Photography challenges have never been better...

Trying to be Creative #36

Dear you,

Let me start by saying sorry for not sending a letter on January 15 as originally planned. I wouldn’t have missed it if I could but life happened and it was all out of my control.

So, one of the things I wanted to do in 2024 is find photography challenges. There are a lot of these on the internet in different photography communities and I think they are a great way to keep learning. Photography is one of those things you’ll never have enough knowledge of. We all have something we can work on and improve and there are things we know nothing about.

Speaking about photography challenges, there are 2 that I’ve decided to get into this year and I found both on Medium. I haven’t talked about them here yet so I’ll just mention them and also show you some photos I took during the month. The good thing about these photography challenges is that they’re both really flexible. The awesome people who planned them out understand that life happens and sometimes we as photographers, aren’t out taking photos. So, they’re designed in such a way for you to take on these challenges at your own pace. The goal is to have fun with it!

The first one is the 52-week photography project which provides a different prompt each week to create an image and you submit it monthly. I haven’t submitted my January round-up yet so I have nothing to show you but you can see what other photographers have done with the prompts here.

The second one is by Lauri Novak who I also found on Medium. She sends out the monthly challenge via her newsletter and it’s been fun so far. I received the February topic earlier today and it sounds exciting. January was all about shadows and I tried to keep that in mind on the days I was taking photos.

---

Photo Stories

all photos by author.

So, I think this is my favorite shadow photo. I originally shot it in landscape mode but switched it because I thought it looked cool this way (not sure I made the right decision yet, but who cares right?) Anyways, I just love how soft the waves look over the shadows. The color contrast is also nice, the blue shadows fit well with the warm sand (I also mean that literally because it was a hot day). It’s somehow a messy photo but I like it, it was a fun day and a fun photo.

Here’s another one taken just a few moments after.

The wet sand looks like it’s melting.

Plus a couple of other shadows lurking around

I’m not sure this counts as shadow photography but I love the light effect on the pillow so it’s here. Besides, we’ve got some shadows on the couch…

So that’s it for January.

Hopefully, I get to stay consistent with these all year.

What do you think about photography challenges?

Thanks for reading this far.

Keep making photos, experimenting, and breathing.

See you February 15.

x

ash.

---

P.S. If you like this newsletter and want to support it, there are 4 ways you can do this. Just pick one (or two):

1. Send this newsletter to a friend with an invitation to subscribe right here: Trying to Be Creative.

2. Hit reply and say hello.

3. Buy me coffee. Trying this out so if you’d like to, you can buy me a cup here: https://ko-fi.com/myashgarage

4. Buy a print. Or maybe tell someone about it: https://myashgarage.darkroom.com/