Challenge yourself to something new.
If you’ve ever been to Photoshop World, you know that Joe Glyda has a lot of fun with self-assignments—they’re a great way to stretch yourself and do something you might not normally do. One of his that I really enjoyed was when he replaced people’s heads with the front ends of cars, photoshopped such that they really fit, glasses and all.
I recently did this at Franklin Park Conservatory, if not mostly by accident. I committed to a photo meetup at the conservatory, but remembered only that morning that my camera was out of state! Rather than cancel, I gave myself an assignment: take the best pictures I could using only my iPhone and an ōlloclip lens. Honestly, I think I got some better pictures than I might have, had I been using my DSLR.
Some self-assignment ideas:
- Go on a photo shoot using only your phone’s camera.
- Take pictures with the intention of NOT editing them afterwards!
- Go back to film days with your digital: only take 24 pictures, and set your display so it doesn’t review your pictures. Don’t peek at them until you get home!
- Take a picture of something everyday, but from a new and interesting angle.
- Leave home with your camera, with no particular aim. Let the world inspire you. When in doubt, just go somewhere new.
- Pick a setting on your camera you never use. That’s all you can play with today.
- Take a picture in/under/through/under/over something.
- Pick a number. Find the book/magazine closest to you. Go to that page and read the 15th line on the page. Take a picture with those words as inspiration.
- Pretend you’re someone else… a pet, child, etc. Take a picture from their point of view. What do they see and how?
- Find a local headline in the news. Make a picture inspired by the story, or one that could be its new cover photo.
- Go on a night hike. Take some long exposure photography.
- Take pictures of everyday objects from such a different perspective that someone can’t guess what it is.