The Daily Snapshot

a how-to guide

This post is dedicated to Catherine and Monique, two pals who asked me to dish on my longest-running daily habit. Thanks so much for being curious.

My current book.

Defined.

In its simplest form, a Daily Snapshot is one page in a Field Notes pocket notebook filled every single day. One page. That’s it.

Inside.

While on a trip visiting family and wanting to remember the “little details” that get forgotten or overlooked by the bigger moments of any given day, I decided to try a version of what I remembered artist and writer

Austin Kleon

called keeping a logbook. Basically, making a list of the little details of a day. The who, what, where sorts of details.

Getting started.

I included things that I ate, listened to, read, considered, and/or made me happy. A little more than a list, but not quite what one would consider a full-blown diary/journal entry.

The very first pages.

Little details.

What I’ve chosen to capture in my two years of keeping Daily Snapshots hasn’t changed much over time in regards to what I actually write.

At the top of the page, I always write the date, the day, and the city/state I’m in.

Then I write any details from the day that feel noteworthy to me. And those aren’t necessarily what you’d think. Oft-times it’s not even anything about me at all, but, rather, things I notice—those “little details.”

Sometimes it’s how the sky looked like cotton candy as the sun set on a road trip to Colorado. Sometimes it’s how I noticed an adorable silver-haired couple holding hands in line at the movies. Sometimes it’s how the shadow of our senior hound dog bounces up and down on the pavement when the streetlight catches her just so during a nighttime walk.

The notebook.

I solely use Field Notes for each Daily Snapshots book. In part because they are small, lightweight, and portable. When I travel, everything I need fits neatly in a cute little pouch.

On the go.

The pocket notebook is 3 1/2” x 5 1/2” and contains 48 pages, making it so every month and a half(ish), I complete a book. That’s the kind of little dopamine hit this gal thrives on. And in part because that just happened to be the notebook I had with me when I decided to start the Daily Snapshot in the first place.

I also just really love the Field Notes origin story.

Customization.

Field Notes offers limited editions with fun designs (like the ones I started with), in addition to their standard tried and true. The paper varies, but always stands up to my favorite pens with no ghosting and little (if ever) bleeding.

Each book is unique.

From the beginning, I’ve used a label maker to create three labels for the front cover—the year, the book number, and the word: RECORD*.

Some books, I lean into the Field Notes design and with others I customize a bit more with things like washi tape and stickers.

Photos.

After nearly 9 months of only filling each book with words, I was given a tiny photo printer from my BFF (thank you, Missy!), and it added a whole new dimension to my daily habit.

Now able to quickly and easily print photos (no ink cartridges needed!), I dedicated the last page of each book to two things: a final note and my favorite current picture** of myself from that particular period of time. My little printer prints the perfect size pic AND has removable paper on the back of each, making them stickers, if I so choose. I mean, COME ON.

Final note + current favorite selfie.

Ephemera.

Once I started adding pics, I started to (occasionally) add other bits into my books, too. A funny comic strip. A note from my kiddo. Various receipts and tickets. Sometimes I create a small pocket in the back of the book to pop items in.

Tiny pocket. Little details.

Other times, I use washi tape to make them a tip-in.

Washi is wonderful.

Daily habit.

Confession: I’m not good at doing things on a daily basis. In fact, I’m pretty resistant to it. The fastest way to get me to NOT do something is to tell me I need to do it every single day. So, I’ve honestly surprised myself that, with the exception one day being really sick during the pandemic, I’ve done this Daily Snapshot practice every single day.

Do I always want to do it? No, not really. But it literally takes a minute or two to jot some things down from the day, and I’m always so glad that I did. And most days DO NOT have pictures or ephemera. Most days, it’s just words on the page.

Days on days on days of just one page add up.

The stack.

No rules.

I love keeping Daily Snapshots. They allow me to capture memories, justify buying adorable supplies, and just plain feel good doing something a tiny bit creative every day.

But if you are reading this and think you have to use the same notebooks and pens I use, follow the same “format,” or even call them Daily Snapshots, this final note is to give you permission (not that you need it, but if you want it, here it is!) to do them ANY WAY YOU WANT.

Fill one line. Fill three pages. Use paints. Draw. Make them your own.

And if you do try them out and want to share, I’d love to see them. :)

*For a very short time, I had two other notebooks, in addition to RECORD (Daily Snapshot). I also had W(RITE) for my writing ideas and REALIZE (filled with my to-do lists). I liked the alliteration, but the other two books didn’t stick in quite the same way.

**I didn’t realize how much I would come to value this simple practice. Coming from someone who hasn’t historically enjoyed having her picture taken, this was a real gift to myself.