to keep you occupied.

Full disclosure – I have skin in the game as staff for a cycling website, and I'm a big baby non-driver, but the thought of seeking out new scenes at driving speed sounds hard. Equally, apologies if you're already going by bike with a camera in tow and that was a massive unsolicited egg-sucking tutorial!

[Daniel]

Jim Brandenberg did this some years ago and it ended up as a book: Chased by the Light.(published, 2001)
Three months of one shot each day. Only one, no do overs.
Was looking for a way to recharge his enthusiasm for photography. As a National Geographic shooter things were getting to him. So he took time off and photographed the natural world around his home.

Youtube videos of the process are pretty good viewing.

[Richard Tugwell]

I've always found that going out 'looking for photos' hardly ever works. Something about putting myself in the wrong mindset. This just relates to personal / street / candid / of course and excludes specific project-type photography. You can't make photos happen. Best just to have a camera and let the photos look after themselves. I'll re-quote Jane Bown, as I do every now and again. "The best photos arrive uninvited". (I could be paraphrasing that)

[Dean Johnston]

Hi.

"I seemed to take a lot of good pictures whenever I was reviewing a camera. Why was that?”

I know a fair few musicians. Many of them have said various variations on ’Every instrument has songs in it.’ Meaning that each individual instrument seems to bring out specific things, things that are often quite new, different or unique. Really, it’s just that when they play different instruments the instruments respond uniquely, making them, in effect, play different things, and new to them instruments can bring out things they wouldn’t usually do. Johnny Marr was on some kind of guitar nerd YouTube channel recently, with both him and the hosts saying this.*

I wonder if that applies to picking up different cameras, especially ones that are not familiar to us?

Peace & all the good stuff,
Dean
* here (somewhere): https://youtu.be/NjY2O92ByNw?si=aXTmF0yufbLwm-Ec