By Susan Sou
Do you find your “walls” full of thousands of similar photos that look exactly alike? Walls are not the physical ones in your house, but the “walls” of the social networking sites, such as Facebook and Instagram.
A Facebook wall is an area on a profile page where the content of a Facebook user is displayed. The user is allowed to share his/her thoughts and views by status, photos or even a website link. Meanwhile, Instagram serves a similar function, but it only enables users to post photos or videos. These walls are full of selfies, pictures of food, pets, new bags, and all kinds of items. Do not think that this is only for young people? Even your mom knows how to filter her selfie.
There are lots of reasons for the current situation. You may say that because everyone has a mobile camera, digital technology makes everything easier, networks are everywhere, and equipment is cheap, etc. They are all true.
However, the main reason comes from the popularity of social networking. Life is boring and routine, and people want to be liked. Online social networking services provide people with the “like” function. People come home from work and log in to Facebook or Instagram posting their selfies or lunch photos of the day, with great descriptions, and wait for the “likes”.
Instead of waiting for the “likes” and doing the same thing as others, why don’t people look for new challenges to make life meaningful and unique? One example might be to start a 365-day-photo project.
Normally, photographers engage in this kind of photography projects for a whole year to gain inspiration. As our own project, it does not require professional photographing skills. We can treat this project as a journal recording our lives. Besides making a record, it can be a way to relieve our stress and gain a better understanding of ourselves. After a whole year, you can look back on your photos and will find out some amazing ones. Moreover, you will discover what is important to your life and the changes you have made throughout the year.
In this project, you can create some specific topics — 365 portraits, 365 animals, or just 365 of everything. Remember to keep in mind that 365 means a photo of each day for a year, so bring your camera with you everywhere and keep shooting!