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Although I primarily photograph weddings and other special events, asa photographer who loves the craft of making photos I still need to getbeyond my paying gigs and everyday family photos and explore other subjects to photograph. More-so, it’s important to tear myself awayfrom browsing and admiring wonderful and powerful travel photosposted by other photographers on the Internet, and get out and shootmy own.So in the spirit of sharing, the following are some ideas for those of you who haven’t got out with your camera in a while and made somephotographs. Your challenge of sorts is to shoot take 10 differentphotos in the next month or so. These ideas and photos don’t take aprofessional camera, nor do they require you to travel to some exoticplace to take better photographs. As you will see, these photos are thekind that can be taken nearly anywhere.
Start At Home
Start at home with everyday objects. Shoot something simple, but capture it as aesthetically aspossible. As always, don’t settle for one shot. You’re shooting in the digital age, so taking severalshots, from different angles and in different lighting conditions is simply not an expensive problem.This photo represents a part of my morning routine. A cup of black coffee. Nothing special. But whatcaptured my attention were repeated circles of the white cup and saucer, and the black coffee inside.The light coming from the kitchen window was overcast, so I was OK in that area. I took a few shotsfrom above the cup, moved the spoon over some, and settled upon this photo.Look around your house or apartment. Maybe there’s an interesting clock, bookcase, or musicalinstrument that you can photograph from an interesting perspective. Don’t let the ordinariness of thesubject keep you from shooting it.
 
Capture Rain Drops
I must have shot photos for like five years before I realized the beauty of shooting rain drops. I’m notthe kind of person who likes getting out in the rain. I don’t like the itchy feeling you get from wetclothes. But with this image, when that rain settled I took out my Canon Powershot G9, set it tomacro mode and tried to hold the camera as still as possible. I was too lazy to get a tripod, whichwould have worked better. But since the shutter speed was 1/125th of a second, I was OK. I of course increased the sharpness using Aperture 2.0 software.
Shoot An Out-Of-Focus Shot
Following up on the rain idea, try another shot from your car window. But in this shot, don’t focus theshot. Just raise your point-and-shoot or 35mm camera and take several shots. Look for some color or shapes to seep through the blur. If your camera’s automatic focus won’t let you take an out-of-focused shot, then turn that feature off. Don’t let your camera boss you around and keep you fromgetting the shot you want.
 
Shoot Some Art
Some critics say that photographing art is not really photography. It’s like you’re cheating by makingan image out of an image. But that’s not so. You can capture art in context. Or you can ignore thecritics and just shoot art for arts sake, plain and simple. Don’t shy away from using one artisticmedium to capture another one. I took this shot while at a stoplight. My camera was on the car seat; Isaw the photo in my mind before I raised the camera and fired off several shots.
Street Portraits
Okay, this one is for truly brave shooters. For a year, I committed to a self-project of photographing100 strangers. That’s right, people I didn’t know and would probably never meet again. I discoveredthe project through aFlickr 100 Strangers group. It is the most challenging photo project I have ever done. It got me out of my comfort zone when it comes to people. Stranger portraits are not candidstreets photos in which you take photos of people when they’re not aware of you doing so. Streetportraits are about photographing individuals you find interesting. To get these shots, strike up aconversation before you ask to take a photo. Tell the person about your project and politely ask totake their photograph. If they reject you, don’t take it personally. Just move on and find someoneelse. The best places to do these type of shots is in busy downtown areas or crowded outdoor events.
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