Dear Self,
I know writing to yourself is an odd concept, but roll with me for a bit. Hear Read me out. A while back, January 2012 to be exact, you started something. You didn’t know where it would go, and how far it would reach. You did it, like you do with most things, because it appeased your creative side and felt good. You started a photo a day challenge. You sent it out into the world, and let it go.
You were on holidays at the time, with very sketchy internet connection, but you started taking a photo each day and sharing it on Instagram and Facebook. “This is fun!” you thought to yourself. As you explored the coast on your break, you would check in to see other people’s photos… and suddenly the number of photos being shared grew and grew. It started off as a handful, turned into hundreds and by day two had hit thousands, and tens of thousands. Over time some months would see over a million photos being shared. A million! Who’d have thunk it?
But it wasn’t just the photos being shared, it was the people behind the photos. Emails started trickling in, “Photo a day has changed my life, thank you.” “Oh thank YOU for playing along,” you’d write back. And you were grateful. Without them you’d be just one person, taking photos and capturing daily life. Instead a beautiful community was being created. People all over the world were uniting together, in the name of creativity. Each day they’d get up, check the list and snap photos of things they came across.
It doesn’t seem real to you though. It’s hard to grasp that so many people the world over are connected because of something you whipped up way back then. People started organising meet-ups, calling them Fat Mum Slim Meet-Ups. That can’t be real? Surely?
And then you read a letter like this:
I just wanted to say a very big “thank you” to you. Your photo a day challenge has made me open my eyes to my surroundings and also made me feel alive again. I lost my job last August and had not had much luck finding a new one and was starting to feel down. Two months ago a friend told me about FMSphotoaday and I thought I’d give it a go. I love it, it gave me something to get out of bed for. I now have a new job which I enjoy, I love taking photos everyday and the icing on the cake is today one of my photo’s was featured in The Sunday Telegraph’s Sunday Style Magazine and I owe it all to you.
Thank you for saving me, you brought me back to life.
Photo a day changes everything. The little flowers persistently growing in the cracks in the pavement? You might not have noticed them if it wasn’t for Photo A Day. They make you see the world differently. You see the way the sun filters through the long grass in the empty block up the road, that without Photo A Day might have annoyed you with it’s lack of maintenance otherwise. Without Photo A Day you might not have known that you have a whole heap of people {from all over the world} who share a enthusiastic love of photography {not matter how skilled we are or aren’t}.
Life through the eyes of a Photo-A-Day-er is a life well lived. It’s a life where all the little things never go unnoticed. It’s a place filled with love and support, and beautiful things.
And best of all, it can bring you back to life.
Look what you’ve gone and done,
Love Me. x
Image via Kikki.K
Well done Chantelle …. I am learner photographer who has a reason to take loads and loads of photos all the time (thank goodness of digital!) and I am now obsessed with FMSphotoaday; love seeing everyones pic on FB and Instagram and will soon be checking into Flickr! What a brilliant idea you had! Also love reading your blog and realising that we all have issues and are similar when it comes to life’s trial and tribulations no matter where in the world we live! Thank you from a Zimbabwean-African living in the UK!!
So…. when are we having the “daily sounds” challenge? 🙂
Beautifully said Chantelle. It makes me look around when I would have simply walked by in the past.
Thanks for this Chantelle!! I’m slowly going by to life with this amazing challenge!!!
When someone “like” my photo makes me happy. Thank you for that
It is amazing Chantelle. I often wonder how you feel, starting something that just took off like crazy! Now I know. I’ve been hooked since August…it’s a wonderful part of my day. Thank you!! x
Same as Thea, have often wondered what you think about the way this PAD has grown, I am sure beyond anyone’s wildest dreams! It sure seems to have changed many peoples’ lives in some way and has bought many people together…who knew something small would become so huge. Well done Chantelle on not only starting it but being willing to keep it going as well as you do 🙂
you certainly have started something special!! we love it! 😀
I was just telling my husband on the weekend that I love photo a day so much because it has opened my eyes to the beauty of the world around me, I feel like I am seeing so much more now. Thank you! xxxx
Oh Chantelle – how wonderful is that! I remember when I did photo a day that it really kick-started my creativity and led to me getting going with writing again. So the above does not surprise me at all 🙂
To see a whole year of your life in photos is actually quite incredible. I played every day last year and now enjoy looking back over what I did, not just all the birthdays and trips away but they ordinary days where I ‘noticed’ what may have otherwise passed me by. I have met wonderful people from all over the world through the sharing of my everyday on instagram, people who I know I will meet one day.
So this year not a day has gone past without a photo being taken and shared and May being my birthday month means I’m back into the #fmsphotoaday list.
You’ve created something special, real, inspiring, uniting, cheerful, uplifting, memorable and most of all fun! Thank you a million times over Chantelle, great job xxx
Its so true, a life of a Photo-A-Day-er really is well lived. I successfully finished the challenge and I loved every single, simple moment of it. Small things (like an odd sticker on a telegraph pole, or a daisy filled pond) suddenly became full of light, love
& beauty! Congrats! x (a collage of 365 photos can be seen here http://www.almostamelody.com/p/one-photo.html)
Thank you Chantelle for bringing us all together, I’m having fun taking photos & making friends all over the world!
Just look at what you’ve done for all of us!! Life is so much more enjoyable!! xoxo
What a great story. I haven’t participated in a photo a day challenge yet, but this post has inspired me. I may just give it a try starting tomorrow May1.
I’ve been writing letters to myself forever. It’s a great way to cleanse your mind and move on if you’re stuck…or to remind yourself of where you’ve been.
PhotoADay has done so much for me and for that, I am grateful for you!
I’ve used it for different things: documenting my life, challenging myself in photography, slowing myself down to see things differently…..
You are an inspiration to all. Thank you.
Lovely post, and I totally agree! I’m not on photo a day (yet) but I’ve started taking lots of photos after I started blogging. And there are so many details that I see now that I never would have seen in the past. Of course it’s helped to get a better camera too…
so excited my iphone arrived last night and i can finally take decent photos on the fly and start to do PAD. i have no clue about instagram or anything but this month i will figure it all out.
i have been carrying my little camera with me for months now on my walks with my new dog – little things being photographed that make my heart sing, like peeling bark and beautiful flowers.. i am excited to start looking out for things on your prompt list and being more creative! Thank you xx
Awesome post, Chantelle. And this challenge really made me notice the little details in my every day life, which has improved so much the way I see things. Thanks for making me look diferently at my life.
I’m a brazilian blogger, and I made a post in my blog about the fmsphotoaday. The post is in portuguese (for my brazilian readers to understand), but if you want you can check it out here: http://loveanddaydreams.tumblr.com/post/49319542447/fms-photo-a-day-challenge
xx Taty
Such a great thing you have going here.
I’m so disappointed that I’ve never completed a whole month. BUT rather than dwelling on that I’m going to set myself some reminders and jump right back into it.
i am joining in this month – on instagram for the very first time. And I love how many others it connects everyone with, and so very true…I see things around me that I never took notice of before.
Gorgeous letter that you got – so good to see the flow on effect photo a day makes xx
Wow if the photo challenge can change lifes, I definitely try the challenge of May !!!
I love seeing snippets of others lives across the globe, so fascinating! Thanks for starting this 😉
this rings so true to me. Since starting the challenge I notice the world around me so much more. I feel more aware and in the moment, even if it’s just for that small moment when I am taking the picture.
I love photo a day and have been doing it since last feb. i have been trying to find/make time to take an art or photography class for years and this has given what I had hoped to achieve in terms of a creative outlet. It feels like every day is a treasure hunt. thank you.
just started on your photoaday challenge and i’m looking forward to taking pictures! 😀
I put photo a day on hold last fall as other obligations and shorter days made it harder and harder to do (and to honest a bit of an obligation, because when I do something I go all in). However, I hope to pick it up again one day because it was so much more than just taking a picture… It was more than a challenge to capture the prompt word… It made me look at my surroundings in a totally different way. I would walk down the street and look at everything with different eyes. Once life slows down I hope to pick this project up again. It was so fun to do.
yes yes yes – a life giving practice and community building container! photo-living heals, helps and inspires!
I was featured today…(something beginning with f.) Thank you…honestly, it feels great. Xoxo
Thank you for this post and for taking the time to develop the daily photo prompts.I so agree with everything in your post and am looking forward to getting back into my own photo a day project after having to take 6 months off due to some health issues. Finding your site, I may not have to go that long again between snapshots 🙂