National Notebook Day Yesterday

National Notebook Day was intended for paper notebooks, handwritten ideas, meeting notes, grocery lists, and probably unfinished novels. I liked doing that myself, paper, pencil, or even fountain pen.

But somewhere along the way, the word “notebook” stopped meaning paper.

Now it means aluminum, glowing screens, endless browser tabs, creative obsessions, unfinished projects, and entire careers carried around under one arm. So instead of photographing a spiral notebook, I went with my own version of a “notebook.”

The original National Notebook Day had absolutely none of this in mind. Started in 2016, it was meant to encourage journaling, sketching, and simply putting thoughts onto paper.

I am actually a day late in celebrating it.

I had already been thinking about creating my own photo notebooks. A compelling or intriguing photograph on one page, writing space on the next. Something visual, personal, and meant to be used rather than just displayed.

It would actually be fun.

And maybe that is the interesting part. In a world filled with disposable scrolling and disappearing posts, the idea of slowing down long enough to physically write beside an image still feels strangely compelling.

If you are curious where ideas like this keep leading, more of my work is waiting here on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com

SecondFocus Photography by Ian L. Sitren

May 22, 2026 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: artistic photography, black background photography, Contemporary Photography, creative workflow, digital obsession, editorial photography, fine art photography, Ian L Sitren, laptop photography, MacBook photography, modern creativity, modern notebook, notebook computer, Palm Springs photographer, provocative photography, secondfocus, studio photography, Tags: National Notebook Day, techno culture, visual storytelling | Leave a comment