7 new lockdown photo projects
1. Lockdown photo scrapbook
If you’re allowed to walk around and take photographs, take a collection that could only have been taken during the pandemic: street signs, face masks, social distancing. The pandemic won’t last forever and your photos will form an important social document in years to come.
2. Do a photography course
Emma’s do-at-home creativity course for photographers is now available on your local Amazon store. It’s a slim volume packed full of hands-on exercises to help you uncover your creativity and then help it flourish. Emma has a master’s degree in Psychology as well as having been a professional photographer for 15 years.
Or try something from Coursera, a platform with a multitude of free courses, for example “Seeing Through Photographs” presented by The Museum of Modern Art.
If you want to master your camera from the basics onwards join A Year With My Camera and get started today. The email course is free and you can find the community on our optional paid app. All the details are in the emails:
3. Get close
You don’t need expensive macro gear to take interesting close-up photographs. Do some research to find out what the closest focussing distance of your lens is and then spend the day photographing at that distance. 30-50cm is common: what can you find to fill the frame from about arm’s length away?
4. Start a photo-a-day project
You don’t have to start one of these projects on 1 January. Start any time. Sometimes called a “Project 365” or “P365”, they are useful to get yourself in the habit of taking photographs even when you don’t feel like it. Read more in this post: The Pros and Cons of a P365.
5. Redo Make 30 Photos, indoors
If you’ve already done A Year With My Camera you’ll have had a go at the warm-up project, Make 30 Photos. If you’ve not heard of it, you’re in for a treat: it’s a no-pressure project to find and take 30 photos following 30 prompts. You don’t have to complete it in 30 days and for an extra lockdown challenge see if you can do it all indoors.
Our other annual photo challenge is “30 Days of Composition” which we usually do in August. There’s nothing to stop you having a go now: this is a bit more advanced than Make 30 Photos.
6. Try a kitchen still life
Create a still life photograph in the style of the old masters using only what you can find in your kitchen.
Pay attention to the shadows and highlights. Use vignettes in post-processing to tweak your lighting.
7. Watch an interview
This interview with Fay Godwin is inspiring:
Join A Year With My Camera
Written by photographer Emma Davies, AYWMC is a beginner’s course that will have you off auto after 6 weeks and taking photos you are proud of after only a couple of months. Work at your own pace with the weekly emails and join the optional community in our private app (link in emails):
Click here for our growing list of lockdown-friendly photography projects. Indoors or outdoors, new ideas and old – there’s something to suit everyone regardless of level of motivation.