Learn how to play again: 7 ideas for you and your camera
Back in the day...I mean WAY back...when we were kids, we played. A lot. That was basically our job. We learned through play. Remember? Maybe not. It’s been a really long time for many of us.
At some point we stopped. Why? Because it’s not fun? Because we don’t enjoy it? No. We’re told it's unproductive, immature, or a waste of time. We devote our lives to those tasks that earn money, improve our appearance, teach us a skill. We start to get so caught up in “life” that we leave play far far behind.
Well today I’m here to tell you that it’s time to relearn how to play. For your sanity and for your camera skills. No, I'm not being dramatic. It’s science.
According to Stuart Brown, M.D. (that’s right folks, he’s a doctor) who wrote the book Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, play energizes and enlivens us. “It eases our burdens. It renews our natural sense of optimism and opens us up to new possibilities.” Doesn’t that sound nice?
Me playing in a dark closet with a little flashlight and a tulip.
There’s such incredible value in play. And yet as adults we’ve forgotten all about it, think we don’t have time for it, or just think that it’s for kids. My experience with play as an adult really started the first time I let a dog move in with me. Now they really know how to play!
No matter what age, a dog will see a ball, a stick, a leash, and lose his mind. Like it’s the best day of his entire life. And he’ll play until he can’t play anymore.
When I first witnessed this happening with my dog (I didn’t have dogs as a kid, so it was new to me), I was amazed. The pure and utter joy that they experience. And it’s infectious! I find myself laughing every single day at the playful antics of my current canine resident, Maggie. She’s one of the most playful dogs I’ve ever lived with.
The joy is infectious, but so is the desire to play. I find myself running around the yard, maybe in the rain. And laughing. And when I come back inside to get some work done? Well, I’m absolutely ready to go.
Some serious play on both sides of the camera happening here!
And here’s where I’m going with this. Hopefully you’re still here, because it’s about to get good. According to Dr. Brown, “play lies at the core of creativity and innovation.” And there you go.
We get so caught up in the mechanics of photography, in our camera settings, and in lighting, and even composition. Which are all incredibly important, don’t get me wrong. But sometimes it’s important to just get your camera out and play.
What the heck do I even mean by that? I mean don’t worry if the photos are great, or even good. Don’t try so hard to remember every detail, or to make something perfect. Just get that camera out, run around and make photos of anything. Of everything. Make photos that are overexposed, blurred, underexposed, close-ups of your dog’s nose.
I mean lay on the ground and just shoot up into the sky. Lay on your bed and make photos of the wall. Swing in a swing and make photos all the way to and fro. Are you following me here?
If you’re not one of those people whose brain is just chock full of crazy playful ideas, well don’t beat yourself up. Most of us aren’t. That’s what the internet - and me - are for.
Playing at an amusement park at night with my camera.
I’m going to give you some playful camera examples and I want you to promise me something. Get out your camera and commit to every week trying at least one. AT LEAST one! If you want to jump in and try them all, then go for it!
AND if you come up with some playful and fun things to do with your camera (that won’t get us banned from Facebook) then please share them with the rest of us!
I’m paraphrasing a bit here, but Stuart Brown thinks that play is SO important that it helps our mental health, it helps us be better at our work, better parents, AND it helps us tap into that pent up creativity. So don’t underestimate the importance of our lost ability to play.
If you have any doubt of its power, take a look at your kids, your pets...and see what it does for them. Why wouldn’t we want us some of that??
It’s amazing how much fun can be had with water, food coloring, and some spare computer parts.
Okay, here are a few playful activities to do with your camera to get you started (oh yeah, and they are quarantine friendly, by the way):
Make arrangements with whatever you can find around your house and make still life photos. Rearrange as many times as you can come up with something new and as long as it’s fun.
Drip food coloring into a pitcher of water, and make photos of the color moving through the water. Try putting a light behind the pitcher, underneath it on a glass table, get creative with the light. It can be a lamp, flashlight…
Pick one item in your house or yard. Make 20 different photos of it in different locations, different contexts, different situations. (this could be a leaf, a pencil, a gnome, your cat…)
Make 10 different self-portraits in different outfits, contexts, lighting, shadows. These could be reflections in mirrors/windows, shadows, with the camera set up on a table/tripod using a remote or timer...
Make photos with as many different colors in one photo as possible.
Fill a glass with water. Make photos throughout your house and yard, but they all have to be shot through the glass of water. Any subject is fair game.
Get some music that you like, and put on your headphones, earbuds, whatever you have to listen to hands-free music. Now for the next 30 minutes make photos of whatever the music inspires you to make photos of. Listen to the music and let it guide you.
Me playing around with self-portraits for a workshop.
Now of course play doesn’t have to be limited to your camera. But that’s just where my mind generally starts when it comes to creativity. Let your mind run wild here. You can finger paint, have a dance party (one of my personal favorites), sing karaoke, heck buy some clay and sculpt something if the mood strikes.
What I’m saying is...do something fun. Let all the stress, worry, and adult-life pressures fall away for a few minutes (maybe give it 30) and just play. Like your dog with his toy, your cat with a box, or your kid on a trampoline.
Give it a try and let me know how it goes. I’ve said it before, I love to hear your story, and I love to hear all about the aha moments. So don’t deny me...share it in the Facebook Group. We’d all love to hear about it.