The Ultimate P52 | Week 4 | Everyday

This week is a bit more freeform; I would like to see you capture little bits of your everyday…things and places you might otherwise overlook for their mundane aspects.

I admit I was better at this when my kids were small; and sometimes I get really inspired before we move (but we haven’t moved in over 10 years). But the truth is, our lives and memories are made up of these regular, everyday moments, and they should be photographed just as your vacations, holidays, and special events are.

Think about your daily drive, your desk, the view from your office window. As both an introvert and a stay at home mom, the vast majority of my everyday is spent at home, so my personal everyday is made up of moments around the house or on my daily walk. However, I do try to remember to take my camera out with me sometimes, and I’d encourage you to think about places like your local grocery store, your favorite coffee shop, going out to dinner.

This is not a highly technical week, and you won’t have to make a special effort to find water or a compelling location; just take your camera with you when you are out this week, and take photos of the things you do and places that you go every day. These don’t even have to be action photos, they can just be images in the style of still life, a moment or pocket of light that compels you on a daily basis.

The goal of this week is to help you document things and places you might take for granted. I was born and lived in the same house for over 20 years, and yet I don’t have a single photo of my bedroom. Nor the outside of my elementary or high schools. No photos of the main street of my hometown. All those places I lived and breathed for a large portion of my life, and they live only in my head now. Take time to document these places, and hold to the memories in photos.

Here are some samples to get you thinking.

A trip to the hardware store (those orange shelves are a dead giveaway to the location).

Homework time (for kids); alternatively office time for you or your spouse.

A view from your daily walk or exercise routine.

Laundry day.

A trip to your favorite restaurant.

The walk to the bus stop.

Yard work.

House work.

Shopping at your favorite store. When my kids were small, we shopped at Costco pretty much every week to keep them in milk and clothing. The Costco we went to most when we lived in Connecticut had an underground parking area. My husband loved to ride down the ramps with the kids, and when we realized we would be moving in a few months, I took my camera along to capture the fun.

Some other things to consider: perhaps you have a pretty view on your drive to work but you’ve never stopped to photograph it. This would be a great week to do so. Maybe you still live near your childhood home that made up a part of your everyday years ago; take a drive by and photograph it now. You could take a photograph of your table set for dinner, your coats hanging on the banister, the books on your bedside table. All those little things that get overlooked and yet you know make up the everday. Get a photo of those things this week.

Have fun this week and please share your images on Instagram with the hashtag #lightandmagicp52.