Well, we’ve reached August in Alabama. The heat index has been a bazillion degrees for way too long. The pool no longer thrills the kids; vacations are over. Everyone’s staring at a screen, and somehow, you’ve accumulated another 400 random pictures on your phone that you’ll never look at again.
I mean, really. If you search “July” in your phone photos, what do you find? Seven screenshots, four pages of a recipe, a grocery list and a picture of a parking space? Now those are some captivating keepsakes…
Even when we do snap a photo, most of us don’t give it much thought—and that’s okay. Being present is far more important than composing the perfect image. The downside, though, is that we end up with thousands of photos we’ll never revisit because they were taken without much intention.
But what if you went about taking photos a little differently? What if, before you snapped that next one, you did give it a little more thought?
Photographer forums share project ideas like “photo hunts” for the slow seasons to help keep skills sharp. While it’s super helpful technically, I find it even more beneficial for adding a little out-of-the-box adventure to a household, too. These kinds of challenges can be a family affair – anyone with access to a camera can snap the pictures, and little ones can help hunt for items on the list, too. Who doesn’t love a scavenger hunt?
(Submitted by Sarah Pennington)
Before long, you’ll have created reasons to make memories instead of simply remembering to photograph them. Here are a few ideas to get you started – bring this list with you to the dinner table and see what else your family adds to it!
Around the House
- Chores
- Board Games
- Painted Nails
- Lunchtime
- Laughter
Outside
- Rain
- Ladybug
- Sunrise
- Treetops
- Trampoline
Summer Fun
- Dugout
- Ice Cream
- Dock
- Campfire
- Float
Back to School
- Apple
- Backpack
- Friends
- Shopping
- Sports
I’d say the key is to add a deadline to the project; perhaps start with a week, and decide how many you think you can capture. Then see how it goes and adjust it after that. If the whole family joins in, you could add fun parameters to the challenge, like weekly check-ins, where everyone shares the images they’ve captured in a group chat or by sitting around the TV to view them together, slide show-style.
Who knows? You might discover your family’s next beloved tradition. Or at the very least, you’ll finally have something more interesting on your camera roll than a parking space and a grocery list.
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