Day 8: Camera Gear

2026-02-14

Hello! Happy Valentine's Day. I have a Halloween candy bag at home, and I added gummy bears and sugar packets I received this week to it.

That's all you'll hear from me about Valentine's Day, though.

Funnily enough, it's also the first day I start making this blog public to the Internet! I gave myself a week of time to test out the technical system behind the scenes (thank you to Jannis Fedoruk-Betschki for emailing me the metaphorical keys when I locked myself out of my own website), and now it seems like it's easy enough for me to get in the flow of writing, taking pictures, and publishing.

So! A small introduction about who I am to the early newsletter subscribers. The Internet will see this next week.

Hello, I'm David. I take photos with camera gear because I try to avoid using my smartphone. For my 2025 New Year's resolution, I wanted to set an example for others to get away from edited Instagram posts and the harassment, sexting, and gamified Streaks that come from Snapchat. To keep up with friends and journal my life through a camera, I intended to take one photo every day and text it to anyone who would care.

Out of 365 days, I recorded 247 days with a photo. Some of that is deeply personal, so they won't go on this Internet blog, but others will be published as a good way to archive the memories. Because for my 2026 New Year's resolution, I'm changing it a bit.

Along with taking one photo every day, I want to try to blog. It gives me a space to put out my thoughts and, if nothing else, practice my skills at English writing. I also hope it will inspire others to try photography and tap into the creative side, but I'm not a photography teacher, so I won't be able to directly help you. The most I can do is write notes to myself and pieces of advice that I learned from each day, which I do think is useful.

There is no paid subscription or business model for this blog. But running this website definitely isn't free, so I would very much appreciate it if you would consider tipping me a month's worth of expenses — about $22 USD.

... Oh, and as for why my tripod has bandages on it... well, I cut myself surprisingly deep on the sharp red handle edge. So I put one bandage on my finger and the rest to cover up and round out the corners.

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

Cheers,
David