"Red circles?!" I could barely disguise my confusion and skepticism.

"Yeah... I want to photograph red circles," she replied confidently.

We were working on our Abstracts in Adams Photo Tour, and I'd asked our attendees to come up with a theme or project they could shoot for the day. 

Most attendees usually pick things like bicycles, a color, texture or even graffiti. But I wasn't prepared for the ultra-specific answer, red circles.

"How many red circles is she going to find in Adams Morgan. I don't want her to be disappointed," I thought as I searched for a way to gently redirect her to a more 'attainable' goal."

Nope. Red circles. The decision had been made.

I learned a thing or two about selecting photo projects. that day The process need not be complicated nor the subject obvious. You just need something for which you can be passionate and dedicated.

 WHY IS THIS EVEN IMPORTANT?

"A Personal Photography project is a way for a photographer to showcase their passion for something," writes Neha Singh, of ShutterMonks.com in Digital Photography School. "Or it can just be a way to bring structure to one’s photography hobby. It can be a great way to challenge the limits of one’s skills. Or it can be a great way to bring focus to one’s photography efforts.

"A Personal Photography project is just a commitment to self."

Now that we have great weather and maybe some free time, this summer might be a good time to launch your own personal photo project. Here are 51 other ideas to consider shooting.

My inspiration was Craft & Vision's book, Vision 365, but I thought we could have more fun with it.

A Digital Photography School guest post by Neha Singh from ShutterMonks.com.

A Personal Photography project is just a commitment to self

A Personal Photography project is a way for a photographer to showcase their passion

for something.

Or it can just be a way to bring structure to one’s photography hobby.

It can be a great way to challenge the limits of one’s skills.

Or it can be a great way to bring focus to one’s photography efforts.

It can be a unique way to build an awesome portfolio.

It can be a truly rejuvenating experience.

It can take you places and make an impact.

Most of all, they can be a lot of fun.

Organized into four sections

• Photo techniques - set up complex, conceptual photo shoot ideas
• Photo skill - learn a specific skill that will help improve your abilities
• Ongoing - An organized approach that keeps you shooting over a long period of time • Thematic or subject-based

How to use these ideas

• Pick one
• Mix & match them
• Work through the list

1. Lightbulbsmoketutorial
2. Recreateafairytale
3. Recreateafamousphotograph
4. Createyourownmagazineassignments
5. Productphotographcommercial-ishphotos

1. Nature/funmacros
2. Backlighting
3. Composition
4. Portraits(people,pets) 5. HDR

6. Timelapse
7. Photographlight&shadow
8. Camerabag(Learnyourtools) 9. Unusualperspectives

Project365

Project52

30Days(tolearnaskillortellastory)

100Strangers

10on10

Singlelens(50mm)

FlatStanley-ish(JamesDoernbergandKaiJordaneveryManhattansubway

station)

Locationovertime(NationalsStadiummissedopportunity)

Timeofday(samelocationduringthedayasthelightchanges,everydayatsame

time)

10.Photojournalism -- news events happening around us 11. Create a documentary

1. Creativeselfportraits
2. Portraitsof...Ideas:50yearanniversary,Futurepresidents
3. Environmentalportraits—Thesearethepeopleinyourneighborhood
4. Nightphotography—Mycityatnight
5. Onmyplate—anapproachtofoodphotography
6. Cityguideofyourhometown—Famouslandmarkspersonalized
7. Rain,rain...
8. Favoritelocations—Ideas:40on40byIraSilverberg,StatestreetsinDC
9. Doorsand/orwindows
10.Pick a color — dominant color, contrasting colors, complementary colors, and b&w 11. Composition elements — patterns, shadows, texture, negative space 12.Photograph something that belongs to someone special - pay a tribute
13. A cause or a (social) issue
14. A day in the life of... — you, another person, or a group project
15.Bowl of nouns — shoes, flags, windows, chairs
16. ABC or 123 project
17.Shapely — Geometric shapes
18.Musical festival performances or county fairs
19.Gratitude project — Something or someone for whom you are thankful
20.I spy a.... — Pick one location and see how many different things you can photograph. Also known as the hula hoop project
21.Illustrate a poem or Haiku
22.Reflections & silhouettes
23. An imperfect object - Wabi-Sabi is an ancient Japanese concept derived from Zen Buddhism. It honors all things that are old, weathered, and imperfect. - Vision 365 24.The Wall -- Graffiti & poster billboards
25.Odd numbered subjects
26.Religious symbols or sacred places / of worship

• Make it fun
• Make it challenging
• Make it easy to do
• Know what works for you

I'll share first. 

I've lost far too much money buying the wrong cameras and lenses in my life. 

I remember the first DSLR I ever bought. I loved it from the camera store counter, but when I got it into the real world, I quickly ran into its limitation.

There was the lens that was supposed to cure all my troubles. I sold it a couple months later for a few hundred dollars less than I purchased it. Ouch!

Here's the point. We all make mistakes. And after revisiting some of my costly missteps, plus the other stories I've heard from photographers in our community, I think I can help.

I've boiled these experiences into the seven mistakes rookie photographers make. See if you see your old self in these mistakes, because going forward we will be reformed.

Listen to the podcast and read the show notes at bit.ly/shutterbuglife025

Remember the sweet feeling of overwhelm when you held your new camera and marveled at all those buttons and features?

Here's the good news — you don't really need to know all of your camera's options. Here's the challenge — the ones you should know, you really ought to take the time to master them.

Like the famous Pareto Principle, roughly 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes. To make it more specific, if you master these 16 features, they will help you excel in 80 percent of your shooting scenarios. Grab your camera and follow along.

Listen to the podcast and view the show notes at bit.ly/shutterbuglife024.

Today's question comes from Mayhtwel.

"I can't decide the right composition. When I focus on an object, I feel confused. How to do I find the right position? That's my big problem. What should I do?"

In this episode, I share a checklist to help you find the right composition for you.

In the early morning light of Great Falls, Virginia, I was distracted. The light fell perfectly on the Potomac River as it rushed over a series of steep, jagged rocks. This was the scene I came to photograph, but I couldn't focus. Literally.

Nearby, my two young sons bounced carefree across the rocks that border the waterfalls. Any slip by one of them certainly wouldn't end well, but as young boys, they were impervious to the danger hundreds of feet below.

I shifted my attention between shepherding them to safety and taking a few photos I really liked. In fact, I was so distracted, I was surprised to find an image l liked enough to matte and frame. I hung the photo for a while but lost track of it over a couple moves.

I recall this now because recently I went into my oldest son's room and saw that he'd found and hung that photo on his wall. I hadn't seen it in years, but it brought back so many memories from that morning in 2004.

The National Parks are not only great for creating photos but memories as well. That's one of the messages from Chris Nicholson, who wrote the book Photographing National Parks.

In this interview, he shares:

• How you should prepare for an efficient and productive visit to a National Park;
• The tools you should take for best results;
• His favorite National Parks for photography;
• When you would need permits to photograph the parks;
and much more

Listen to the interview and find the show notes at bit.ly/022

If you wandered into Baltimore's Helping Up Mission last Dec. 6, you might have thought you were in a photo studio. Rows of portrait stations lined the room, all staffed by photographers busy shooting and printing images. 

And if you really paid attention, you'd notice that no money was being exchanged. That's right, photographers were shooting high quality portraits — free — for people who normally might never have experienced that kind of attention.

Wes Linda was one of the organizers of the Help-Portrait Baltimore movement, and he joins this episode to share what he learned, and how you can change your own world with your camera.

Listen to the podcast or visit the show notes at bit.ly/shutterbuglife022.

I have some photography advice for you. It has nothing to do with f-stops or apertures, composition or storytelling. Sure those principles are important, but they aren't my focus today.

This advice will not only help you improve your photographs but your life as a photographer. Use them today. Use them years from now. They'll still work.

Put down your camera and pull up a chair. Here we go.

Listen to the podcast and find the show notes at bit.ly/021

"Hi, Joe McNally? You don't know me, but I'm Lyn Morton. I'm a big fan of your work, but even more so, I love the way you teach. You see, I'm also a photographer and photo coach. I was wondering if you would be my mentor.

"Why would you do that? What's in it for you?!

"Good questions...." Hmmm...

If you've ever imagined asking someone to be your photography mentor and feared the conversation would end like that, Peggy Farren has some tips for you.

Peggy is a portrait and wedding photographer in Naples, Fla. She joins us today to make the case that you need a photography mentor or even a photo buddy, and she has seven tips to help you you find one.

Listen to the podcast and read the show notes at bit.ly/shutterbuglife020.

Valerie Jardin is still modest enough to correct me when I refer to her as an expert on street photography, but it' not that she hasn't earned the title.

I love her quote, "photography is my passion, my obsession, my addiction. I live and breathe in pixels!"

Valerie is a natural a storyteller who focuses mostly street photography. 

Her work has hung in galleries in the United States and in Europe, but she enjoys paying it forward most.

"Teaching is my opportunity to share my passion and skills with others while leading photography workshops," she writes. "I also give talks and presentations at photo conferences and offer online portfolio reviews and business consultations."

I know Valerie as the host of the weekly street photography podcast, Street Focus, and writer for Digital Photography School magazine.

In this interview, I ask Valerie:

Listen to the podcast and find the show notes at bit.ly/shutterbuglife019.

I'm going to ask you to look at the images of last week's Baltimore unrest again.

I'm making a few assumption here. One, that you've seen the big news story carried wall to wall by most news organizations. Two, that you saw them through the lenses of your humanity or politics. I'm going to assume you saw the destruction and mayhem and felt something — outrage, compassion, fear, sadness. Something.

Now I'm going to ask you to look at the images with me — as artists.

That's what I did when I looked at the Boston Globe's photo story, "Unrest in Baltimore." The photographers put in some really significant work. The images are powerful, emotional,  and artistic.

Maybe you see something different. I'll tell you what I saw. I recorded a screencast where I react to the art of all the images.

Then, in this week's podcast, I discuss what photographers can learn from the Baltimore images. In the podcast, I also replay the takeaways from the Crisis Photography webinar we did a couple years ago, right after the Boston bombing. It's worth a review as we consider this topic.

In the comments, tell me what the artist in you sees in these images. I'd love to read your insights.

Listen to the podcast here. Watch the bonus screencast on the website at bit.ly/shutterbuglife018.