I absolutely love photo challenges — everything from the “photo every hour” posts to the month-long Photo a Day prompts that sites like Fatmumslim run — but I’ve been terrible at keeping up with them. When a challenge stretches across an entire day I inevitably end up photographing the car, my plate of food, or whatever I happen to be doing at the moment. And with month-long projects, my enthusiasm wavers: I’ll do great for a week or two, miss a couple of days, pick back up, and then drift away entirely. Consistency is the hardest part for me, yet I still want to participate.
So I thought: what if I made a short, focused challenge that’s actually realistic? Four days. Four photos each day. Sixteen shots total. That’s manageable, even when life gets busy. I’m calling it the BlogHer Photo A Day challenge — a mini photo-a-day designed for our time in New York City, but open to anyone who wants to play along.
The idea is simple. During the conference we’ll share photos on Instagram using the hashtag #bh12photoaday so everyone can follow along and enjoy a visual diary of the event. If you’re not at the conference you can still join: use the prompts to capture moments from your own life, revisit old mementos, or get creative with objects around your home. For example, dig out that Statue of Liberty snow globe from a school trip, or photograph an everyday scene in a new way. When the four days finish, I’ll host a link-up so people can share a round-up post collecting their favorite shots. That way we get a neat gallery of perspectives and everyone can celebrate the small project at the end.
I’ve already asked a few friends to participate, and they’ve agreed, but the more people who join, the more fun it will be. Short, playful challenges like this are a great way to practice seeing your surroundings with fresh eyes. A limited timeframe removes pressure and encourages spontaneity — it forces you to capture honest, immediate moments instead of overplanning and then never following through.
We’ll start on August 1st. If that sounds like something you can commit to for four days, consider yourself invited. You don’t have to be a professional photographer or own fancy equipment — a phone camera works just fine. The goal is to notice, capture, and share small slices of your day. Whether you post every prompt or only a few, participating is about showing up and joining a community of people who enjoy documenting life one picture at a time.
Will you take part? Join in, use the hashtag while you’re posting, and we’ll collect the best images into a round-up after the event. It should be fun, low-pressure, and a good excuse to slow down for a moment and take notice.
(I’m not affiliated with BlogHer officially — this is just a personal idea I wanted to try. Please be mindful of the main #BlogHer12 hashtag and avoid overwhelming it with unrelated posts. I had a thought and ran with it — maybe that’s what a short running program did for my mindset: small goals build confidence.)