Daily Photo Challenge 2015 & PastBook Success

I knew 2015 was going to be a big year for me.  I was finishing my nurse practitioner degree program, oldest son was starting his last year in grade school, and I was turning 40.  I wanted to capture the year differently and not just by a few pages in a scrapbook.  I had a photographer friend who was challenging others to do a daily photo challenge. Challenge accepted. I was ready & starting on January 1st I took one picture each day on Instagram.

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Daily Photo Challenge

When I was challenged by a friend to take a picture with my phone daily and post it to Instagram, I thought, why not?  I wanted to do something different to document this year and sounded easy enough. Thankfully it was so much fun to do. You find yourself taking hundreds of photos each year, but what if you could only pick one photo each day to post?  Some days were more difficult than others but there’s a picture each & every day. By the end of 2015, I’d have a little flashback into each day.

The rules were easy.  Take a photo every day.  Simple, right?  You also have to track the days. I noted my days by numbering it as 24:325 | and would then add my caption. Always had to add a caption.  That’s what made this challenge the most fun – a photo and a little glimpse of my thoughts on each day in 2015.

Instagram

I had a few different options for posting a daily photo.  I could just store them on my phone.  I could upload them to Facebook each day. The problem with this is I really did not think I could limit myself to ONE photo only each day.  Doesn’t really make for a daily photo challenge if I throw 72 other pictures of a random event.  Since I intermittently used Instagram I thought this would be a great place to keep track of everything.  I could see the dates, write a blurb and then it would hopefully all transfer somehow and make an amazing book I had envisioned in my head. Worked

PastBook

The following year I made the photos into a book and the boys enjoy flipping through it often.  It was so simple, I used Pastbook to pull the Instagram photos right into the template and each day already had its label.

All of us take hundreds, if not thousands, of photos on our phones each year.  Then we sit with hundreds of photos on our phones, taking up space, not wanting to delete them…but WHAT do you do with them?  Not ALL the photos, but the good ones.  The great ones.  Your FAVORITES.  Be certain to not only capture them but to enjoy them.

26 thoughts on “Daily Photo Challenge 2015 & PastBook Success

  • January 3, 2019 at 11:10
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    Never heard of PastBook before. Might have to check it out!

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  • January 3, 2019 at 15:53
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    That’s pretty awesome! I post on facebook every day, but I’m not one for Instagram. I should get my hubby to do this for me. He’s on there every day. I’d love to have a little book like this to have memories of our kids, our adventures, and ourselves.

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  • January 3, 2019 at 17:23
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    Great post!! I miss the feel of pictures in my hands and in scrapbooks..these are some good options! Thanks

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  • January 3, 2019 at 17:38
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    I remember going through rolls of film and spending every penny I had on developing them. I spent even more money on scrapbooks and supplies. Now, we do everything digitally and I feel like I’m missing out on the compilation factor.

    I use Instagram religiously and will have to check out Pastbook!!! Especially for all my travel photos!

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  • January 3, 2019 at 18:29
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    What a great idea! I Literally have almost 2000 photos on my phone, and that’s after uploading a whole pile to Shutterfly, but will I ever do anything with them? Probably not, at least not until I read this post. Thanks!

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    • January 3, 2019 at 22:50
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      We have to remind ourselves to let others share our pictures too, what better way then the “old fashion way” in a book!

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    • January 3, 2019 at 22:49
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      It is so worth it! I love looking back at the photos and you can’t beat the quality!

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  • January 3, 2019 at 21:45
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    It’s such a problem! I never know exactly what to do with all my photos. I save them on the cloud but I feel like once I take them off my phone i never actually look at them!

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  • January 4, 2019 at 06:05
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    I wanna try a photo a day! I saw one friend do it and he took amazing photos. I think he may have cheated and took a bunch of photos on some days and spread them out. lol Why not right but just the favorites are kept throughout the whole year. I tried to click on your Pastbook link and it said the link wasn’t active…I’ve used another company before and my kids LOVE flipping through a book of pictures of them. They are all falling apart now, time for reprints. Thank you so much for the inspiration!

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    • January 4, 2019 at 09:56
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      Sorry the link didn’t work – you can go directly to the site as well…so worth it to capture your memories!

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  • January 4, 2019 at 07:49
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    You are so right about all the photos we take! I am going to have to check out the PastBook!

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  • January 4, 2019 at 12:19
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    Great idea. I took tons of pics when mine were younger but now they’re older they’re not keen on being photographed.

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  • January 4, 2019 at 13:28
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    I’ve never heard of Pastbook before! It seems nice for those pictures on your phone you just can’t let go of!

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    • January 4, 2019 at 18:20
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      You won’t regret it! I love looking back at the photos!

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  • January 4, 2019 at 16:25
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    That could be a fun challenge. I tried to do a similar challenge a few years ago but did not keep it going for the whole year. I like the idea of saving your favorites in a book to enjoy.

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  • January 4, 2019 at 16:31
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    That is really cool! Fun what to keep track of great memories!

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  • January 5, 2019 at 23:19
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    I love this idea. Especially making a photo book of the one picture per day. I’m gonna give it a try!

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  • January 6, 2019 at 22:53
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    I love learning new things from this community. I had never heard of Passbook and just took a look at it. This would be a fun new challenge for the year and create a book of memories. Thanks for sharing!

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  • January 7, 2019 at 19:27
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    I got my husband a similar subscription for Christmas this year. Hopefully it will help get some photos off his phone and into his hands.

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  • January 9, 2019 at 07:26
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    I love the idea of a photo challenge! This sounds like so much fun!

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  • January 9, 2019 at 08:13
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    Love this idea ~ just need to commit. LOL. What a fascinating project to review on 12/31……right?

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  • January 9, 2019 at 12:52
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    Cool! I’m doing something similar this year, but not sharing them anywhere… just in a Google Photos album then will possibly turn them into a book next year.

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  • January 11, 2019 at 14:07
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    Pastbook. Never heard of it. Thanks for the suggestion. We usually just download to the computer. But we still dont want to delete off the phone 😆

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  • January 13, 2019 at 12:32
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    This is really cool. I didn’t know you could do that using Instagram!!!

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