Last Week I spent lots of time reading Photocrafty: 75 Challenges for you and your DSLR. 
The reason I chose this book to read at this point was because most of the population are self-isolating at home due to the Corona Virus Pandemic. I was hoping to find some challenges that you can do at home and luckily there are some exciting ones.
Sue Venables is a Lecturer in video and photography at city of Westminster college. Sue says “we should look for magic moments everyday” which is an analogy I really resonate with because I feel as a photographer you should always be looking for an image and these moments will jump out at you when you don’t expect it. Take your camera everywhere and just snap what you see and capture those moments. Remember “The best camera is always the one you have with you” don’t think you need to have all the expensive kit.
Hope you’re ready as Sue has set 75 challenges for us to do in Photocrafty. I will be doing these challenges on Fridays on my Photo Challenge Friday posts and ticking them off when I’ve done them. You can also join in if you’re interested as I post the next challenge on my blog the week before.
The book starts off with the very simple techniques in the challenges and as you go through the book the challenges get more and more complex. In fact, some might require me to rope in a glamourous assistant like they do in magic shows.
I thought I’d discuss the top 5 challenges that intrigue me most in this book rather than listing all 75. So, here are my top 5:
- Photo Message
I chose this challenge because I feel that this is one most of us need right now to keep each other in a creative mindset and to encourage each other in this difficult time. For me this one will work best for Instagram and should be next week’s challenge to start on Saturday using a whiteboard or pieces of white card.
- Shoot 50 Shots
I absolutely love the idea of this challenge in that you simply pick one subject and photograph it in 50 ways. I’d hope this one helps me think more creatively and out of the box.
- Photojourno
Taking photos and capturing a story through image and text is something I love, and I can’t wait to do this on the street again when I’m able to spend time doing street photography. Id love to photograph and make notes on the story.
- Your Bubble
In my opinion this is the coolest one, you go out photographing with a glass dome or Crystal Ball. The idea is about how we all exist in our own little world (Our Bubble). I’ve done this before here’s a link to my related post: Crystal Ball Photography
- Bring History Alive
The Idea is to take an old photo you already have or from the internet and go back to the same place and photograph what’s there now or recreate an old photo. During My MA I did this for my how do we use public space project as I was showing how the space had changed over time. What we used to use it for and what it used for now.
To conclude my review, I found this book to be extremely informative on each challenge and I’m so excited to try them out. Sue mentions what some challenges mean in their original languages., she gives us a deep insight into what settings you should use for some of their challenges and gives a list of kit you might need.
I hope you enjoyed this review stay tuned for more blog posts and reviews.
Leave a Reply