A photo a day for a year
Karen, Richard, and Matt are professional relations: business partners who are also family members. This issue, Karen interviews her husband Richard about his 2026 photo-a-day project on Linkedin, with editing by their son Matt.
“He’s just posting the same picture over and over again!”
Richard: Ever since we moved here, I’ve had the idea of doing a series of photographs to document the changing seasons and the changing outlook from the house. This year I decided this was the year to do it. So on the first of January, I began what became, for want of a better name, The view from…
Karen: So you’ve set a daily challenge. What sort of obstacles can you foresee with that?
Richard: It’s certainly a challenge to remember to do it. To suddenly realise at five o’clock, when it’s getting dark, that I haven’t taken a photograph today, is a bit of an issue.
But so far I’ve managed to take a photograph every day.
Karen: We’ve always said, since we’ve been here, that we’ll get some beautiful sunsets. Are you planning to take some later-in-the-day photos at some point?
Richard: You’re absolutely right, we do get some fabulous sunsets. And the view we’ve got from where I’m taking the photographs does show those sunsets off really well. So I’m hoping to get some of those later in the year.
The thing that’s been a bit of an issue through January is it’s been so grey and flat that every day has looked very much like another day. I did wonder whether people were thinking, “He’s just posting the same picture over and over again.” But I can assure you I’m not.
Karen: But there are some small changes? You mentioned in one of your posts that it’s making you more observant, and you’re noticing the small changes.
Richard: It’s made me think more about the texture and the form of the mosses on the wall. It’s interesting, and not something we take a lot of notice of a lot of the time.
“Posting daily to Linkedin – it does keep your feet to the fire”
Karen: At the end of the year, you’ll have a large number of photos. Have you got a plan of what you’re going to do with them?
Richard: I could wait til the end of the year and then pick out the 50 best ones; 50 best images that show the changes through the year, and put them into a photo book. Something like that might be a nice way to finish the project off.
Most of the ones I’ve taken so far, I’ve just used my phone, and the quality seems to be pretty good. So I’ll try different ways of taking the photographs at different times through the year as well.
Karen: Are you enjoying it?
Richard: It’s interesting to try and make sure I do take a photograph every day. But it’s a challenge.
I think we’re up to day 46 or something like that at the moment, and I’ve posted an image every day for the last 46 days. So there’s no reason why it shouldn’t carry on.
Part of the reason for putting it onto Linkedin was that it forced me to make it happen every day. Whereas if I’d just been taking them for my own use, not putting them anywhere, I probably would have got bored halfway through the month and given up. But the fact I’ve committed to posting daily onto Linkedin – it does keep your feet to the fire.
Karen: It might be interesting to have this interview again at the end of the year. See how you’ve actually done with it…
There’s more to this interview. Buy us a cuppa on Ko-fi to support our work, and you can read the unabridged versions of this and every Professional Relations interview.
10 March, Skipton: Richard will be working on the business with his Artery peer support group.
13-14 March, Harrogate: Matt and some others from the Merely Roleplayers ensemble will be hanging out playing games at Airecon. We’re not working or on duty at all, but if you’re cool then maybe you can hang out with us.
18 March, Skipton: Find Richard at Skipton Business Breakfast.
Camera Obscura
THINK OF A HUMAN. Matt published the 11th and final chapter of Camera Obscura: No end in sight.
Read the whole story, start to finish – then head behind the scenes with Matt’s writer’s commentaries, which you can unlock by buying him a single solitary cuppa on Ko-fi.
Merely Roleplayers
The Rogue Linguists face off with the False Librarian to end the Bibliocalypse in the third and final act of Use Your Words.
There’ll be a bit of a break after this production – we’re recording the first session of what will become Vigil: The Long Night in April, and we don’t have anything else recorded to go in the gap at the moment.
Doing business on a sick planet
Our new course is fully complete, and we’re just running final quality checks before releasing it to all of you! Expect to hear a lot more about this in the March issue.
Gaze
With Camera Obscura concluded, Matt’s launching a new serialised story on the website at the end of March. While you’re waiting for the first chapter, bookmark the Gaze page and marvel at the illustration there, which will become the portal to new chapters as they’re released.
I Need A Miracle
Start saving up: we’re crowdfunding for season 2 in September. Matt’s been brainstorming rewards. The list so far ranges from thank yous on the website, through cartomancy readings from Matt (Coleman Smith tarot, Literary tarot, or Spindlewheel deck), all the way up to the chance to submit an idea for an episode for Matt to write.
Richard highlights Pam Warhurst:
Pam is one of the founders of Incredible Edible, the grassroots gardening movement aiming to build kind, confident and connected communities through the power of locally grown food. Local Incredible Edible groups transform disused public spaces into thriving gardens run by and for local communities.
