Photography self assignments: ideas to practice and improve
Especially when you’re new to photography and you don’t know yet exactly what you want to shoot, or you want to improve your skills, self assignments can be a great way to give yourself some direction.
They’re not only a great way to practice specific skills, train your eye, but also fun to do. They’re simply just like a game.
So instead of walking around, sometimes without a purpose, and struggling with finding an interesting subject, try giving yourself a small self assignment.
What is a self assignment in photography
Imagine you go out and opt to shoot only specific objects, use only one specific technique, work with only one piece of gear, or focus on one visual aspect.
It can be for example photographing a specific color (my all the time favourite), making a self portrait a day, using one particular source of light, shooting with long shutter speed or putting your subjects in natural frames. You can also study a favourite photographer’s work and, as a learning exercise, try to recreate some of the visual ideas you find interesting.
You can make it as easy or as difficult as you like.
Why are the self photo assignment useful
Such a self assignment, first of all, will push you to go out and shoot. There is no other way to get a bunch of shots of people in yellow jackets (for example) than finding them on the streets and taking a photo of them. It pushes you to practice.
Practice is a straight way to improve your skills. Imagine you ask yourself to take a serie of 10 successful panning shots. Most likely it will cost you a little time and dozens of shots to figure out what shutter speed is best for a different moving objects. You will also have to learn this specific panning move with your camera.
And - from this moment on, your brain will focus now on moving objects, more than ever before. You will see them everywhere.
As well as people in yellow jackets ;)
Using one shooting technique or specific visual pattern (like using leading lines or subframing objects), or learning one specific piece of gear (think one focal length) has a similar effect.
Later on it will let you implement these in your photography in a very easy, natural and actually playful way. No matter what your niche is, or which techniques you mostly use, you simply start noticing when they might work.
My favourite self photo assignments
Whenever I am out and about but lacking inspiration, I give myself an assignment to photograph a certain color. Orange and red are my to go colors.
It’s a great exercise for the brain and the eye.
And I always come back home with at least a few photos that are visually appealing - since you can make red and orange subjects popping out of the pictures almost effortlessly.
My project Shore Goods, started actually as a self assignment as well. I started photographing the sea and the coast, not only because it’s been always my favourite place to be. I was searching for a subject so I could take pictures of it on a regular basis.
What was a simple exercise on the beginning, turned into a constantly growing body of work about Dutch coast, sea and people connected to them.
My one photo a day challenge was another, much bigger, example of this approach. Instead of giving myself one specific assignment, I made the assignment itself much broader: take one photograph every day and pay attention to whatever caught my eye.
Start with a small assignment
You don't need a grand idea for your next photography move, and you certainly don't have to wait for inspiration to strike.
Sometimes all you need is a small constraint that gives you a reason to pick up the camera and something specific to look for.
It could be a colour, a particular type of light, one street, one focal length, or simply a certain kind of subject. Once you start looking, you may find that there is much more to photograph than you initially thought.
And that's probably what I like most about self-assignments. They give you a starting point without telling you where you have to end up. What begins as a simple exercise can turn into a way of seeing, a recurring subject, or even a much larger body of work.
So the next time you find yourself walking around with a camera and wondering what to photograph, try giving yourself a small assignment instead. You often simply need a clarity what to look for.
I wrote an article with 20 ideas what to photograph close to home. Check it out for some inspiration.
Want some structure?
If you like the idea of self assignments but don't always know what to photograph, my 100-day photography practice program might be for you.
It’s built around one small task a day, with 100+ examples from my own work. The idea is to keep looking, experimenting and gradually developing your own way of seeing.
Through 100 assignments, together with 100+ examples of my pictures and guidance, I show how to integrate photography into your daily routine in a painless and playful way - until it becomes second nature and starts happening on its own.