Just For Today Challenge, Day 9: It’s Picture Day

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The Just For Today Challenge – 31 Days To A Better You has reached Day 9. This should be a very fun and easy Challenge for you to complete.

Get out your camera and take some pictures today. Spend some time today taking pictures, lots and lots of pictures.

We are so lucky to have digital cameras and memory cards, which can hold literally hundreds, if not thousands of pictures depending on their size. This doesn’t include the reams of memory on your computer to hold your digital pictures.

It only takes a second to capture a moment in time. No more waiting days for your print photos to be developed like in the good old days. You can see your picture instantly on your digital camera. Isn’t technology wonderful?

When’s the last time you took a picture (I’m not talking to you, the professional photographer)? I seem to only take pictures at family get togethers like birthdays or on special occasions. Do you remember Picture Day at school where we all had to get dressed up in our best clothes and had individual and class pictures taken? I have some vague memories of those days, but I don’t have all of the pictures because my parents couldn’t afford them every year. If you didn’t buy or get prints at that time, you were out of luck.

Let’s take a picture today, because today is a special occasion. You’re alive today and that’s special enough.

I’m going to do this Challenge, too. I bought myself a great prosumer camera for my last European trip and don’t use it very often. Today, it’s coming out of the drawer and I’m going to take lots of pictures today.

Why are we having a picture day on the Just For Today Challenge?

For so many reasons, including:

So that we capture a moment in time. We take pictures so that it’s almost like stopping time itself. We know that today will be soon over. What do you have that is a tangible reminder that today was special? Take a picture in order to record today.
So that we remember the special times. Go outside or stay inside and make some memories today. Capture those memories with a picture. See if you can capture something poignant that happened today.
To improve our memories. We trust pictures more than our memories. Take lots of pictures as you never know when your memory will fail you. Record as much as you possibly can.
To be creative. Take some pictures today to show your creativity. It is so much easier to click the camera and capture something absolutely breathtaking than it is to draw or paint it. You can take closeups or fool around with the focus – get creative and take some unusual pictures. It doesn’t cost anything to be creative with a camera.
To get someone to smile. Telling someone to smile for the camera might just make their day. We can all smile a little more these days.
To show what’s important. We can take a picture as a way of showing what’s important to us. Do you have a picture of everyone you love?
To relieve and share. We take pictures to share and relive moments in our lives. Sharing old pictures can bring back so many emotions. We can share those memories with many people.
To get better at photography. Not many of us will become professional photographers but we all can increase our skills at taking pictures. Learn a new technique and try something new today.

“People take pictures (of each other) just to prove they really existed.”- Ray Davies

Now that you have the motivation to take some pictures, here are some ideas for today:

Take a picture of your child sleeping.
Take a picture of your child laughing his/her head off. Get them giggling and soon you will be, too.
Take a picture of your spouse’s favourite body part. Only the SFW parts, please
Take a close-up of your hand.
Take a picture of your pet doing something wacky.
Take a picture of your most prized possession.
Take a picture of everyone in your family – like a candid family photo. You don’t have to pose if you don’t want to.
Take a picture of your house, inside and out.
Take a picture of yourself taking a picture
Go outside and take some nature shots while you are walking around.
Take a picture of something that caught your eye and make you look at it closely.
Take a picture of something so ugly that it’s almost fascinating.
Take a picture of your face and start your 365 Day Photo-A-Day project. Let 2010 be the year you document daily how much you’ve changed.
Make a memory today and capture it forever.

You get the idea. Take lots of pictures today and let me know how it went. If you have a Flickr or Picasa account, share the link by leaving a comment below so we can check out your pictures.

Remember that:

“Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man.” Edward Steichen

I’m cooking up another great Challenge for you to complete tomorrow. You’ll have to wait and see what I have in store for you.

For a list of all of the Challenges, see the Just For Today Challenge page.

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