Today is Nature Photography Day. While we always love sharing silly holidays with you, we especially enjoy them when there is an activity associated with them. The longest day of the year is rapidly approaching. The weather is gorgeous. It’s a great time to be outside and snap some photos.
Maybe you have a camera and are an avid photographer. Maybe you have a phone filled with pictures. Or, possibly, you’re a person who rarely takes pictures when out and about and regrets it later. Photos are a great way to capture a moment.
Today, you can participate in Nature Photography Day with the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) by taking photos of nature. You don’t need a fancy camera. If you take time in nature, enjoying the beauty you see and taking pictures on your phone to revisit later and share with friends and family, that’s wonderful.
Some people find it difficult to give themselves permission to relax without a plan. If the idea of going out into a green space just to breathe feels either overwhelming or like a waste of time, consider making it a photography trip. When you give yourself a task, that free time can feel more structured, less overwhelming and more enjoyable. You can tell yourself you want to take three nice close-up pictures of different flowers and go from there. Nature Photography Day was founded to inspire awe in people as they would spend more time outdoors, and that, in turn, would lead people to behave as stewards over the land.
If you are really into nature photography, you can enter your photos into NANPA’s annual photo contest. The contest has prize money and other prizes. If you would rather look at pictures than compete, you can look at previous winners here.
Sometimes you need an extra little push or reason to get outside. Maybe getting into photography could be an extra reason for you to start exploring parks in your area. Most of us stick to walking around our neighborhood and our usual haunts. Break out of your routine and challenge yourself to take five great photos by the end of the summer. If you have the goal of taking five nature photos that are so good you send them to someone, you will start taking a ton of pictures. You will also start spending more of your time outside enjoying the world and looking for opportunities to take good shots. You will start seeing beauty all around you. You just have to reframe your thinking, and then you’ll be a photography enthusiast.
