Photo-a-day: a digital photographic practice and its impact on wellbeing

The practice of taking and sharing one photo every day for a year, has become a popular new form of photography enabled by the Internet. The purpose of this study was to investigate how people use photo-a-day to enhance their wellbeing. The data for the study were sixteen interviews with people who practised photo-a-day, analysed by thematic analysis. The analysis showed how photos offer positive affordances because of the conventions to take aesthetically pleasing images, share positive events and comment positively. A seemingly simple activity, photo-a-day creates a new layer of interest woven around daily activities, and expands social relationships. Representations of identity are complex, emerging through photos taken, rather than a premeditated profile.