As photographers, we often find comfort in what we’re good at. Maybe it’s the intimacy of portraiture, the thrill of street photography, or the stillness of landscapes. Whatever your niche, it’s familiar, reliable, and sometimes… a little too easy.
That’s why this month, I want to challenge you to do something most photographers never even consider:
Change your niche — just for 30 days.
If you’re a portrait photographer, try landscapes. If you shoot food, try street. If you only shoot digital, dust off that old film camera. Whatever your usual is, flip it. Not forever. Just long enough to see what happens.
✧ Why This Exercise Works
Switching genres forces you to break habits. It takes away your comfort zone — and gives you something far more valuable in return: a new perspective.
Here’s what you’ll gain:
1. You’ll See with Fresh Eyes
When you shoot the same subject over and over, your vision can get automated. You anticipate the scene before it happens. But when you try something unfamiliar, you start noticing things again.
2. You’ll Sharpen Your Instincts
Portrait photographers learn to read faces. Landscape photographers learn to read light and patience. Street photographers develop fast reflexes. When you switch genres, you borrow those instincts — and bring them back into your own work.
3. You’ll Challenge Your Creative Voice
The best photographers evolve because they ask harder questions of themselves. If you usually photograph people, try photographing solitude. If you usually shoot calm scenes, try documenting chaos. Your voice grows when it’s stretched.
✧ A Few Examples of What to Try
- Portrait → Landscape
Shift your attention from facial expression to the shape of hills, clouds, and shadows. Look for mood in the land instead of the body. - Street → Still Life
Slow down. Set up a scene. Practice deliberate composition and control over light. - Product → Documentary
Ditch perfection. Go shoot something messy and real. Focus on telling a story, not just making something look good. - Landscape → Street
Get in the mix. Chase unpredictability. Find texture and pattern in people, not places.
✧ How to Structure Your 30-Day Niche Switch
You don’t need rules, just rhythm. Here’s a structure to keep you moving:
- Week 1: Get uncomfortable. Try things without judging them.
- Week 2: Choose one sub-theme (e.g. “motion,” “quiet moments,” or “shadow play”) and explore it in your new genre.
- Week 3: Start reflecting. What skills are you developing?
- Week 4: Create a mini photo essay or 9-photo series to summarize what you’ve learned.
At the end, ask:
- What surprised me?
- What frustrated me?
- What did I learn that I can bring back to my main practice?
✧ Things You’ll Learn (That Might Surprise You)
- Composition rules behave differently across genres
- Light is more complex when it’s not in your control
- Timing feels different when people aren’t your subjects
- Slowing down (or speeding up) changes what you see
- Mood can be captured in a chair just as powerfully as in a face
And maybe most importantly…
You are not your niche. You’re a photographer, which means you can tell stories in a thousand ways, not just one.
✧ Final Thought
Growth doesn’t always come from learning more. Sometimes, it comes from doing the thing you think you’re bad at. So go ahead — be bad at it. Fumble, miss focus, shoot wide when you should’ve gone tight.
Let the month be messy. That’s where the magic is. And when you return to your usual niche, don’t be surprised if it feels entirely new again.
MELISSA MARTINSEN 