I Posted a Photo Every Day for a Year: Here are My Thoughts

For 24 years I called Wisconsin home, then I left. I left after graduating college to pursue a girl who made it clear she was getting out of Dodge with or without me. I followed her to Denver where our lives together solidified but what started as a simple quest for love became the impetus for a journey into the uncharted landscape of the self. One dip of the toe was all it took to suck me into a vortex of personal discovery, one that would provide the confidence to begin a career as an artist while helping me find my voice as a photographer. 

As the semblance of an identity began to settle like the sediment in a storm churred lake, the emergence of a new branch on our family tree persuaded us to return to our roots. So, I bindled my growth and watched my Rocky Mountain shepherd fade in the rearview of a Uhaul truck.

To say I was worried would be an understatement. From a nature photographer’s perspective, trading in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and the grand, open landscape of the west for the mosquito and tick infested woods of America’s Dairyland felt like the equivalent of trading in a Lamborghini for a car that had broken down and been abandoned in those same mosquito and tick infested woods. Even more so, I was worried what leaving the climate that had sown the seed of my creative awakening would do to its progression, especially as no such seed had fostered in the environment I spent my first 24 years. Fortunately, this plant was a resilient one and assured me that not only would it continue to grow but it could actually prosper if cared for properly.

And so a plan was hatched. There would be no letdown, no period of dormancy, no patient acclimation. I had learned not to entertain fear and knew that complete commitment was the only way forward. To stimulate my reintroduction to the Wisconsin landscape, I would need a potent fertilizer, something that would kickstart my career in this new location while maintaining my pursuit of self discovery without pause. 

The idea came much to my behest. Social media has long been an aggravator of mine and viral daily photography challenges never inspired me. The thought of posting every day came with premonitions of enraged outbursts rippling through the 2025 calendar. But a shift in expectations changed my perspective. Rather than worry about harvesting internet fandom, my social accounts would merely serve as a journal documenting my reintroduction to my native habitat.

The year-long undertaking would serve three purposes. First, acclimate the photographic eye I developed out west to its new home in Wisconsin. Second, serve as a creative test, forcing me to produce consistently for a year both as a photographer and writer. Finally, the year would serve as an offering to the creative overlords, a testimony of my desire to continue this journey despite the seismic shift in my business. 

The stage was set. The rules were simple: post one photo of Wisconsin every day, paired with a thoughtful caption, for all of 2025. 365 days, posts, captions, and a much needed unwinding period later, here are my thoughts.

If I had to summarize the year in one word, to quote Kevin McCallister, “woof”. This challenge certainly lived up to its name. I expected it to be difficult but underestimated the sheer volume of work required to produce a year’s worth of content. I also failed to predict the degree to which the metal fatigue would wear on me which culminated in many late nights cursing my ambition circa January 2025. 

Capturing the 365 photos was hardly the issue. In fact, the act of shooting provided much needed relief from the relentless grind of processing and producing. Getting out of my cage was the glue that kept this whole challenge together. Whether it was an effect of luxury or archive depletion, unwinding with mother nature and the camera held my sanity in check. Even during periods of creative fatigue, the landscape became an outlet for expression allowing me to slowly settle into the warm embrace of home. 

The pressure of posting day in and day out was the punishing part. Keeping up with editing while maintaining the proper head space for inspired writing became exhausting. When the quality of the photos or the captions began to dip, stress mounted quickly, leveraging the added weight upon my confidence, causing collateral damage to my self esteem. 

Early on, I tried to stay ahead of schedule, preparing posts days in advance to create breathing room for shooting and editing but that strategy collapsed quickly. Many nights were spent staring blankly at the computer praying for words to emerge from my tired brain just so I could go to bed. For most of the year, I felt permanently behind, desperate for a day off that the challenge just wouldn’t allow.

The return of summer generated a surge of optimism. Inspiration flowed as my eye went to work unraveling the wonders of the lakeshore. By August that creative arc had run its course and as the adrenaline of inspiration wore off it revealed a creative spirit running on fumes. Quality began to dip, responsibilities remained unyielding, and by the end of the month I broke. 

Never in my life had I encountered burnout to that degree. The archive I’d built through the first eight months became hollow, even photos destined to expand my portfolio were suddenly void of emotion. The flame of passion driving the work had been extinguished and I was ready to quit, so I did. 

I gave up creative control for a week, putting my wife in charge of image selection while I committed to preparing each post in one sitting before stepping away for a few days. The brief sabbatical was enough to restore a pulse but the engine never fully recovered. By December, I was in full senioritis mode, running through the motions as I counted down the days until the end of the year. 

When the New Year arrived, it wasn’t met with celebration so much as a prolonged sigh of relief and shell shocked reflection. It was as if I had been stranded in the desert, devoid of water, and finally someone handed me a glass of water but rather than guzzle down that which I desperately craved, I fell to my knees in gratitude for reaching the end of my suffering. The project was certainly a greater undertaking than I initially expected. Was I glad it was over? Absolutely! Was it a pain in the ass? Definitely! Do I have any regrets? Not one. 

Posting every day for a year was a brutal slog with soul crushing ramifications. It pushed me to my limit, eventually breaking me entirely, but as January approached part of me began wondering how to keep the creative furnace burning into 2026. 

Despite all the stress, the benefits far outweighed the cost. Creatively, I have never grown so much in such a short period of time. This challenge forced me to produce at an unprecedented rate, to work through mental resistance and inspiration droughts rather than wait them out, and to put in more time, effort, and consistency than ever before and the improvements followed.

While the majority of the 365 published photos won’t see the light of day again, some of my best work resulted from the employment of this crucible. My eye was thrown into the wild, uncharted Wisconsin wilderness and didn’t just survive, it periodically thrived. Forced to respond to shifting seasons and conditions, it produced a massive body of work and, in doing so, found its voice in a landscape I worried wouldn’t speak. As a result, I have seeds for four new bodies of work, and those are just the ones I’m aware of to date. 

Perhaps the greatest outcome was the light it shed on my creative process. Having to produce this quantity of images provided invaluable insight into how my eye navigates the landscape. Through all the mental fatigue, a conscious awareness followed along, peeling back layers to reveal a deeper essence to the imagery I capture. That improved understanding alone justifies all the hardship of 2025.

That ultimately was why I considered continuing the daily challenge into 2026. The production of 2025 unleashed a creative firestorm, inspiring new work, new projects, and new insight into my creative process. Not only did my voice translate a landscape often dismissed as unspectacular, it evolved, deepening its language and sharpening its intent. 2025 connected me to my practice at a depth I had yet to achieve, all as a result of inserting myself into this creative pressure cooker.

I can’t say I will attempt this challenge again, though I may keep it tucked up my sleeve should a creative slump ever plague me. There are a few adjustments to the parameters that would need to be made first. My main concern is the constant barrage of work it generates. The primary reason I was ready for the year to end was so I could finally digest the work it produced. When I noticed some interesting ideas taking shape, the need to maintain pace pushed those important conversations to the background. Rather than build upon their momentum and slow down long enough to indulge them, I had to reluctantly polish subpar work to keep up with the demands of the challenge. 

Another concern of mine was my ability to adequately process the work. There are so many photos that I posted out of necessity that I never would have published otherwise. Additionally, there are others I posted without having proper time to sit with and images I initially thought were strong slowly revealed themselves to be forgettable. The urgency of the challenge rushed my editing process, and the body of work suffered as a result. 

Still, this year-long challenge is certainly something I would recommend to any artist attempting to find their voice. It does what I think so many of us are afraid or unwilling to do, push through resistance and risk being imperfect. Especially in the alternative reality that is social media where we project idealized versions of ourselves, vulnerability can feel dangerous, but having spent a year working in a glass box I can confidently say confronting the fear of inadequacy can boost your confidence and build resilience. 

I posted a photo every day for a year and it sucked. But, I found my creative footing in the unforgiving and uncharted Wisconsin landscape, gained invaluable insight into my creative process while strengthening my photographic eye, and made a defining statement to the holy muses and myself that I will not give up. I accomplished more than I ever imagined when I started this project. Now, the challenge for 2026 will be polishing those accomplishments for the world to see.