Have you ever gone on a Photo Safari? Photo Safaris are a wonderful way to find your creative muse, and rediscover your art.

Photo Safaris are an encounter – an unexpected and adventurous quest for great photographs. Through Photo Safaris, your art of photography will deepen as you encounter new people, places, things, and animals. All you need is your camera and willingness to try something new.

Here’s how to get the most out of your first or next photo safari.

Go Somewhere New

photo by Ron Reiring

Have you always wanted to see that new park in your town? Is there a hiking trail you’ve never explored? Let your inner adventurer come out to play. Ask yourself – where can I explore today?

Hop on your bike, go on a nature walk, step out your back door and see your back yard with fresh eyes, or take a short drive. Get off the beaten path. Take the road you’ve never taken home before, but always wondered where it leads.

Take a different route. Look up high, squat down low, get a new vantage point. You will discover much just by changing your perspective. Ask that intriguing stranger if you can take their picture. Have fun.

Become An Adventurer

photo by Frontierofficial

As you walk the new path you’ve found yourself on – open your eyes wide. Revel in your newfound discoveries. Take notes in your journal or sketchbook.

Let your camera write the poem you are seeing. Each new surprise is a gift to be opened. Around each corner or bend in the road is a treasure for you to find. Seek out the novel and fresh. Be innovative with your camera angles. Try something new.

See from the eagle’s perspective looking down into the mountains. See from the ant’s point-of-view as you kneel down and watch it climbing over a fallen leaf on the ground. Sit down on the floor of the old farmhouse porch. Aim your camera upward towards the light.

This is your adventure. Let photography be like your first time zipping down the forest on a zipline.

Expand Your Heart

photo by CarbonNYC

Look for new life in this moment. Capture the bird perched on the fence in the prairie you adventured into. See the horses in the neighbour’s meadow.

Get close to them. Connect with them. See into their expressive, soulful eyes. Watch as the birds take flight out of the oak tree above. Notice the sun streaming through the wildflowers. Discover their vitality. Their aliveness. Feel their energy. Breathe new life into your photography.

Watch the clouds rolling by overhead. Feel the vastness of the world compared to your smallness.

Document A Moment In Time

photo by army.arch

Capture a moment in time. Preserve your memories. Be ready when that flock of geese migrating flies by. Stop. Halt your busyness and create.

Follow the flow of the wind. Preserve the history of this moment. Think like a photojournalist. Capture truth and this moment in time – without fancy filters, photo editing, or effects. Just capture the real. The true. The poignant reality before you. Just the stark rawness and realness of this second. Right here. Right now.

Listen To Your Photography Muse

photo by Hannah Nicole

Your photography muse is the part of you that just knows when it is the perfect moment for that frame to be captured. Your muse is your knowing. Your artistic eye. Your creativity. The part of you that feels no fear – that just creates in the moment. Be present with your muse.

Hear your muse calling to you as you venture out on your safari. Let your muse out to play. Let it help you find those hidden shots you wouldn’t have thought to take. Your muse tells you to climb out on that ledge in search of the perfect light. Your muse says to just climb that tree to see a little higher over the lake. It’s the voice inside of you who smiles when you get that incredible shot that renders you breathless.

You are your own muse. We sometimes need to let our muse out. Say it’s okay. Who cares what those people think as you scale a fence to get that beautiful shot of the sun setting over an endless field of poppies. You will grow as a photographer when you listen to your muse.

Let Your Feet Guide You Along The Way

photo by manop

Your feet will guide you along the path to help you discover your environment more deeply. Always take few self-portraits of your feet in the place you are. This helps ground you to the moment and the safari becomes a mode of self-discovery as well.

By photographing your feet, you are saying I am here. This is who I am at this moment. This profound photograph can tell you many things – when you discover what you are drawn to photographing. Keep walking. Travel the path. Forge a new path through the woods. Keep photographing on your safari. See what moves you. What colors and things capture your attention? Find out more about yourself and your art by exploration and discovery.

Let your heart, your feet, and your muse guide you.