If you are stuck for inspiration of things to shoot, then set yourself a photography challenge.
Sometimes, when inspiration evades us, it can be difficult to decide what to shoot. A great way to overcome this is to actually limit yourself to shoot one thing, as this can force you to get creative and think outside the box. If you are struggling for inspiration, set up a photo treasure hunt. This involves giving yourself a particular challenge of something to look for and shoot. You can do this on a day out, or in the comfort of your own home, and you could even get your friends and family to help you search. Once you have found your subject, you can think about how best to shoot it, considering the camera settings you need and how you are going to compose your shot. To get you started, here are some ideas for photo treasure hunt clues.
Opposites
This involves finding two subjects that are the opposite of each other in some way. For example, you could challenge yourself to shoot something old and something new, something tall and something short or something hot and something cold. It could be something as simple as old and new buildings or you could go abstract and find something that represents the concept of old and new.
Colours
Challenge yourself to photograph only one colour all day. Look for subjects that are red or blue or green and then get creative with how you shoot them, finding different angles and using different settings.
Shapes
Much like challenging yourself to shoot only one colour, you can also limit yourself to shooting one shape for the day. This could be circles, squares, triangles or any other shape you can think of. Don’t just limit yourself to the obvious, such as a square window, or circular ball, also look for shapes in small details and patterns.
Emotions
You could focus on taking portraits, with your model conveying different emotions, or you could look for things that you associate with being happy, or sad or angry. For example, colourful balloons could represent happy, and a deflated beach ball could represent sad.
Letters
Gradually work through the alphabet, challenging yourself to only photograph things that start with a specific letter each day. Then get creative with how you shoot them, thinking about using in-camera filters or zooming in close to capture the small details.
Words
Each day, you could pick a word that will be the theme of everything you shoot that day. ‘Open’ could be one example, as this could be represented by an open door, an open flower or even an open pair of scissors.
We use photography a lot in the treasure hunts that we organise. We do these events for corporate team building or private events such as birthdays and family gatherings. Challenges might include ‘your team putting on a window display’ which usually involves them talking their way into a shop. Another good one is spelling out a word using your bodies and getting a photo. It can be a name or even a company logo.
The great thing about photography in this sort of event is that it’s a creative medium. There’s no right or wrong way of doing it, people just interpret it their own way. That can lead to great fun and we see something different on every event.