Photo a Day Challenge: 20 Ideas and How to Keep It Going

For anyone whose photo a day album fizzled out in week two, and who'd like another go.

Day one was a latte with a leaf in the foam. Day six was the same latte, slightly worse. On day eleven you photographed the inside of the fridge so the album wouldn't have a gap, and a few days later it stopped. The album's still on your phone, named after the year, holding fourteen photos.

A photo a day challenge means taking one photo every day, for a month or a whole year, and keeping them together so you can look back. Choose a moment you already have each day and keep the photos in one album. Leave gaps when you miss a day, then look back at the month.

We make MirrorMii, a game that runs on photos from your real day. So we're interested in giving today's photo something to do before it becomes a memory.

How does a photo a day challenge work?

There's no official rulebook, so you get to write a short one.

1. Pick a length. Thirty days is a good first round. A year is a lovely goal once you know you like it.
2. Pick a moment. Tie the photo to something you already do daily, like the first coffee or the walk home.
3. Pick one rule, or none. "Something I touched today" gives every day a starting point.
4. Pick one home. One album or one app, so day 40 sits right next to day 39.

That last one matters most. Photos buried between screenshots are hard to find, and an album you can't find is one you stop opening.

What should you photograph when nothing happens?

Get close to one thing. In Linda Henkel's 2014 museum study at Fairfield University, people on a guided tour photographed some objects and simply looked at others. They remembered fewer of the objects they'd photographed whole, and fewer details about them. When they zoomed in on one part instead, that memory gap went away.

We read that as permission. A slow day doesn't need a big view, just one detail you looked at properly. Here are 20 photo a day ideas, sorted by the kind of day you're having.

Days when nothing happens

• The ring your mug left on the desk.
• Your shoes by the door, in whatever pile they landed.
• Today's handwriting: a shopping list, a sticky note, a receipt you signed.
• The last lonely thing in the fruit bowl.
• The view from exactly where you're sitting, before you tidy anything.

Days you're out

• The ground under your feet: tiles, a drain cover, leaves stuck to wet pavement.
• A sign with an oddly specific rule.
• Straight up: a ceiling, bare branches, the inside of a stairwell.
• Your reflection somewhere it shouldn't be, like a spoon or a car door.
• The same tree on your walk, every day for a week.

Evenings at home

• Steam doing something: a kettle, a bowl of soup, the bathroom mirror.
• Tonight's dinner, however it turned out.
• The houseplant that's either thriving or quietly giving up.
• One patch of light on the floor, wherever it landed.
• Your bedside table, exactly as it is.

Days with other people

• Two hands passing something across a table.
• The table after everyone's finished eating.
• Your shoes next to a friend's.
• Coats piled on a bed at a party.
• Whatever your friend is laughing at, a second too late.

If a list feels like homework, give each week a theme instead. The card below plans a first month.

How do you keep it going past week two?

Week two is when the photos start to look the same.

Take the photo at the same moment every day, right after something you never skip. "After I pour my coffee, I take today's photo" is a habit stack: the coffee gives you a cue to reach for the camera.

Lower the bar, too. Some days the photo will be a sock. It still counts.

When you miss a day, carry on tomorrow instead of going back to day one. Phillippa Lally's team at University College London followed 96 volunteers, each building one daily eating, drinking or activity habit. In their 2009 habit study, missing a single day didn't materially change how the habit formed. Leave the gap, or add yesterday's photo late. If a missed day became a missed month, here's how to get back on track.

Do you need a photo a day app?

No. Start with an album in the photo app you already use, named for the challenge. Add each photo to it the moment you take it.

For a group challenge, invite friends to a shared album in Apple Photos or Google Photos and let them add photos.

BeReal makes it a daily thing with friends. Once a day, at a random time, everyone gets the same two-minute window to post, and the camera shoots front and back at once. Late posts still count. It picks the moment for you, so the notification might arrive while you're still in your pajamas.

Collect is a photo journal for solo projects. You can date and caption your photos, then make a collage of the month. Every feature works for up to 15 photo entries; unlimited entries need a subscription or a one-time purchase.

What do you do with the photos after?

Look at them once a month. That's the reward, and it's the easiest step to skip. Pick a favorite from each week, put the month in one grid, and see what kind of month it was.

The tree you photographed for a week becomes a tiny flipbook. The fourteen-photo album becomes a short story about one very good latte. And on the last day, reshoot your day one photo from the same spot and put the two side by side.

What if the photo went somewhere the same day?

A photo a day album mostly waits for you to look back. MirrorMii is the game we make, and in it today's photo gets a job today.

Say Genii posts a quest for lunch. You snap the sandwich you're eating at your desk and hand what you found to Genii yourself. Finished quests stay finished, and you can save what you find for later.

That's where Miia comes in. She's your digital twin, a reflection of you who lives her own life. What you find becomes outfits and decor for her, and what she does in them is up to her. A chaotic day can turn into a chaotic outfit. Nothing counts the calories in your lunch.

FAQ

Do the photos have to be good?

No. Let a blurry photo stay in the album if it's the moment you wanted to keep. It says more about your year than a careful sunset. Want to improve? Try one rule for a week, like natural light only.

Can you start a photo a day challenge in the middle of the year?

Start today and call it day one. A year from a random day in July to the same date next July is still a year, and a 30-day round can begin on any date. Waiting for the first of the month mostly gives you time to lose interest.

Should you post your photos publicly?

Only if it makes the challenge more fun. An audience can turn every photo into a performance, and suddenly it's sunsets again. If posting makes you retake the same photo five times, keep the next week private.

Keep the album. Let today's photo become something Miia can wear. Snap it, and Miia lives it. Join MirrorMii free