LEVEL UP YOUR PHONE PHOTOGRAPHY

WITH GABRIELLE TOUCHETTE

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Welcome to Week 13 of 2025!

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In today's e-mail, you'll get:

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PHOTO TIP OF THE WEEK: Make the work fun for easy skills growth

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PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Delightfully horrified makes a good photo

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RESOURCES YOU MIGHT LIKE: Yes, the phone camera can do this. (#shotoniphone inspiration from Sanket Khuntale)

​https://www.instagram.com/p/DFvIWuFy8dt/?img_index=1​

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PHOTO TIP OF THE WEEK

Do Only Fun Photography for a Season

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If improving your photography is tough for you, then do this for 1 month straight: only take photos of things that excite you.

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Don’t stress about everything else. Take a break.

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Only shoot what’s actually interesting to you.

Don’t try to practice techniques on subjects that feel like a struggle.

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This advice might sound counter intuitive to someone who’s wanting to grow their photography skills. But remember that passion for a craft is the key to growing in skills.

Prolonged days of discouragement and defeat can dwindle the fire of passion.
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And when that happens, skills growth slows down or stops completely.

I’ve had seasons when I’ve said yes to too many photography projects that were not inspiring to me. When I worked on those shoots, the lack of interest shuts down part of my brain, and excelling in the task becomes a slog. More mistakes are made. Less creativity is used. Results are not inspiring. Feelings of discouragement, disappointment and lack of motivation start to set in.

As a photographer wanting to grow, if these feelings are left unchecked for a long period of time, it can stunt your skills growth.

My solution has always been to seek out more interesting photography projects. Or better yet, create them for yourself!

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Take a break from photography work that is not inspiring to you. Whether that be a boring photography project or assignment, put it aside for a period of time.

Do fun photography for a season - and give that flame a chance to reignite.

Give yourself a “holiday” and you’ll see the recharge will save you from wanting to give up on photography altogether.

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PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Delightfully Horrified Makes a Good Photo

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I apologize in advance if this might be gross to some of you. But when I discovered a pear that had been left uneaten for a few days too many, I was delightfully horrified to find the most beautiful colony of microorganisms.

And of course, I HAD to take photos of it before quickly throwing it in the garbage. The key to getting the most out of this textured, fuzzy display of beauty is to place it in soft, indirect window light. Placing the subject slightly to the side and in front of the source of light helps to increase the texture in the mold.

I brought it into Lightroom for some quick contrast and texture boosting. And voilà, a beautiful photo of decaying nature. This, to me, is a fun keep-the-fire-of-passion-burning photography project. :)

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RESOURCES YOU MIGHT LIKE

iPhone Photos by Sanket Khuntale

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I found this photographer through the hashtag #shotoniphone. I thought you might be inspired by his work to go out and take a fresh set of your own photos this week. I know I am!

Check it out:

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One more thing before you go:

There are rumblings of a mini online photography workshop that I will announce in 2025. If you're interested, reply back to this email with a simple "I'm interested".

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and stay tuned...

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