13 Creative Exercises for Photographers at Home

With nearly everyone, almost everywhere, working from home, studying from home, or just staying at home, there’s increased pressure to make use of this time in productive ways. As a photographer who much prefers working “en plein air,” this indoor time is a challenge. However, this isn’t to say that my appetite for making photographs has dwindled. In fact, if anything, I’ve been racking my brain even more over the past weeks looking for creative sparks. So, inspired by Todd Vorenkamp’s popular 13 Creative Exercises for Photographers article, I am proposing a new, additional series of 13 creative exercises, with the focus on being at home.

Exercise 1: Find the Light

The first lighting class I had at university took the form of the professor giving everyone a simple incandescent bulb and telling us that this was our only light source for the semester. Everyone (expectedly) hated it but, even then, I knew there was going to be some value in working with such a simple tool to create a foundation for working with more sophisticated tools later on. The first assignment from that first class was to turn on the light and then hide it somewhere, preferably in another room; somewhere where you couldn’t immediately sense or see the light. Turn off all the room lights and then, in seemingly complete darkness, photograph your light bulb. This exercise will test your patience and long exposure skills but will also give you a feeling of the way light gives shape to subjects in the absence of other ambient light sources.

Exercise 2: Outside from Inside

Second prize to being outside is the feeling of gazing out a window; find your favorite scene from a window and photograph it. Then photograph it again—but differently—the next day, then do it again, and again, and again. Force yourself to study and break down the scene; use different lenses, photograph at different times of the day. See if you can make the scene work for you and, conversely, see if you can depict the scene with as much accuracy as possible. Things tend to become a lot more interesting over time.