Episode 352: What to Shoot This Summer

Show Transcript

Greetings, you’re listening to the Liam Photography Podcast, I’m your host Liam Douglas and this is Episode 352 for Thursday June 22, 2023. So now that winter is finally over many of you are probably trying to decide what you are going to shoot this summer to get out of any ruts that you might be in from the winter months of cold and snow. In todays Episode I want to share some ideas for what you can shoot this summer to keep your creative juices flowing.

Shoot for your Local Community

Most of our local communities have a variety of things where you can help out with your photography. You can reach out to your local tourism office to see if you can shoot new content for their website and Social Media channels. Talk to them and find out what kind of budget they have for any new projects. 

On a separate note, if you want to donate your time as a photography you can help the local clubs such as the Lions Club or maybe even shoot content for the local VFW or American Legion, who generally have events going on during the year and especially during the summer months.

If you don’t have the existing relationship with the local tourism board or clubs, you could start by attending your local chamber of commerce meetings. Get out and talk to local businesses and see what photography needs they might have as well. Maybe the local restaurants need some fresh content for their website and social media channels. Maybe the local car dealership has a big sales event coming up and you can get into shooting that content for them.

Photography Groups

Another thing you can do is find local photography groups or clubs that you can join. These are usually easy to find on Facebook or MeetUp where you can find other shutterbugs that you can do out and shoot with. If there aren’t any local photography groups or clubs in your area, you could always start one, which is what I did when I lived in Gwinnett County, GA. If you don’t want to get that involved, see if there is a general hobby group in your town or county and maybe there are some other shooters in those groups and you can arrange to do a photowalk on a weekend to a local botanical garden or park of some sort.

Photography Projects

My final suggestion is maybe start a new photography project for yourself, something that you are passionate about and get out there shoot for this personal project. I have two projects documenting abandoned small business buildings in PA and GA, but mine have been on hold with the wife’s battle with Leukemia keeping us pretty busy for a solid year and the year before that we had moved to NC and were doing some major remodeling on our new home here.

If abandoned buildings isn’t your thing you could always shoot barns in your area in you are located in a more rural location. Another idea would be to shoot local churches or cemeteries. Another item that I enjoy during the summer months is going to local car shows and photographing all the antique and vintage cars and trucks at these shows and I have seen some real beauties!

In conclusion, there are plenty of things you can shoot over the summer to keep from getting stuck in a shooting rut or to get out if you feel like you are already in one. One final possibility is to work on your skills shooting with various studio lighting systems until you are proficient with them. Start with master Speelites or Strobes and then move on to Continuous Lighting and then finally, mixed lighting. These are skills that every photography needs and a great way to spend some of your free time over the summer.

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