As part of my journey into retirement I set myself a number of challenges and this is one of them.
CHALLENGE
To take 1 photo to represent each day of 2025.
RULES
Taking just ‘any old photo’ seemed to defeat the objective and I therefore set myself the following rules:
- TELL A STORY: Each photo needed to tell some sort of story for that period in time.
- THEME: Each month there would be a theme.
- USE OF A FULL FRAME CAMERA: Use a full camera, rather than a mobile phone, wherever possible.
- AIM TO DO SOMETHING ‘USEFUL’ WITH THE RESULTING IMAGES: I soon realised that nobody is going to want to look through 365 photos and so I let my family and friends decide that favourite image for each week of the year (via Facebook voting).
These are the photos that you’ve chosen to represent each week –
JANUARY 2025 Theme: ‘ Not the Norm’
“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.”
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WEEK 1: ‘Old but not Out’
WEEK 2: ‘Cold calling?’
WEEK 3: ‘You can take a mule to water but you can’t make it wash’ – Gambia
WEEK 4: ‘Winter plumage’
WEEK 5: ‘Frost Pimples’
FEBRUARY 2025 THEME: ‘LOGOS & PATTERNS’
“Logos are the rational constructs of the man-made world; patterns are nature's fingerprints.”
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WEEK 6: ‘Place do la cone cord?’
WEEK 7: ‘History already?’ (Covid distancing sticker)
WEEK 8: ‘Trunk call’
WEEK 9: ‘Signs of the past”
MARCH 2025 THEME: ‘TRAVEL’
“With each new place, life gets a little brighter, like adding brushstrokes to a masterpiece.”
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WEEK 10: ‘Gazing at future possibilities’ – Glastonbury Tor
WEEK 11: Bathing in a ‘Pool of Truth’ – Amritsar
WEEK 12: ‘Offerings to the sky’ – Haridwar
WEEK 13: ‘Monkey Face’
APRIL 2025 THEME: ‘BLACK & WHITE’
“In a world of black, it's the shades of grey where interest often hides.”
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WEEK 14: ‘Miners’ Convenience’ – Anglesey Barracks
WEEK 15: ‘Is that a face I see?’ – Marton
WEEK 16: ‘Cultural Reflection’
WEEK 17: ‘In the vanguard?’
MAY 2025 THEME: ‘ENDS OR BEGINNINGS’
“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” - T.S. Eliot
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WEEK 18: ‘ Hi bud’
WEEK 19: ‘Sun Rise or Sun Set?’
WEEK 20: ‘Gone to seed or seed being sown?’
WEEK 21: ‘broken boat or landscape feature?’ – Norfolk
WEEK 22: – ‘culled flowers or home feature?’
JUNE 2025 THEME: ‘HEALTH & WELLBEING’
“The body is like a piano, and happiness is like music. It is needful to have the instrument in good order.”
– Henry Ward Beecher
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WEEK 23: ‘Love’
WEEK 24: ‘Repair’ – Macclesfield Hospital
WEEK 25: ‘Reflective’
WEEK 26: Lud’s Church
JULY 2025 THEME: ‘HERE COMES SUMMER’
“Here comes summer on golden toes, painting the world in sunlit prose.”
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WEEK 27: ‘All Round Bloomers’ – Central Stockport
WEEK 28: ‘Cool Dude’
WEEK 29: ‘Oops, a daisy’
WEEK 30: ‘Pure Joy’
WEEK 31: Sunset – Penmaenmawr Beach
AUGUST 2025 THEME: ‘NOT RIGHT’
‘If two wrongs don’t make a right, try three..’
– Laurence J. Peter
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WEEK 32: ‘Thru the Looking Glass’
WEEK 33: ‘Wonky Way’ – Castlefield Viaduct
WEEK 34: ‘Just a drop in the ocean?’ – Central Manchester
WEEK 35: ‘Rong’
SEPTEMBER 2025 THEME: ‘FRIENDS, FAMILY & ANCIENT MONUMENTS
“Friends, family, and Ancient Monuments — all precious, all deserve great care, and all make the world a richer place.”
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WEEK 36: ‘View to the Future’
WEEK 37: ‘True Grit’ – Padley Gorge
WEEK 38: ‘Daily Grind?’ – Alderley Edge Mill
WEEK 39: ‘Must remember to mend that roof!’ – Conwy Castle
OCTOBER 2025 THEME: ‘THERE AND BACK AGAIN’
‘Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving’ – Terry Pratchett
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WEEK 40: ‘The Big wheel keeps on turning’ – Liverpool
WEEK 41: ‘Journey to untold secrets’ (on the way There) – War Rooms, London
WEEK 42: ‘This crab isn’t alone’ (There)
WEEK 43: ‘ The Storm Cometh’ – The Maldives
NOVEMBER 2025 THEME: ‘FALL’
‘Fall — whether season or act — is often spectacular and carries the tantalising prospect of a triumphant return.’
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WEEK 44: ‘Love in the Fall’
WEEK 45: ‘Nature Changing Her Clothes’
WEEK 46: ‘Sacrifice & Hope’ – Handforth
WEEK 47: ‘Water, fall!’ – Bollington
WEEK 48: ‘Long fallen’ – St Patrick’s Chapel, Heysham
DECEMBER 2025 Theme: ‘ MOMENTS THAT MATTER’
“The memories that stay with us aren’t born from grand moments, but from the small things shared in friendship and love.”
WEEK 49: ‘Comfort & Joy’
WEEK 50: ‘Hark….’
WEEK 51: ‘A time for…a Friends’ Reunion’
WEEK 52: ‘A time for…visiting Operation Elf’
WEEK 52.5 (Final 3 Days): ‘Full Circle’
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| If you enjoyed these images then why not take a moment to wander through my Shutterstock portfolio — every photo has a different tale to tell. |
This turns the final page of 365 Days of Photos but, as we know, “there are no ends or beginnings – just ends of beginnings and beginnings of ends.”
This photography project sits within my Rookie Retiree blog, where I explore the whats, whys and how’s of transitioning into semi- and full retirement.
If you’re curious to read the thinking behind the images – and connected articles – you can find them via the Contents Page link below.