When learning photography and videography, sometimes that hardest thing to do is finding something to film. In fact, that was the reason I started this silly little blog.

So far, I’ve found that photography is a lot more approachable. Most people barely notice the person taking photos while they’re going about their busy days. So it’s relatively simple to grab your camera and start making mistakes and learning. And, hey, you might even get a decent photo or two out of it.

Video is a bit more of a challenge, at least to me. At this point, I have a dozen or so disparate clips of me fiddling around at various activities. But there’s no through-line. There’s no story.

Maybe (probably… almost certainly) it’s just my lack of experience, but the setup required for video has pushed me to focus almost 100% on photos. With video, I’m not sure it’s worth it to take some short clips because I don’t quite know what to do with them. Video clips can’t stand alone like photos; they need to be part of a bigger whole.

So what’s an aspiring videographer to do?

Some Starter Ideas

It turns out that finding something to film is a challenge a lot of people face. It’s intimidating to just pick up a camera and go out and start shooting. And even if you do, what are you going to do with that random footage? Luckily for us, there are a ton of people out there who have already figured out this problem. Here are just a few of the cool suggestions I found on various Reddit threads:

• Film someone working or creating art
• Recreate a scene from a movie or TV show
• Review a product you use
• Film yourself making coffee, or preparing a simple meal
• Make a mini documentary about your town, a local park, etc.
• Make a commercial for a brand or product you love
• Interview a friend or loved one

Two other ideas really hit me: tutorials, and filming someone talking about their hobby or passion.

Teaching About Photography and Videography

In his book Show Your Work (which you should pick up, it’s short, entertaining, and full of great suggestions), Austin Kleon recommends that you do just what the title says: show the world what you’re working on. A big part of that is taking what you know, what you’ve just learned, and what you’re still learning, and then teaching other people how to do it. Don’t accumulate and horde knowledge, share it and let it propagate.

This message really resonated with me, so I’m going to embrace it and use it as the jumping off point for my first video project: teaching other people like me how to really use their camera instead of just shooting everything in automatic mode.

I’m going to start with a short series of three videos covering the basics of the Exposure Triangle: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO. The goal is to understand each of these elements, how they interact, and how you can use them creatively.

I really like this idea for a few reasons. First, I have a solid enough grasp on the fundamentals to get started, but will still need to dig in and learn more so that what I’m presenting has value. Second, this structure gives me something to build into: I have three videos in this basic series, and then a ton of other options to jump into once that’s done. Finally, it’s going to help my solve the problem of finding something to film: I will need to film things to demonstrate what I’m talking about.

Filming Something With Variety

Shooting an instructional series is all fine and good. It’s something I can largely do at and around my home, which is perfect for the natural introvert in me. But I’d also like to get into something a little different. And, just my luck, my wife suddenly had the idea to start her own channel focusing on her hobby, trail ultra running.

I’m really excited about this because it’s going to give me the opportunity to get out and shoot different subjects. Sure, I’ll likely still be doing a lot of talking head stuff, but I’ll get to balance it with some great nature and action shots out on the trails.

So how do you find something to film? Well, sometimes you just have to force yourself into it, and something it’ll jump plop into your lap. Regardless, get out there and film something, and maybe you’ll just learn something.