This year, I have been focusing on slowing my life slightly, being a parent, doing research, teaching and leading a lab is a lot. So I sacrifice my passions for sports and photography so I can have a bit of rest. I haven’t stopped exercising because I will become mad if I don’t have a safety valve, but I stopped racing and doing extreme adventures. Photography, I do whatever I can do with spare time, just to not lose that memory muscle and continue doing.
Last night, I was working on my computer late, and I was so tired that I started to use AI to sort my work ideas. And I actually appreciate that, it is kind of an assistant where you can drop ideas, but you will always need to choose the right decision. When I finished for the day, something came into my mind, and I started thinking about “What if….”. So I started typing and discussing with a specific AI tool, and it helped me to clear some of my mess in my head related to sorting my ideas.
In the end, I needed to plan for myself for what to do when I have some spare time to do photography. I enjoy going out and just taking photos of whatever I can, and I feel it is healthy. But I wanted to create some quality, and to start working with projects.
So I decided to create specific challenges that I could do before the end of the year, as well I’m not forcing myself to actually do all of them. But it will help me to set an objective and do whatever I can with this.
During my discussion with the AI, I wanted to focus on different perspectives such as Street photography, Nature & wildlife, plus sports photography. Obviously, it is very tricky to use AI, because sometimes it will tell you things that are actually not related to what you want to do, or things that are not in your interest. So I ended up with these challenges that I wanted to share in case you want to take part of:
Challenges related to street photography
Can I tell a story using only shadows?
Can I build a street photography series about colour?
Can I take street photos without being seen?
Can I make good street photos with just 24 shoots?
Can I make street photos without photographing people?
Challenges related to nature and wildlife
Can I make wildlife photography without filling the frame with animals? (negative space)
Can I find wildlife without leaving a small specific area?
Can I make nature photography without green colour?
Can I wildlife photography without showing details (silhouettes or movement?
Can I do wildlife photography focusing in details ? (Detail plane)
General challenges
Can I turn an ordinary walk into a photography essay?
Can I connect the city and nature in 6 photos?
Can I make a photography essay with one lens and no cropping?
Can I photography a city from a different perspective
Challenges related to sport
Can I make mtb look fast in a photo?
Can I tell a story of a bike ride without photographing cyclists’ faces?
Can I take 5 good photos with one trail and one lens?
Can I take an entire race without using burst shots?
Can I go for a run and tell a story with just 10 photos?
Can I photograph a runner without freezing the motion?
Can I tell a sports story without showing the athlete?
Basketball - Can I capture the decisive moment?
Skateboard - Can I make a skate trick look different?
Climbing - Can I show the difficulty without showing face expressions?
Football - Can I make a complete photography story from one small and specific area in the field?
Football - Can I make a story by moving around during a match?
Swimming - Can I photograph water as part of the athlete's movement without the full body of the swimmer?
Boxing - Can I photography movement without showing details? (blur/drama lights/ shadows, silhouettes)
Can I capture the perfect moment
Can I try to do sports photography with landscape techniques?
Can I tell the story of a sport without showing action?
Can I create sports photography with long exposure?
Can I tell the story of an athlete with only 6 shots?