My year of appreciating doors

For a year I posted photos of doors on my door-dedicated Instagram account. This might seem like an oddly specific thing to do, but there are hundreds of door-focused Insta accounts and a thriving community of door appreciators around the world. (There are also a great many knobs and knockers accounts but I don’t want to get into that.)

How it started

In 2023 the Facebook algorithm served me up some cracking photos of doors. Realising that a well framed door is very pleasing, I joined the Door Appreciation Society – a very busy Facebook group with more than 100,000 members and dozens of posts per day. I enjoyed seeing doors from all the round the world and, though I’m not a photographer, I started noticing doors in my neighbourhood and trying to take nice photos of them.

One day I posted a photo of a door a moderately good door to the Door Appreciation Society. To spice it up I included some information about a famous historical murder at that address. My post got decent engagement until suddenly without warning or avenue of appeal I was banned from the Door Appreciation Society.

I’ve always claimed I was kicked out for being too interesting, but in fairness maybe people don’t come to hear tales of tragic unsolved murders on a door appreciation site.

A window opened

The problem was I had now become addicted to doors. I missed scrolling through other people’s doors, and I had nowhere to showcase my own attempts.

I tried to contact the moderators of the Door Appreciation Society. ‘I’ll be boring from now on,’ I promised, but they did not respond. So I started my own Instagram account: Appreciatedoor.

I aimed to post a daily door photo, and mainly succeeded. I aimed to make my accompanying captions as inane as possible, and definitely succeeded. For a whole year, I kept this up.

What did I learn?

• There are lots of doors

Because I aimed to post a door photo every day, I was always on the lookout for good doors. Every street I walked or rode down I was thinking about doors. It can make an ordinary trip more diverting, but not everyone appreciated it. Sometimes people I was with would get cross. Not again! they’d say and pretend not to know me as I whipped out my phone. At other times I’d be late for appointments because I’d stopped to take photos of doors. No-one thinks this is a reasonable excuse.

• Every door has it’s day

I often found myself photographing a door I’d rejected many times previously. But with the right light, foliage and accessories the door was suddenly worthy of my interest. For example a flowering plant, Christmas wreath, sunset, or a pair of polka-dot gumboots might make a previously boring door alluring. Please don’t think this is a metaphor for people, you will only be disappointed.

• Suburban doors disappoint

When I’d go to a suburb out of the inner city I’d feel excited by the potential fresh doors to photograph. But I was usually disappointed. This isn’t necessarily a reflection on the quality of doors but on the fact that the houses are set back further from the street. I’m not prepared to go up garden paths to get door photos.

• Screen doors are the enemy of door lovers

I’m exaggerating. Some, rare screen doors can be worthwhile. But usually they simply block you from seeing the door behind them. It’s like wearing a condom in the rain, pointless.

How it ended

You’ll have noticed I’m using past tense. I’m not photographing doors now (much).

I was getting a bit sick of it anyway, and then a lady yelled at me for being too interested in her property. It was unsettling because at the time of the confrontation I hadn’t taken a photo of her door for at least three months. She must have been lurking and waiting for me to return. I explained to her about my door-based Instagram account, but like almost everyone else in the world, she didn’t didn’t want to see it. She kind of calmed down and then told me all about how many weird people there are in her neighbourhood. I tended to agree.

The only other time I was ‘caught’ photographing a door it ended in a very friendly conversation with the owner who was a lovely older man. He told me all about the history of his street and the subsidence issues.

Not everyone who catches you on the street taking a photo of their front door will accuse you of plotting to storm their property, but some will and I have other things I’d rather be unpopular for.

What next?

While taking photos of doors, I noticed that house numbers can be quite nice too. I’m going start an Instagram account and post a number for every day of 2025. I’ll start with number 1 on 1 January and will end with number 365 on December 31, unless I get yelled at.