Self-portrait photography is about more than creating a perfect image. It can help you build confidence, explore your creativity, and recognize that your everyday life is worth documenting. Discover lessons from four years of self-portraiture and find encouragement to embrace imperfection, get in the frame, and take up space exactly as you are.

52 Clicks | Week 40 | Identity: Hands Tell Stories

The month of October in our Project 52 is all about exploring our identity. The first theme was showing this with hands. Hands can reveal a lot about who you are: your habits, skills, interests, and daily life. There are so many different ways to show this, and it was fun seeing how each participant tackled it.

What do your hands say about you, and how would you interpret this theme?

xo,

Angie Mahlke

Street photography is all about noticing the stories unfolding around you. From busy city streets to quiet small towns, learn how to use light, layers, simple gear, and a little patience to capture meaningful everyday moments wherever you are.

52 Clicks | Week 39 | Cool Colors

We finished up our month of color with the serenity of the cool temperature. Whereas warm colors give energy and excitement, cool colors are calm, tranquil and sometimes even melancholy. Use blues, greens and purples if this is the mood you're going for.

The Project 52 participants certainly understood the assignment. You'll notice the peaceful theme throughout their work below.

So...where do you stand? Warm or cool colors?

xo,

Angie Mahlke

Autumn is one of the most inspiring seasons to photograph, filled with warm color, beautiful light, changing landscapes, and little details worth slowing down to notice. Whether you love photographing nature, portraits, or a little of both, discover inspiration for capturing the colors, light, mood, and feeling of fall in a way that feels natural and true to you.

52 Clicks | Week 38 | Warm Colors

The great photography debate of whether you're Team Golden Hour or Team Blue Hour can be dwindled down warm versus cool. The warmth of golden hour or the cool temperatures of blue hour...where do you fall?

You'll see a lot of examples from the Project 52 participants this week utilizing golden hour and the sunset for this week's theme, but of course warm colors in photography are more than just a time of day. It's the colors themselves. The vibrant reds, oranges and yellows evoke energy, passion and excitement, and can aid in creating a cozy atmosphere. Scroll through the below images to see all the ways we used warm colors last week.

xo,

Angie Mahlke

What happens when photography stops being about creating the perfect image and becomes a way to simply notice the world around you? Nature photographer Jill Johnson shares her journey from photography competitions and creative burnout to rediscovering her love of photography through walking in nature, mindfulness, and slowing down with her camera.

In photography, colour does far more than add visual interest. It shapes the mood of an image, draws the viewer in, and helps communicate the story. In our Chase the Rainbow project, we celebrate colour by focusing on a different shade each month. Whether that’s seeking out the colour in nature, spotting it at home, or styling a scene with thoughtfully selected props and clothing, the project encourages creativity and seeing the world through a more colourful lens.

"I finally discovered the true color of the atmosphere, it is purple!” - Claude Monet

September’s colour is purple!

Blending the fiery energy of red with the calmness of blue, purple symbolises royalty, spirituality, creativity, and mystery. Rarely found in nature, it has long been associated with magic and uniqueness. Historically, purple dyes were expensive to produce, making the colour a symbol of wealth, status, and power. Today, purple continues to inspire imagination and individuality.

Enjoy looking through all our purple images.

52 Clicks | Week 37 | Monochromatic Colors

When we hear monochromatic, our thoughts often go to black and white. And although that is a facet of the monochromatic color scheme, it doesn't encompass the entirety of it. It's defined as using a single base hue with its different tints, shades and tones. In other words, color! Not the absence of it but rather the many different shades of one color. Since this color scheme oftentimes simplifies the composition, it allows the textures and lines and other details to do the heavy lifting.

Nature is rampant with monochromatic possibilities. That's why you'll notice a common theme among the Project 52 participant images: greens, blues and browns. How would you approach this theme? If this interests you, you're welcome to join our project.

Click here to join!
xo,

Angie Mahlke

Want to spend less time managing photos and more time actually creating? Some of Lightroom Classic’s best time-saving tools have nothing to do with editing. From smarter import settings and previews to Collections and better file organization, these often-overlooked features can completely change the way you work. Here are a few simple Lightroom workflow tips that can save you hours and make every editing session feel a little easier.

52 Clicks | Week 36 | Analogous Colors

Using color psychology in your photography is great way to create emotionally impactful images. Knowing the emotional meanings of specific colors is important when using them intentionally. The analogous color scheme creates a sense of calmness with its lack of contrast. This is from using three or more colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel. Using warm or cool colors determines the emotional impact (warm = energy / cool = tranquility).

Do you gravitate toward the complementary or analogous color scheme in your work?

As always, the open invitation to join our group remains. We'd love to have you.

Click here to join!
xo,

Angie Mahlke

Golden hour can make portraits, flowers, and everyday moments feel almost magical. Learn how to find beautiful light, choose your camera settings, work with backlighting, and edit golden hour photos naturally.

52 Clicks | Week 35 | Complementary Colors

We all know that composition and light play a huge role in photography, but one area that can sometimes be overlooked is color. Color has the power to completely shape the way an image is received. This is why our Project 52 is spending the entire month of September dipping our toes into the vast subject of color theory. 

We started with complementary colors. If you think back to school learning the color wheel, you'll remember complementary colors are the ones opposite each other. Green + red is the easiest combo to find in nature. You might have to look a bit harder for blue + orange and purple + yellow. Using these color combinations is great for contrast, infusing energy, and isolating your subject.

One of the things we discussed this week in our p52 is how we often prefer colors that are slightly adjacent in the complementary color schemes, like green + pink and blue + yellow. What color combo is your favorite?

And, as always, the open invitation to join our group remains. We'd love to have you.

xo,

Angie Mahlke

Mini sessions can be an incredible source of income for photographers, but successful minis require more than choosing a date and announcing them on Instagram. From planning and marketing to location, workflow and pricing, I'm sharing five things photographers should consider when creating mini sessions that actually make sense for their business.

52 Clicks | Week 34 | Landscape

We finished up our genre sampling month with a bang! The Project 52 participants took a fairly challenging genre of landscape photography and made it look easy. And it's not even most of their usual genres! That's the fun thing about this project. We get to expand our "usuals" and push ourselves to dig deep into the depths of our creativity.

I hope you enjoy these images as much as I did because it was almost impossible to only choose a select handful to share.

As always, if this is something that interests you, it's never too late to hop in.

xo,

Angie Mahlke

Discover nature photographer Adelina Sulima’s journey from a lifelong creative to passionate macro photographer. She shares how photographing flowers, insects, and the natural world has become a source of creativity and calm, along with five meaningful lessons nature photography has taught her.

52 Clicks | Week 33 | Documentary

Documentary photography is one of those genres that challenges photographers because we have to reel in our inclination to direct the narrative and interfere with the moment. Instead, we must simply let the moments unfold while we watch silently behind our cameras. It's a hard thing for most of us to do because we're control freaks and we want to manage all the details. But that's also what makes the genre so special. The captured moments are authentic. What we see is what occurred naturally.

See what happened when nature, portrait, street and lifestyle photographers were quiet observers behind their cameras and simply captured the moment. And if this appeals to you, join our Project 52. All are welcome, and it's never too late to hop in.

xo,

Angie Mahlke

Choosing your first camera doesn’t have to be overwhelming. This post explains what features matter most when buying a manual camera for photography, including manual controls, sensor size, lenses, and usability. Learn how to choose a camera that supports learning, confidence, and long-term growth, without getting lost in brand comparisons.

52 Clicks | Week 32 | Food Photography

Another week stepping outside our comfort zones in our Project 52. We're sampling different genres all month, and last week we tackled the very yummy but tricky food photography. One of the most common concerns from the p52 participants was the styling struggles. When we think of food photography, we often imagine the pretty flatlays with elaborate setups. If you've ever attempted one of these yourself, you know how very hard they are! Kudos to food photographers for making it look so easy because it definitely is not. But food photography goes beyond fancy setups, and it was fun to see how everyone made this theme their own. Be warned: you won't walk away from this blog without a major hankering for some food.

Are you looking for a little push in your creativity? If so, this is the right place to find it.

xo,

Angie Mahlke

In photography, colour does far more than add visual interest. It shapes the mood of an image, draws the viewer in, and helps communicate the story. In our Chase the Rainbow project, we celebrate colour by focusing on a different shade each month. Whether that’s seeking out the colour in nature, spotting it at home, or styling a scene with thoughtfully selected props and clothing, the project encourages creativity and seeing the world through a more colourful lens.

“Let the blue of the sky and ocean take your blue away when you feel blue” -  Munia Khan

August’s colour is sky blue!

Reminding us of vast, clear skies, this gentle shade of blue symbolises freedom, optimism, and possibility. It encourages us to look ahead with a sense of hope, evoking feelings of endless potential and brighter days to come. Its softness inspires feelings of peace and tranquillity, while also representing innocence, clarity, and a fresh perspective. It’s a colour that invites us to pause, breathe, and embrace the possibilities that lie ahead.

Enjoy looking through all our sky blue images.