I failed the photo-a-day challenge, but still feel like a winner – here’s what I learned

Ricoh GR IIIX camera in the hand with screen displaying a zero photo count for the day

I'm writing this a year after I bought a compact camera instead of upgrading to the latest smartphone. I splurged around £900 ($1,000 / AU$1,779) on a Ricoh GR IIIX, which remains the latest in a longstanding line of cameras that are particularly popular with street and documentary photographers. 

After unboxing the camera and getting a feel of it, I committed to taking a picture with it every day for a year – something I’ve never done before – in the hope that it would nurture creativity and that I would learn a thing or two along the way.