In addition to things like fun friend shoots, photographing different subjects/in a different context, another fun thing I like to do to stay in practice with photography in between my own shoots is looking for local Meetups and workshops! Meetup.com has a lot of photography groups! Or at least it does in Southern California, but I think photography is a pretty popular hobby in a lot of places. These groups are a great way to meet new people, make new friends, and of course, to practice or learn a new photography skill!
One group that I really like to join is an all female photography group. My favorite part is just that this group is especially uncompetitive and really does create this environment where it’s fun and safe to learn something new. One thing about meet ups and workshops is that they do cost money and that’s not always easy to splash out. These things can get expensive, understandably, because oftentimes the organizer is paying models, acquiring photo permits, paying a location fee, paying MUAs, etc. and you get to just show up and shoot (the easy/fun part!). The organizer of this group strives to keep the prices as low as possible which is another thing I really appreciate. It makes it easy to be kind to yourself and treat yourself to a fun experience.
In May, this group hosted a really cool, color gel shoot. This is something that was really perfect for a meetup because it’s something I wanted to try, but wasn’t really sure how to approach. The meetup let me practice this, and get some ideas for trying to set up my own color gel shoot which is something I am really itching to do! Here’s some photos I took that day. One of these is very obviously not shot with gels, but hey, I liked it.
