Photo by Scott Bourne
Everything worth photographing has already been photographed. There’s nothing new under the sun. Been there, shot that. The place has been photographed so many times there are tripod holes at all the good locations.
These are the phrases that we use to help us excuse our unwillingness to get out of bed for the sweet morning light. Or the excuses we need in order to stay home and watch Monday Night Football. As a photographer with nearly 35 years of experience, I know the problem well. But believe it or not, there is always something new to photograph. You just have to be willing and able to see it.
So here is my A to Z list of photographic subjects. It is obviously not all-inclusive, but it should jump-start your creative eye and hopefully help to get you off the couch and into the field. Happy shooting!
A. Abstracts, Animals, Arches, Art, Arrows, Airplanes.
B. Bells, Bridges, Butterflies, Balls, Balloons, Bees, Boats,Bicycles, Blimps, Bones, Bottles.
C. Colors, Cones, Cars, Campsites, Cats, Churches, Circles,Cities, Columns.
D. Dewdrops, Dancers, Demonstrations, Doors, Dishes, Dogs.
E. Environment, Eyes, Eggs.
F. Fences, Farms, Feathers, Flags, Fire, Flowers, Fountains.
G. Gates, Gears, Graffiti, Gardens, Glass.
H. Hands, Handles, Hats, Horses, Halloween, Hallways, Harbors.
I. Indentations, Ice, Insects, Iron.
J. Jewels, Jails, Jets, Joints, Junk.
K. Kids, Knives, Keys, Kites.
L. Leaves, Legs, Letters, Locks.
M. Masks, Machines, Mirrors, Money, Mushrooms.
N. Neon, Nighttime, Noodles.
O. Oranges, Opposites.
P. Pairs, Paper, People, Peppers, Porches.
R. Railroads, Rainbows, Reflections, Rust.
S. Signs, Sand, Sea, Shells, Shadows, Silhouettes, Skulls,Smoke, Stairs, Streams Statues, Swings.
T. Tattoos, Tombstones, Tools, Trees.
U. Umbrellas, Utensils, Uniforms.
V. Vines, Valves, Vases, Vegetables.
W. Waterfalls, Wood, Weightlifters, Windows, Watches, Winter,Wheels.
Y. Yards, Yarn, Yoga, Youth.
Z. Zoos, Zigzags, Zebras.
Thanks Scott. That list should keep me busy for a while. Lately I’ve been stuck on the letter K (Kids). But I’d like to skip up to W (Wife).
Scott. Thank you. I was just having a crisis of confidence and your post has stopped the camera bag being stuffed into the closet.
More to this, I have had this idea kicking around in my head for a while but lack the time and know how to develop it fully.
It’s called (was) 26pictures.com
The premise is every week users would post a photo containing a letter of the alphabet.
Week 1: A
Week 2: B
etc.
Other users would vote on the best per week and best overall.
I thought this is something that may intrest TWiP as a larger Weekly Assignment. You can hold it over a month or three and the listeners can either submit to a letter catergory or the alphabet as a whole.
Just a thought… and thanks again.
I do need a boost once in while. A spring tries to start here in Michigan I can finally go outside and work with my new camera.
Thanks Scott. Great list and it certainly got my creative juices flowing again. But what about Q?
Queensland, Quebec, Quad Bikes, Quays, Quartz, Quentin Tarantino ;-)
Perfect! Thanks — I’ll tape this to my wall, to remind me of some of the things that still beg to be explored!
Pingback: Links for Saturday, May 03
I don’t have anything to photograph. I looked for things on the list, too. I think I need a Nikon D3.
thank you scott for your encouragement the possibilities of getting a great shot are vastly improved if we just get out there and start shooting at the variety of endless subjects around us.
Q – Quiet (water, scenes), Quirky (anything), Quail, Quaking (aspen, grass), Quilts
- dave
p.s. Hi Bob!
Pingback: Laurent’s blog » Around the web this week
Nice list. If I ever get bored of “B” for birds, I’ll go through this list. I don’t have much of anything that compares with Scott’s birds yet but I’m relatively new at digital photography and Its a work in progress.
I agree with Dave Griffin, you missed Q. I find Quokkas make good photo subjects, if you can get one to sit still for long enough. And if you are lucky to be in the vicinity of where they live of course.
@David I didn’t miss it – I just couldn’t think of anything :)