I posted at least one image everyday for a whole year straight.
I am kind of exhausted.
There were a couple of close calls, where I simply would have forgotten, if not for my friend Claudio who messaged me – sometimes at almost midnight – asking, where today’s image was. (Thanks for saving the streak a couple of times!)
Also a big thanks to everyone who contacted me about the blog, commented on posts (via email), introduced themselves (even met up with me) or started their own blogs. Your feedback is very much appreciated! 🙏
Not sure I can share any meaningful insights about what posting daily for a year meant or how it changed my photography at this point.
It definitely made me go out and shoot more. (Which was the main reason for starting the photo blog in the first place.)
I loved the days where I would get a photo very early in the day, and knew, shooting for the blog was done for the day!
It could get exhausting sometimes, especially on days where I didn’t make any photos I wanted to share. Having a halfway decently organized archive was helpful in those cases.
Daily posting works quite well as diary. Looking back, I can assign a feeling or a mood to each of the images. I know pretty much exactly how I felt when I took a certain image. (That is quite an interesting realization that I definitely need to explore more deeply.)
Maybe I have more to say in a couple of days or weeks…
Favorites?
As I love the process of editing/culling, I tried to make a short list of my “favorite” images from the last year. (Turns out, that this was really hard!)
So in no particular order – and not necessarily “best” in an artistic sense – some of my favorite images, with a little bit of added context:
February 2023: My children waiting for me on the front porch, while I was getting our bike from the basement. I said it multiple times before: Documenting their (our) lives is my favorite thing.September 2023: This image shows Rob Draper right before going on stage at beyond tellerrand in Berlin. I can’t say enough good things about this event. (You should attend!) I love this image in particular because it perfectly encapsulates what I love about covering events like this, the behind the scenes access, capturing the anticipation and tension, that other people usually do not get to see.December 2022: Tiger and Turtle. My fourth (or fifth?) visit. This is such a cool looking structure and I am still finding new angles every time.February 2023: Parkleuchten in Gruga park. Lovely event, lots of opportunities for great images.February 2023: Wrestling. I think, I improved a lot, getting more and better images. As I always tell my daughters (and they repeat it all the time now): Practice makes best! Looking forward to attending more events in the coming months. Oh and I am still planning in releasing a second zine!November 2022: Christmas market. I visited multiple times last year to do street photography. Looking forward to repeating it this year.January 2023: A 41. I walk past this building almost every day, and I snap a picture of it almost every day. I am still trying to find new and interesting angles to shoot from. It is always nice to have a new image in my back pocket on days, when creativity does not come easy. I can always post an A 41 image to expand the collection.May 2023: Documenting our life and our relatives in Turkey feels like I am creating something important. Not just snapshots, but something that can one day become more than just simple family snapshots. Something that will have meaning for me, my children and my family, but could also be something for others to find meaning in. It is hard to explain, and I will need to finally make it a priority to go through all those images and find a common thread. And to put it all together so it becomes more than just its parts.December 2022: Taken during a break at my Turkish language course. I was so eagerly waiting to practice my skills, we had already booked flights to Turkey for February, when the earthquakes hit and everything was thrown into chaos.January 2023: Leaf marks on the pavement. I remember this day very clearly. Even though the weather was really bad, I took my time on my way back home to take some photographs. Just anything that looked interesting, going with the flow. I would love to just do this everyday. Wander and take images.
What’s next?
A handful of you have subscribed to my “what happens after a year of daily photo blogging” mailing list. Thanks you for that!
I am still thinking about creating a magazine or book, though I not sure how feasibly that is, regarding the number of images. I’ll have to think about that a bit more. I’ll probably order small prints of all of the images and then do some sorting and editing and see what I can come up with. I’ll let you know – via email. Whatever it will be, I will take you along on that journey.
In regards to my photo blog, well, I haven’t lost my love for photography. It is as alive as ever. But I will definitely take a break. (One day at least to end the streak, not to rope myself into keeping it going.)
I have a couple of ideas, what to do next. I guess you just have to keep following along!
