The #1 Way to Improve your Photography Skills

Did you get a nice camera for Christmas or a new iPhone 12?

Do you want to improve your photography but don’t know where to start?

Let me help you!

The #1 way to improve your photography skills, whether you’re a new photographer or have years of experience, is to join a photo challenge!

What’s a photo challenge? A photo challenge is a list of prompts that give you an idea of what to photograph on a specific time basis. Some challenges list prompts daily, some daily, and some monthly. These are daily / weekly / monthly exercises to help you become more creative and skillful in your photography. And the cool thing is… you can join anytime. Another cool thing - you can use your DSLR, point & shoot, or phone camera!

Where do you find a group to join? You can Google P365 (project 365), P52 (project 52), etc or search under hashtags on Instagram or Facebook.

Here are some links to a few groups to help get you started!

ClickinMoms is a web-based group for women photographers who love photography as much as you do (or will)! https://www.clickinmoms.com/. There are many different types of photo challenges on here besides the P365 and p52, such as a monthly color challenge.

Click It Up a Notch is another web-based group that offers a 30 day photo challenge! Https://www.clickitupanotch.com

Look this group up on Facebook - Color Chase Challenge - for a FUN and creative monthly challenge.

Hashtags to look under on Instagram - #p365 #365daily #p52 #photochallenge

On Pinterest, search for Photo Challenge, Photography Challenge, Photo Prompts to find thousands of lists of prompts! Download one and have at it. Post away on Instagram, Facebook, wherever you want. Hashtag away. You can hashtag the name of the challenge and others who are doing that challenge will find you. Do you have a friend who likes to take photos and wants to join in the fun? Look for this challenge on Pinterest - 2 Friends Through The Lens !

Be Careful! The groups/challenges are fun and exciting for sure! Be careful to not sign up for too many though, it’s a quick way to become overwhelmed and stressed. The point of joining a photo challenge is to improve your photo creativity and skills and to have fun. Every January, I start out in about 6 - 8 groups. I quickly remember why I dropped out of a few challenges the years before. I settle on one weekly and one monthly that I truly enjoy and focus on those.

Per usual, I’ve started out in several groups this year and by week two was having trouble keeping up! I’ve narrowed it down a bit, but still have some weeding to do on my list. Here are two grids I made from my challenges for January.

This photo displays my Mocha-Beige images for the Color Chase Challenge (January) on Facebook.

This photo shows my favorite 9 images for multiple January challenges - ClickinMoms, Women Capture Magic (https://www.womencapturemagic.com, 2 Friends Through the Lens… just to name a few.

Want to join me in one or more of these groups? Let me know!

I also offer a 6 week Photography Course - one on one or small group - throughout the year. Just email for info on the next scheduled class!

If you start a photo challenge, please post your images! Let me know where you’re posting them, I’d love to support you!