A Daily Practice

Do you have a daily practice? A ritual? Something that you do each day.

Something that I do each morning is make my coffee. Bob does not drink coffee, so I just make a cup for me. It's the same every morning, grinding the beans. boiling the water, letting it brew, pressing it out, and finally, drinking it.

I recently took an online course that emphasized photography as a tool for slowing down and being present. We were encouraged to do was to take a daily photo. To make it a practice. I chose to photograph some part of my daily coffee. All my images are captured with my iPhone and processed them through Instagram with the Early Bird filter for a consistent tone or modified with Snapseed.

I've been at it for a few months and have quite a collection going. I've included a tab on the right navigation bar if you want to see all the images to date.

So, why do something like this? Here are a few reasons:

Bringing New Awareness
One reason is that it makes you aware of something that you probably do by rote each day. By slowing down and really observing how I make my coffee, I can capture things like the steam from the press pot, the contrast of shiny beans before I grind them, or capture an image of my breakfast along with my cup. I find that this awareness then transfers over into other things that I do.

Creative Outlet
I am not one who naturally feels the need to create things, but when I do, I always have a sense of accomplishment. It's nice to be able to say "hey, I made that", or "look at this fun image I took." My daily coffee photos provide that little outlet for me. Even if you are super busy, this is something that you can do in just a few minutes each day.

"Less autopilot. Less loops. More life."
This quote is taken from a short essay over on Medium that was written by Dustin Senos. He takes a different walking route to work each day to captures photos along the way. He says " embarking on these journeys with the goal to capture photos forces me to be present. I can't let my mind wander or I will walk by a great opportunity." I encourage you to read his essay.

Do you have a daily photo practice? What images are you capturing?

If you want to keep up with my daily coffee photos, you can follow me on Instagram.