By now, you’ve likely developed some preferences. Maybe you lean toward natural light. Maybe your images tend to feel quiet and still. Maybe you always shoot wide open, or always in black and white. This lesson is an invitation to set those instincts aside for a moment and do something unfamiliar.

Trying something new doesn’t mean you have to change your style. It means stepping outside your comfort zone on purpose. Not to reinvent yourself, but to learn how you respond when the rules you usually rely on aren’t there. What happens when you limit yourself to only shooting indoors? Or with artificial light? What changes when you switch to a different focal length, or shoot a genre you’ve never explored?

There are a hundred ways to shake things up. If you usually shoot slowly and with a tripod, try something spontaneous and handheld. If you work with natural light, build a simple setup with a lamp and reflectors. If you tend to avoid people, try asking someone to sit for a portrait. If your images are always planned, make one without thinking. Let it be messy.

You’re not trying to get it “right.” You’re trying to notice how change affects your approach. Do you feel stuck? Energized? Annoyed? Curious? Those feelings matter. They tell you what your habits are doing for you—and what they might be keeping you from seeing.

Pick one small change this week. Something that requires a different decision than the one you’d usually make. Document the process. Write a few notes about what surprised you. You don’t need to like the results. But give the experiment space to teach you something.

Every photographer falls into patterns. This is how you learn to break yours, with purpose.

Try Something New