One Photo a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

GO TO AN ART GALLERY OR A MUSEUM TODAY AND CHOOSE ONE WORK TO TAKE HOME WITH YOU.

One of the best ways you can practise paying attention to the things around you is to look at art. Think about how absurdly fast we move through a museum or an art exhibit, glancing at each artwork for just a few seconds, considering each work has taken days, weeks, months, or even years to create.

A good way to teach yourself to give art the attention it deserves is to play a game with yourself when you enter a gallery or a museum. Pretend that you have an unlimited budget and that you can take just one work of art home with you. Which one would you choose? Think about it very carefully. Take a picture of your final choice and use it as your screensaver.

Thomas Merton

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”

GO OUTSIDE TODAY AND PHOTOGRAPH THE SEASON.

HOW WOULD YOU PORTRAY IT WITHOUT RESORTING TO CLICHÉS?

A cherry tree in full bloom, a heart drawn on a foggy window, two hands around a cup of hot cocoa, children making a snow angel… When picturing spring, summer, autumn, or winter, we tend to resort to all of the same visual clichés. It’s as if they’re automatically stored on our personal and cultural hard drives. But how would you portray the season if you tried your very best to steer away from the usual clichés? If you had to capture the season in one image, what would it be? It’s probably harder than you think, but give it a shot.

Gérard de Nerval

“The first man who compared woman to a rose was a poet, the second, an imbecile.”

PHOTOGRAPH THREE THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO YOU TODAY.

How amazing would it be if you could live your life all over again? Would you do things differently or the same, if you had known then what you know now? You might not, but then again you might. Because you are who you are today because of all the decisions that you made in the past.

Select three things that are important to you, that you think make the world more beautiful. Take a photo of each of these three things. You can take more pictures, of course, but try to narrow down your choice to the three most important things before you go to bed.

“You can’t go back in time, and regret is pointless. The crucial thing is to start paying attention now.”

Michael Foley

HOLD YOUR BREATH FOR A FEW SECONDS EVERY TIME YOU TAKE

A

PICTURE

TODAY.

When we take a photo, we stop the world. We freeze an instant in time, capturing it to ensure the moment lasts forever. You can’t do this when you’re moving fast, pointing your camera at everything around you. So take your time today. Stop to a standstill for an instant several times throughout the day. Hold your breath. Observe the world around you. Take a picture.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

“To photograph is to hold one’s breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It’s at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.”

TAKE A PHOTO OF A SURPRISE TODAY.

Take five minutes today to surprise someone close to you, like a family member or a friend. Think of something small that will make them happy, that will instantly put a smile on their face. Take a picture of your surprise, just for you. When you look at it again later, you’ll feel the happiness too. These photographs are your souvenirs.

“Take five minutes every day to provide a pleasant little surprise for your partner, children or colleagues: put on her favourite music when she gets home, massage his back when he’s at the computer, put a vase of flowers on a colleague’s desk, send a sweet note. Such things are mutually contagious.”

Martin Seligman

TRY TO CAPTURE OUR MORTALITY TODAY.

Observe the people around you as you walk down the street today. In one hundred years from now, you and they will all be gone. Take the time to wrap your mind around this idea and let it sink in. Then capture the people you see in a few images (*). Your images will still be here one hundred years from now.

Reflecting on death isn’t necessarily bad or sinister. Contemplating the fact that you will be gone one day may actually make you feel more alive. Look at all those people out there, doing their thing, and discover a new zest for life today.

(*) When photographing people, make sure to always ask politely first. Don’t be shy: tell your subject about your project (and about this book).

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Steve Jobs

SEE THE WORLD THROUGH SOMEONE ELSE’S EYES TODAY.

Our personal experiences inevitably shape who we are and how we look at the world: where and how we grew up, the people we love, the films that we have seen or the books that we have read. We notice one thing but not the other, and we have grown so accustomed to it that we often don’t give it a second thought.

Go for a walk with a friend today and look at the world together. Take a photo of something your friend saw that you hadn’t noticed. Try seeing the world through their eyes.

“For a long time I assumed that I had to be alone for the most beautiful things. The silence of a mountain peak. The lynx in the forest! But now I think that pointing out, naming, sharing, actually double the amazement.”

HAVE A REAL CONVERSATION TODAY AND THEN TAKE A REAL PORTRAIT.

Have you ever felt like someone is looking at you, but they aren’t actually registering what you’re saying? They have zoned out. In an age of constant (digital) distraction, focussing your attention on the person you are talking to can be challenging, but it is a skill worth practising.

Whenever you feel your attention slipping today – to the outof-control pile of laundry, your bills, your co-worker’s snide comment – bring yourself back to the present and get your attention back on track. Try not to think about the next thing you’ll say, but instead listen with your full attention.

Practise this skill today by consciously listening to the person who is talking.

“Everyone is interesting. If you’re ever bored in a conversation, the problem’s with you, not the other person.”

Matt Mullenweg

#onephotoaday009

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PREPARE YOUR FAVOURITE DISH TODAY AND DOCUMENT THE PROCESS FOR YOUR VERY OWN COOKBOOK.

Prepare your favourite meal this evening. Have your camera at the ready and document the different steps for your very own cookbook. Cooking and taking pictures at the same time will be time-consuming and challenging, but that’s the whole point. When we test the boundaries of our own capabilities and completely surrender to what we are doing, we achieve the intensely focussed state of ‘flow’. Time stops when you’re in the flow. Only the present exists.

According to professor Mihály Csíkszentmihályi – who defined the concept – if you achieve a flow state, you are more likely to experience greater happiness and more flow. Enjoy your meal

“The best moments in our lives, are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times – although such experiences can also be enjoyable, if we have worked hard to attain them. The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”

Mihály Csíkszentmihályi

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DON’T JUST TAKE A SELFIE TODAY, TAKE A SELF-DEFINING SELFIE.

What do you stand for? What do you find important? What do you like most about yourself and why? Do you love yourself? These are all important questions, but we hardly ever take the time to reflect on them.

Try to capture the answer to these questions in a self-portrait today. Before you take your selfie, take a moment to close your eyes and really think about who you are. Then open your eyes and take the selfie.

You can repeat this exercise several times to see what happens.

“Why am I doing what I am doing? What is my aim in life? What is my aim in work? What is my aim with my family? What do I want to accomplish as a result of being alive? These questions are questions you ask over and over again, to keep yourself on track.”

Brian Tracy

MAP OUT YOUR IDEAL DAY TODAY AND PHOTOGRAPH THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENTS AS

A REMINDER TO YOURSELF.

What would constitute a perfect day for you? What does your perfect day look like? Identifying all the elements for a good day and incorporating them into each and every day will help you create a more beautiful and worthwhile life for yourself.

Pay special attention to the essential ingredients for a good day. Try to capture them in pictures. Remind yourself of your perfect day as often as you can. Put your pictures in a spot where you can see them every morning.

“I have a pretty good sense of what a happy day looks like for me, and I try to judge decisions that I make about what I do and don’t do, whether it makes that more or less likely to happen.”

PHOTOGRAPH A STRANGER TODAY.

Talking to someone you don’t know can be challenging. What do you say to them? What if you say the wrong thing? Fortunately, you don’t have to say all that much when you meet someone new. Just ask some earnest questions and, above all, take the time to really listen to their answers. Genuinely listening to someone’s story may be the best gift you can give them today. Be curious. Now take their picture.

Tip: You can start your conversation by saying that this book suggested that you take a picture of someone you didn’t know yet today. If this makes you feel nervous, just tell the person you are portraying that it does.

“If you don’t understand, ask questions. If you are uncomfortable about asking questions, say you are uncomfortable about asking questions and then ask anyway. It’s easy to tell when a question is coming from a good place, and listen some more. Sometimes people just want to feel heard. Here’s the possibility of friendship, connection and understanding.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

CREATE SOME SPACE FOR YOURSELF BY LEAVING

EARLY TODAY.

The Japanese have a concept called yutori, which connotes a sense of ‘spaciousness’. The idea is to create leeway or margin in your life by slowing down, allowing you to savour the moment.

If you must be somewhere today, leave 20 minutes earlier. When you arrive, take some extra time to look around you. Take pictures of your location before you do whatever it is that brought you there.

“Being alive is a common road. It’s what we notice that makes us different.”

Naomi Shihab Nye

TAKE PICTURES AS IF YOU WERE TAKING A HOLIDAY IN YOUR OWN LIFE.

When we are in a familiar place that is part of our daily grind, we tend to disappear into our heads or smartphone screens and stop being aware of our surroundings. It’s not that there is nothing interesting happening around us. We just stopped paying attention to the here and now.

So, splash some imaginary ice-cold water on your face today to jumpstart your brain. Photograph everything as if you were travelling through your own daily life and seeing everything for the first time.

“Together we became investigators of the everyday and considered our trip around the block – the street with everything it contains as a living being that could be observed. In this way, the familiar becomes unfamiliar and the old becomes new (...) We do have the ability to pay attention, we just forget how to use it.”

Alexandra Horowitz

TAKE 10 PICTURES OF YOUR HOUSE TODAY, AS IF YOU WERE PUTTING IT ON THE MARKET.

Things can become invisible when we see them day in day out. We tend to get so used to our surroundings that we lose sight of them. Try to look at your home with fresh eyes today.

Suppose you were to sell your house. If you were leaving today to start over somewhere else, what would you miss the most? What makes your home so special? What are the ten most beautiful or unique features of the place you call home? Photograph the ten things you think are worthwhile.

“We shape our homes and then our homes shape us.”

Winston Churchill

TAKE A SELFIE TODAY THE MOMENT YOU WAKE UP, WHILE YOU’RE STILL IN YOUR BED

(*). SHARE IT WITH THE WORLD.

Every day, images of perfection flood our social media. We are so used to showing the world our good side. We look for the best light, we pucker our lips, or flash our happiest smiles. The reality of what we look like early in the morning, when we’ve just gotten out of bed, and are stumbling towards that first cup of coffee, is very different.

So today be brave. Be realer than real. Show what others are afraid to share. Wake up the internet with a morning dose of reality. Cast off the chains of perfection. Show your crumpled self and be free.

(*) If you read this and it’s midday or evening, then do this tomorrow morning when you get up.

“There are no bad pictures; that’s just how your face looks sometimes.”

Abraham Lincoln

TODAY YOU ARE A TIME TRAVELLER FROM MEDIEVAL TIMES. WHAT DOES THE WORLD LOOK LIKE?

You’ve leapt through time, travelling to the present day for a photo report. Photograph the things that you want to share with your contemporaries. Show them what the future has in store for them.

You’ll soon realise that your daily life no longer seems that ordinary when you switch your focus.

“Our memory is and always will be as good as time travel gets, and in the meantime, time will do the travelling for us.”

Maria Konnikova

PHOTOGRAPH ONE OF YOUR PARENTS TODAY.

Choose which parent (*) you will photograph. Instead of using words to describe who they are or were and what they mean to you, take five pictures that define them. What five things make them who they are/were? Who are/were they as people? Who are/were they to you?

Use all the information at your disposal: what you see in your mind’s eye, what you know, and what you feel.

(*) If your parents are no longer alive, you can photograph objects or places that remind you of them.

“When I say I want to photograph someone, what it really means is that I’d like to know them.”

Leibovitz

Annie

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TAKE NOTES TODAY AND MATCH PICTURES TO WORDS.

Buy a small notebook today and always keep it on you. Write down everything that catches your attention: things you read, things people say, even your own thoughts. Pick a quote, something that you find beautiful, clever or catchy, that you wrote in your notebook. What kind of picture would you match to the words? Now take the picture.

Regularly writing down things that you find important and rereading your notes now and then will help you discover who you are or who you want to be. Thinking about how you can convey a thought in an image will help you internalise this thought.

“In my life, writing has been an important exercise to clarify what I believe, what I see, what I care about, what my deepest values are.”

Barack Obama

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TRY TO NOTICE THE COLOUR OF PEOPLE’S EYES TODAY (AND GIVE THEM THE FULL ATTENTION THAT THEY DESERVE).

Eye contact is instrumental in creating an authentic, deep connection with other people. Practise this today by focussing on other people’s eyes. Every time you talk to someone, try to notice their eye colour and make a mental note of it. Watch how people respond to your genuine attention. Even if it is a bit of a clever trick, it’s a good way to get into the habit of looking people straight in the eye.

Later in the day, ask someone you love if you can photograph their eyes. Observe them very carefully. Notice the complexity and the combination of colours in the irises. Are both eyes the same? Is it true that eyes are the mirror of the soul? Did you notice anything that you had not observed before? Does this make you feel uncomfortable? Why? Take a picture.

Tim Ferriss

“Three minutes of staring into someone’s eyes tells you more about them than ten minutes of talking.”

2022, Luster Publishing, Antwerp

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