Day 2: Inside an Upright Piano

2026-02-08

Hello! Nothing broke when I published my first entry, so it looks like I can keep going!

This photo is another old one (sorry), but I chose this to talk about my work on Wikimedia Commons — it has random photos that I thought would be useful for an online encyclopedia. Realistically, they're not stellar, but I use the site as a way to license my work under a Creative Commons license.

A Creative Commons license (or CC license) is the legally stable way for me to say, "You can use these photos freely, if you'd like – just give me credit". The details of the license are linked on both Wikimedia Commons and on the official Creative Commons website. I promise, it's actually not too difficult to understand the summary they give.

A warning on CC licenses and Wikimedia Commons, though: the vast majority of them are licensed with a ShareAlike license. If you want to use the photo in your article, for example, you also have to license the whole article under a compatible license. This exclusivity is honestly a bit frustrating, but don't worry: I don't use a ShareAlike license. If you choose to use the photos from my Wikimedia Commons account, you can use your work however you want.

As for the photo itself, I took the photo as part of a Wikimedia Commons monthly photo challenge. When I lose inspiration, one of the first things I check is the themes posted for the challenges.

For the record, the last things I check are social media. They only inspire jealousy.

Update 2026-02-14: I have published a separate article on my thoughts regarding social media and my larger purpose with the 1Day1Photo newsletter.

This particular photo was submitted for the "One stands out" or "one is different" challenge. I think it fits the theme well; a row of piano hammers, with one striking the strings to make a sound. But if you look at the gallery of other contestants, you can see why they scored higher (I especially like the flamingo one).

Still, I think the monthly photo challenges are fun and creative. I assume they also help fill in missing areas for Wikipedia, so I guess it's a noble effort too. If you're looking for creative inspiration yourself, try the two February 2026 monthly photo challenges: "Orange color" or "First aid". Good luck!

Thank you for visiting this blog! Special thanks to the newsletter subscribers; you get this photo a week before the internet does :-).

Cheers,
David