Shoot something different
I shoot a lot of pictures of the same subjects. The grandkids are #1. Once the weather warms up I shoot a lot of flowers. When we go somewhere I end up with lots of cityscapes or landscapes. I know photographers on smugmug and Flickr that don’t even vary that much. They keep shooting the same thing over and over and over again.
The thought behind this post is to challenge you to shoot something different. If you go somewhere take some pictures of things you normally wouldn’t. This requires a lot of looking around. When you go to the Grand Canyon or Paris or Washington DC you know what to shoot, right? It’s obvious – just take a look at the postcard racks. So go ahead and take those mandatory shots but take a break every once in a while and look for something else to shoot. It could be important to where you are – a street sign perhaps. Or is could just be different, a pair of shoes in a window display. Every month I post of few of my favorite pictures to my smugmug galleries. I went back over last year’s photos to see if I could find some examples to get your creative juices flowing.
January
Here’s a chandelier at our local McDonalds. 
and a notepad for sale in a nearby Home Goods store. 
February
A couple of shots from Beverly Hills California.
March
Unusual soap for sale in an antique mall 
Broken chalk on a sidewalk in Geneva, Illinois 
April
Candy in a store window 
May
A wasp nest on our garage 
Lunch at Kona Grill
June. This was pretty easy because we went on a cruise. But I tried to find some shots that were different from the typical postcards
Bike in Geneva, Illinois 
Athens
Istanbul
July
Our dinner one night
Bison burgers on our grill 
August
Breakfast 
Troop car, New Buffalo Michigan 
September
October
November
Shoe in a candy store window 
Gingerbread house at the Chicago Marriott 
December
Fish at the Rainforest Café 
13 second exposure at night out the window
That’s it. Go back through your pictures over the past year or month or whatever. How many can you find that aren’t from your specialties? If you don’t find many then challenge yourself going forward to add some variety.
Starting today try to find something different to shoot. Post it somewhere by the end of the month and send me a link. If I get some response I’ll do a blog post with the pictures that you all take.
AMEN! I get tired of seeing the same subject matter and same type of post processing. It does stamp a style, but after awhile it gets boring. When I joined the SmugMug daily community, one of my goals was to try for diversity in my photographs. I hope I have succeeded with some measure. Thanks Art for challenging all of us to think outside the box!
Art,
This one really inspired me to take a look through all my photos even if they were taken on some trip a while back to see something different.
I try to post different things on smugmug but I do love flowers and things in my garden. Thanks for this post. I’m enjoying all of them.
Donna
I’m probably the poster child for something different although what I shoot and what I post for my POTD don’t always line up. I might take some offbeat shots but then post the one I took that’s pretty normal for me.