It’s highly likely that you’re spending more time at home with the family right now. Instead of getting cabin fever or scouring Netflix for a new series you haven’t watched yet, let’s embrace these times and appreciate getting to spend more time together as a family. To bring some creativity to your home, we have 6 photography challenges that every family member can get involved in.
You may think that time is just passing by and days are all blurring into one. So we challenge you to take one photo every day celebrating the little daily wins. This could be the cupcakes you baked (and ate before you got to ice them), the school work you helped your child finish during homeschooling, the sunny walk you took on a Sunday, or the bedtime story.
In years to come, you can look back at your own personal photo journal of a time when you were able to get the kids breakfast, make them lunch and read them a bedtime story every. single. day.
Throw on your jacket and boots and head into the great outdoors. Pick a route to walk with the kids and get them to spot things to photograph along the way. Cool shop signs, flowers in bloom, the neighbour’s puppy, a lone tree or some cows in a field. With so much to see and photograph, you’ll be spotting little details you never noticed before in no time.
Ever noticed how, when someone tells you they’re getting a new car, it seems like you spot a billion of that same car on the road? This challenge is a bit like that. Choose a colour and go around photographing everything you can see that matches the colour. At the end of it, you could print all your photos to make a bright collage.
For this one, you’ll need a camera or smartphone with a self timer. Spend an afternoon capturing lots of memorable family portraits. Set your camera up on a tripod, hit the self-timer button and run into the frame. (Yes, selfies count, too!) Make it fun by dressing up and creating themed photos. You could go one step further and create themed photos for each month to turn into a calendar. That’s your Christmas pressies for Granny and Gramps sorted!
This one may be a bit tricky, especially when you get nearer the end of the alphabet (unless you have a pet zebra hidden in the garden!). Focus on trying to take 26 photos of different items, all starting with a different letter of the alphabet. If you have young children, this could also be a great way to help them learn the alphabet or practice their spelling.
Spending more time at home means you’ll notice which rooms get more sunlight during the day, and where the shadows fall. Use this to your advantage and experiment with lighting. Create shadow puppets with the kids, take photos of the low winter afternoon sunlight falling across your living room, get creative with light coming through the blinds or set up a makeshift photo shoot to take family portrait making the most of the natural midday light.