30-day photo challenge | Boost your mental health and spark creativity

Join me for a 30-day photo challenge! Designed to get out of our winter blues, spark creativity, and create something awesome!

I personally started my photography journey in 2008 by doing all the photography challenges I could find on blogs. It was such a great way to get to know my camera, see how different settings on my camera could change the style of an image, and really just have fun creating and learning.

Living in a winter wonderland is epic and beautiful, but for me, also comes with the winter blues. I need to be constantly challenging myself, reminding myself to get outside even when it’s cold, and I’ve always had so much fun on ‘photo days.’

I’m proud to say I’ve been a wedding & elopement photographer for a decade! I never imagined my photo challenges and playing around with my camera would bring me this far!

Here’s to stopping to enjoy the little things.

Who can join?

This challenge is for anyone! You can participate with film cameras, iPhones, professional cameras or whatever you have. If you feel like a different method like painting or watercolor or something completely different, go for it!

Where do we share our photos?

Join me on Instagram and share your photos or join my ‘How the hell: Photography 101’ Facebook Group

Want to feel more confident in your camera skills? I created a beginner E-book teaching you the basics of learning how to use your camera in manual mode!

Daily photography challenge descriptions

One of the BEST ways to level up your photography skills and spark creativity is through a fun, creative, and repetitive practice. This 30-day challenge will give you a new prompt each day that’ll push you to try different techniques, subjects, and perspectives.

Don’t stress about following the prompt to a T – be sure to tackle each day in your own unique way with YOUR vibe and style.

Use the prompts as inspo, but don’t be afraid to make each image fully YOUR own. You’ll notice that you start paying closer attention to light, composition, colors, textures, and all those little details you might normally overlook.

Whether you’re new to photography or have been in the game for years, this 30-day challenge is ALL about shaking things up, getting the creative juices flowing, and constantly learning new things.

1. Day 1: Nature:

Get out and immerse yourself in nature! What catches your eye?

2. Day 2: Happy Place

What do you think of when you think of your “happy place”?

3. Day 3: Object

What’s your object? Why did you choose it?

4. Day 4: Close-up

Dive into the details. Change your perspective by getting up close and personal.

5. Day 5: Life

Life and living things are all around us. What little moment can you capture?

6. Day 6: Weather

What story is the weather telling today?

7. Day 7: Symmetry

What does using symmetry do to your photos?

8. Day 8: Sound

How can you translate sound into a still image?

9. Day 9: Yellow

Find a little happiness and joy. Play I-spy to find something yellow.

10. Day 10: Motion

Our lives are always in constant motion. Can you capture some of the chaos?

11. Day 11: Shadow

Can you find beauty in the shadows?

12. Day 12 Colorful:

Capture something colorful. Can you find a burst of vibrant colors?

13. Day 13: Light

Find different light sources to capture.

14. Day 14: Candid

Unscripted, raw, and real. What moments do you want to freeze?

15. Day 15: Sky

From sunrise to sunset, the sky is limitless!

16. Day 17: Gratitude

Take a moment to smile and think of something you’re grateful for!

17. Day 17: Texture

Texture is all around us! What do you find interesting?

18. Day 18: Empty

A powerful canvas.

19. Day 19: Low Angle

Change your view, see the world from a different angle. What’s it like to photograph at a low angle?

20. Day 20: Something small

It’s all about the little things.

21. Day 21: High Angle

Change your perspective. What’s it like to photograph at a high angle?

22. Day 22: Water

Is it still water or is the water flowing? Try playing around with your shutter speed to see what that does. What does a really slow shutter speed do? Really fast? What do you like the most?

23. Day 23: Person

From street photography to portraits to a self-portrait. Who do you want to capture?

24. Day 24: Sunflare

Feel the warmth of the sun! Can you pause time to capture a sun flare? If you can, change your aperture and see how it changes the look.

25. Day 25: Hobbies

Freeze-frame your passion. What do you love doing?

26. Day 26: Leading Lines

Create a visual journey for your eye and see where you can find leading lines.

27. Day 27: Framing

Can you find something with natural framing? Do you notice it draws more attention to that area?

28. Day 28: Reflection

Are you taking a moment to reflect or did you find a reflective surface?

29. Day 29: Silhouette

One of my favorite things to capture at sunset! What subject can you turn into a silhouette?

30. Day 30: Pattern

What repeating shapes or designs stand out to you?

Term dictionary:

Silhouette:

To capture a silhouette you’ll need a bright background (like a sunset in the sky) and a subject that will create a big contrast. To create a silhouette, position the subject in front of a strong light source, like the sun, expose for the background (the subject should be dark), and focus on capturing the subject’s shape or outline. On a camera, use backlighting and manual exposure settings, or with an iPhone, tap to focus on the brightest part, lock the exposure, and take into an editing app to finish up.

Leading Lines:

Leading lines can be found naturally in things like trees, roads, rivers, or they can be man-made elements like fences, buildings, or railroad tracks. Leading lines are a way to steer the viewer’s focus.

Framing:

This is when you use different elements to literally frame or border the main subject. It’s like creating a natural picture frame using archways, tree branches, doorways or other objects. Framing helps isolate your subject and draw all the focus right to it.

Aperture:

The aperture is that opening in the camera lens that allows light to travel into the camera and hit the image sensor. It’s measured in f-stops like f/1.8 or f/5.6. Here’s the key – the smaller that f-stop number, the wider the aperture opening. A wider aperture (small f-stop) creates a nice blurred background effect with a shallow depth of field. A narrower aperture (larger f-stop) keeps more of the scene in focus.