What keeps you inspiring as a photographer? As much as it is fun, it is also a challenging activity to always take exceptional photographs — the photographs with fresh perspective, creative outlook and artistic expression. Being a photographer, taking up those challenges as a part of your routine really pays well. Here are 7 photography projects you can take up to bring a difference in the way you photograph.
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Take Up Project 365 As New Year Resolution
I know I am bit too late for this crucial piece of advice, but you can take it up at any time round the year. The meat of the matter is to take a photo every day to let your creative juices flowing. Be it creative self-portraits as taken up by Anna Gay / Loca Luna (The Art Of Self-Portraiture fame) or low light night photographs as clicked by Dustin Diaz, 365 days projects are quite popular amongst the photographer’s community. With the motive to boost your creativity, Flickr also hosts a variety of 365 theme projects. Pick up the one that best suits your photographing style and get going with it for 365 days without fail.
Day Ninety Eight by Dustin Diaz
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Think Out-Of-League With Project 50
Set yourself a photography challenge of using nothing else than a normal 50 mm lens for next 50 days and create 50 amazing images. Explore the opportunities of creating beautiful bokehs, freezing fast action or simply complimenting the subject with dreamy effect. And at the end of the day ask yourself a question “What else can I do with a 50 mm prime lens?” and get ready to shoot crisp, smooth and sharp images of things around you.
Create beautiful bokeh with 50 mm prime lens
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Set Yourself A Photographic Assignment
Setting yourself a photographic assignment can go a long way in developing yourself photographically. Photography assignments, be it your friend’s wedding, your kid’s birthday party or a family get-together gives you immense exposure to various techniques of covering the event with a difference. Don’t cover the event just for the heck of it. Prepare for the event, i.e get the right equipment, do some research on the techniques you would like to apply and then dive into action. Take up the photography assignment with the intent of improving your photography. And do you know, you can also help people around you with your talent of making good photographs. So, if you are short of ideas and assignments to begin with, here are 10 ways shared by Peter Carey to get you started with photography assignment of “giving back with your photography”.
Wedding Photography Assignment
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Photograph Something New everyday with A-Z project
Time to get back to school again! A for abstracts, B for bokehs, C for candids, D for drama and so on. Starting on with letter A for the first day, try to compose the shots either revolving around a subject or technique beginning with letter ‘A’ or simply observe the scene around you to take a pictures of things that looks like the letters A-Z. This little exercise will help you in learning to “see” around you.
A-Z Project: A for Abstract
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Go In For One Theme Per Week
Photographing just the sunsets or the architectures for the entire week sounds quite boring. Photographing the same theme over and over again for a span of 7 days in fact is quite daring. Each time you pick up the camera, you will challenge yourself to frame something new. Not just the setting sun anymore. Everyday when you will come around for capturing the sunset, you will better understand the characteristics of the magic light, the dramatic & unusual effect it has on the scene (or the subject) and the camera settings that work best in low-light conditions.
Silhouettes at Sunset
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Join The Flickr Project: Soulpancake
Have you heard of it, the project Soulpancake. I am sure, most of you know about it. For those who don’t, read on. SoulPancake is a media company that seeks to provide platforms to explore “big think” topics such as spirituality, creativity, religion, arts, and philosophy. On the same lines, the book Soulpancake: Chew On Life’s Big Questions, was published which challenges readers to take a creative, action oriented approach to self exploration. This is what serves as an inspiration for the Flickr project Soulpancake. Every week for one year, the group will tackle a challenge and allow their experience in doing so to inspire a photograph. These challenges will make you more fully aware of the world around you and your place in it and will thus inspire you to communicate human emotions, sentiments and perceptions through the images. Are you already excited about this! Check out the big list of challenges here. Take up the challenges and creatively frame your experiences.
Take up the challenges of Soulpancake
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Ten Photographs, One Subject
Still on a look out for what should I photograph. Slow down. Look around yourself and closely observe the things around you. What do you find — a tree shedding its leaves or flowers blooming on the distant tree. Or just a piece of paper and pen on your study table. Well then what are you waiting for! Get ready with your camera, think about ten different ways of photographing the subject and SHOOT. Here’s a simple exercise for you. Take a beautiful wedding ring in your hand and jot down ten different ways in which you can capture the elegance of the ring. Once you are ready with the list, pick up your camera, compose the shot (one by one) and here it goes… release the shutter.
Which projects are you following to improve your photography?
