Many people make resolutions to do more photography in the coming year, but it's sometimes difficult to stay motivated. I've come across several ideas that you might want to use to help you get out shooting more often. If you can find some photo friends to go with you and to share your images with afterwards, it will help you stay on track.
52 Week Challenge
There are lots of photo challenges that involve committing to photographing every day for a week, month or year. Dale of Dogwood Photography has put some real thought into this. Not only is he challenging us to photograph weekly, but he's providing a
list of assignments in three categories to help direct our efforts. Take a look at these ideas in portrait, landscape and artistic impression and see if they get your photo juices flowing!
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| Artistic impression "red" |
You can see examples of what other photographers created by joining the site's related
Facebook and
Flickr groups. Or use the hashtags #dogwood52 on sites like
Instagram or
Pinterest.
Lightbox Photography Cards
Photographer and graphic designer Paul Michael Kane has created several decks of cards, each with a different theme and 52 ideas for you to play with. The original
Lightbox Photography Cards deck contains suggestions such as hands at work, waterfalls and the blue hour. Each card lists equipment that will help you succeed and an example picture to get you started. And now there are decks for Macro, Mobile and Wedding photography ideas. If you got all four decks, you could be shooting a different idea a week for four years!
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| Photograph books from Lightbox Photography Cards ideas |
See, Think, Do Cards
The most recent addition to inspiration cards come from photographer Eddie Soloway and his
A Natural Eye approach. The cards are divided into ideas for each of these words:
See the natural world,
Think about the light, composition and photo tools you can apply to your vision and
Do what it take to make the picture. The cards are beautifully boxed with an image of Eddie's on one side and the idea on the other. Eddie encourages us to have fun with ideas like changing our perspective from standing up to lying down, peering through, climbing up and moving in toward our subject.
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| Lying on my back with the camera on my face produced this perspective. |
Choosing even one of these sets of ideas will give you plenty of energy to jump start your photography practice in the new year.
