Tell me if this sounds familiar...
You like photography, but find that sometimes it seems more like a chore than something fun to do.
Perhaps you get home a little late from work and just don't feel like doing anything but sitting on the couch.
Or maybe you have a day of shooting planned for the weekend, only for bad weather to hamper your plans.
In other words, there's a lot of things that can sideline your photography and make it not so fun.
But the only way to get better at photography is to practice, and the more fun photography is, the more you'll want to practice!
With that in mind, here's a few ways that you can make photography fun again.
Make Time for Silliness
Sometimes it's hard not to be super serious when taking photos.
After all, you don't want to just waste your time taking poor shots. Instead, you want to work on composition, framing, lighting, and so forth.
But overthinking photography can be quite a buzzkill, which is why making time to have fun and be silly is so important for photographers.
Instead of forcing your kids to sit nicely on the front steps for a portrait, work on capturing images of them as they play.
Instead of trying to get your dog to sit perfectly and look at the camera, flop yourself down on the floor next to your dog and take a selfie.
Instead of waiting for the "perfect" weather or the "perfect" lighting, try challenging yourself to think outside the box and work in more challenging conditions.
The point is that if you're always serious and only focused on using the right camera settings or having the white balance perfectly set, you'll begin to lose the spirit of spontaneity that can have such a positive impact on how you feel about the time you spend behind the lens.
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Use Only Your Smartphone
I know many photographers that use their smartphone as their primary camera.
But I also know many photographers that refuse to choose their smartphone over their big DSLR.
The great thing about using a smartphone for photography, though, is that it's so small and mobile. That means you can be more mobile and work on creating images that you might not otherwise take with your regular camera.
So, leave your DSLR at home, head out with your phone, and see what kinds of fun you can have with mobile photography.
Get down low to the ground - heck, even lay down - and frame up a unique worm's eye view of a landscape.
Head upward in a building and find a rooftop to capture bird's eye view shots of a cityscape.
Grab a waterproof case and head to the lake or the beach for some fun in the sun and surf.
The point is that a mobile phone allows you to be so much more active and free than if you're carrying around your DSLR, a couple of lenses, your tripod, and a camera bag.
The freedom that smartphones provide is a sure way to get back to having fun with photography and can do wonders for rejuvenating your creative spirit.
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Ditch the Traditional Means of Displaying Photos
First of all, I think far too many people today don't print out their photos.
I understand why this is the case, given that we live in a digital world and all...
But slapping your photos on Facebook or into a Flickr photo album just isn't the same as having actual real photos hanging on the wall.
What's more, printing out regular old photos and putting them in a regular old frame just isn't that fun anymore, either.
That's where you can make photography fun again - by finding new and interesting ways to display your photos.
I recently came across one such way, Memorywall, and I have to say that if this is what the future of displaying photos looks like, I'm totally on board!
The great thing about Memorywall is that it allows you to create three-dimensional photo displays that bring your walls to life. And as you can see above, you can even use Memorywall to create stunning art pieces as well.
And not only that, but Memorywall is modular, too, so you can combine individual units to create displays that are big, small, or somewhere in between.
I think you'll agree that the results are quite breathtaking...
Memorywall solves another problem, too.
Since each unit houses four photos, you can display many more photos in the same space.
That means fewer prints loitering in your desk drawers and more photos on the wall to enjoy.
Not only that, you can easily swap out the images in the Memorywall unit. That allows you to customize your photo display even more. How fun is that?!
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At the end of the day, having more fun with photography really comes down to the choices you make.
Do you trudge through trying to take serious, posed portraits of your kids, or do you set the camera on a timer and take photos as you all run around and play in the yard?
Do you lug around your big DSLR everywhere you go and get tired of doing so, or do you opt to shoot with your mobile phone for a while to have a little more freedom?
And do you only upload your photos to Facebook, or do you actually print them out and make fun and funky wall displays with gizmos like Memorywall?
When looking at photography through those lenses, it's a no-brainer how to have fun with your photography!