10 QUICK IDEAS FOR PROJECTS
Stay motivated and try out some of these solutions when you’re having a creative block with your photography
1 A PHOTO A DAY One of the most popular photo projects is to take a photograph every day for a whole year – 365 in total. it takes determination to achieve this, plus a good memory, but you’ll be so glad you completed it!
2 MY HOME TOWN Your most accessible location outside your home is the place where you live, so how about documenting your street, your local market or your hometown, heading out once a week for a year with a camera and going on a photo walk.
3 TAKE A CAMERA TO WORK Work usually gets in the way of photography so why not combine the two – take a camera to work and during your lunch breaks, shoot a series of portraits of your colleagues.
4 A STRANGER A DAY Only for the brave this one, but by the time you’re done you’ll be a fearless street photographer. The challenge is simple – photograph a stranger every day for a month.
5 HEAD IN THE SHED Go into your garden shed, have a rummage around, and shoot a series of still life images of the things you find – piles of plant pots, rusting tools, balls of wire and string.
6 AIM FOR A DISTINCTION A great reason for working on a project is to have an end goal, and a great end goal is to gain a distinction with the Royal Photographic society by submitting a panel of images for your LRPs, ARPs or FRPs – head to RPS.ORG/
DISTINCTIONS for more info.
7 BUY A FILM CAMERA Why not shoot a project on film? Taking a backward step, technologically, could be just what you need to breathe life back into your digital photography. You can buy old film cameras on eBay for peanuts, or use a ‘toy’ camera such as a holga.
8 USE YOUR PHONE You don’t need a top-of-the-range DsLR or mirrorless camera to shoot images for a project – your smartphone will be more than good enough. if you’re an iPhone user, apps such as hipstamatic are brilliant. You can also edit the images in-phone using snapseed or enlight.
9YOU’VE GOT TEN MINUTES Go to a location – it can be familiar or not – and give yourself ten minutes to shoot as many interesting images as you can, then select your ten favourites. Repeat this at different locations.
10 BREAK FROM YOUR COMFORT ZONE When you set yourself a project, choose a topic that will stretch you creatively and challenge your skills as a photographer. At the same time, don’t set your sights too high, otherwise you’ll lose interest.