A 30 day photography challenge is perfect for anyone who wants to grow as a photographer and who is looking for some new ideas for photography subjects.
In my photography courses, I encourage my students to practice coming into the present moment and following their curiosity to find their subject, and I still recommend this as a way to develop your eye and strengthen your intuition. You can learn more here.
However a 30 day photography challenge will get you out of your comfort zone and you’ll likely encounter some brand new subjects! I created the photo challenge to work with ANY camera, even your phone camera, not just SLRs.
I am running a FREE 30-Day Photography Challenge in April, 2023 — it will be slightly different from the prompts below — you are welcome to join me here! You can purchase the optional companion workbook.
30 Day Photograph Challenge
Day 1 Photography Challenge: Worm’s Eye View Worms Eye View Article
Photography your subject from a low perspective. Don’t be afraid to get on your belly to get a good shot! To learn more about worm’s eye view click here.
Day 2 Photography Challenge: Favorite Books
Have fun with this. You can showcase a single favorite book any way you like, or photography a stack of books or a bookshelf.
Day 3 Photography Challenge: Joy
This challenge is a conceptual challenge. What represents joy to you? What lifts your spirits and makes you smile? You can also photograph someone else experiencing joy. How do they show their joy? What details do you need to capture?
Day 4 Photography Challenge: Shadows Shadows Article
Photographers spend so much time looking for the light — here is a challenge to look for the shadows! Dramatic shadows across a subjects face can highlight a subject’s bone structure. Shadows across the ground may have interesting patterns and shapes. To learn more about shadows click here.
Day 5 Photography Challenge: Reflections Reflections Article
Reflections are a wonderful subject! You can have precise reflections in mirrors, or mysterious reflections in windows or glass, or evocative reflections in water. To learn more about reflections click here.
Day 6 Photography Challenge: Hygge Hygge Article
The Danish concept of Hygge means cosy and comfortable, a setting that evokes feelings of contentment and well-being. What represents hygge to you? To learn more about Hygge click here.
Day 7 Photography Challenge: Selfie
By now most of us are experienced in taking selfies of ourselves. Take it up a notch by trying to take a selfie that is different from the ones you usually take! Or take a “selfie” that doesn’t actually include you in the photograph, like my Birkenstocks.
Day 8 Photography Challenge: Gratitude
Thankfulness and gratitude can be brought about by important things like those we love, or small seemingly insignificant things like a robin in a tree. Photography something that makes you feel a sense of gratitude.
Day 9 Photography Challenge: Hands
Hands can be challenging to photography! Today’s challenge is to take an interesting photograph of hands. Your hands, a child’s hands, or even your pet’s paws.
Day 10 Photography Challenge: Flowers
Flowers are so lovely and plentiful, today’s challenge is easy! Photograph flowers, in your home, in the garden, at the florists — even the lowly weed. Here’s an article to help you take better pictures of flowers.
Day 11 Photography Challenge: Food
Create an interesting photograph of food. You can photograph your dinner, bake some cookies, or go to the grocery store to photograph the produce section.
Day 12 Photography Challenge: Black and White
Find something that is black and white and photograph it. If you can’t find anything interesting that is black and white, then take a color photograph and convert it to black and white.
Day 13 Photography Challenge: Clouds
You can photograph clouds in isolation, or filing the sky in a landscape composition. They can be fluffy and white, or striated, or brilliantly tinted by the rising or setting sun.
Day 14 Photography Challenge: Space Space Article
Use space as an element of composition in your photograph. Leave a lot of empty space around your subject. To learn more about negative space click here.
Day 15 Photography Challenge: Patterns Patterns Article
Look for patterns in natural or manmade objects. You can photograph multiples of an object that form a pattern, like a line of trees or rows of chairs, or you can photograph a pattern within a subject, like the stripes on a zebra. To learn more about patterns click here.
Day 16 Photography Challenge: Lines Lines Article
Use leading lines to draw the viewer’s eyes to your subject. You can use a path, a fence, a sidewalk and more! To learn more about lines click here.
Day 17 Photography Challenge: Letters
Look for letters in the world around you, like a Y in branches growing out of a trunk, or an O in the tires of a car. Bonus points if you can find all the letters of your name!
Day 18 Photography Challenge: Yellow
Find something interesting and yellow and take a photograph of it. How many yellow subjects can you find in your environment?
Day 19 Photography Challenge: Architecture Architecture Article
Photograph a building/buildings or an architectural element or structure. How can you make the photograph interesting? To learn more about photographing architecture click here.
Day 20 Photography Challenge: Hope Hope Article
What makes you feel hopeful, or what symbolizes hope to you? Photograph it! To learn more about photographing hope click here.
Day 21 Photography Challenge: Sparkle
Find something glittery and sparkly and photograph it!
Day 22 Photography Challenge: A furry or feathered friend
Since these are living creatures, you may have to be a little more patient to photograph them! Some subjects could be a cat, a dog, a squirrel, a chicken, or a bird.
Day 23 Photography Challenge: Your kitchen
You don’t have to clean the entire kitchen and photography your entire kitchen (although you CAN), you can also photograph something in your kitchen — your spice rack, your pots and pans, your dinner table, your dinner cooking on the stove.
Day 24 Photography Challenge: A drink
Find a special cup and fill it with your favorite beverage and photograph it! Coffee, tea, or your favorite cocktail – it’s all good.
Day 25 Photography Challenge: Circles
Circles are so plentiful in nature and in manmade things. Make circles your subject for a day and photograph them. The center of a flower, a bowl, a garden orb are just some of the possibilities.
Day 26 Photography Challenge: Technology
Technology is here to stay, why not take a photo of your favorite tech? You can keep it real and photograph your computer monitor with all of the post-its attached to the side, or you can style up your phone and iPad with some flowers and a cup of coffee and go to town. Or photograph your laptop at a coffee shop!
Day 27 Photography Challenge: Feet
Babies feet are a wonderful subject, but if you don’t have a baby handy, you can photograph your own feet with or without shoes, standing on a the pavement or a patch of grass or a tiled floor, etc..
Day 28 Photography Challenge: Bird’s Eye View Bird’s Eye View Article
Photograph your subject from above. If you can safely stand on a chair or look over a bannister, you can get some interesting birds eye view photographs. You can also take a birds eye view of flowers or your meal or a pet by standing right next to it and pointing your camera down above your subject. To learn more about bird’s eye view click here.
Day 29 Photography Challenge: Music
Photograph instruments, sheet music, your old CDs, a bird, or someone singing. You can even photograph something that represents the way music makes you feel.
Day 30 Photography Challenge: Imperfection Imperfection Article
Find something that is flawed or imperfect and photograph it in a way that showcases its uniqueness. You can make it appear beautiful, or highlight its imperfection and unattractiveness. To learn more about photographing imperfection click here!
Congratulations!! If you participate in this 30 Day Photography Challenge tag me on Instagram @goodhartphotography and show me some of your pictures! You can also use the hashtag #mindfulphotochallenge.
Hopefully this challenge has pushed you a little bit creatively and helped you feel more confident behind the camera.
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