Start a Project for Inspiration & Learning

A great way to get inspiration as well as learn more from observation and discipline is to start a project. It can be as simple as choosing a subject like an interesting shaped rock (large or small), birth & death of a flower, an old wooden shed door etc.

Some ideas on these subjects - take photos at different times of the day, different light like sun, shade, rain, sunset, moonlight. Photograph it at different seasons. Look for creatures or things that land on it. Watch the change over time.
Try taking photos with different lenses from wide to telephoto. Close up sections - even in infra red! Try it from the view of an ant or a bird's eye view.

Tangential Ideas
You can also go off on a tangent and start investigating other things that come into the frame. The project can be as long or as short as you want. Then make a Photobook of your project

Starting a Project - The Life Cycle of the Imperial Blue Butterfly
My Project was to monitor the life cycle of the Imperial Blue butterfly. I discovered the first caterpillars in mid November and wanted to find out how long it would take till the butterflies appeared. The more I photographed & observed, the more questions I found.

Ant Protectors
These caterpillars are looked after by ants but I found on cold mornings - it was a different species of ant. That lead me to proposing a theory that this other ant looks after them at night - so I went to the tree at night and found this was correct. There were many other interesting creatures out at night too. One of them was a leaf hopper bug that was sitting in with the caterpillars and benefiting from the protection of the ants.

Photo Book
I will gather all this info and photos and put a photo book together.