what's your favourite creativity exercise ?

[Gordon]

I'm looking for suggestions, for a small book I'm trying to write. I have quite a few already but I'm always interested in more. More information in the blog post about the project and a place to submit suggestions too, or post them here if you are okay with them being used.

[brad]

One of my favorite ones has already been posted to your blog.. take a trip somewhere like the gardens and take only a single prime lens.

Another is last month's assignment exercise here on the forum... take 100 steps from your door and shoot whatever you see.

[Duffy Pratt]

Go to the nearest drawer in your house. Pull one item from the drawer at random. Take a nice picture that shows off that item.

[Gordon]

Originally Posted by Duffy Pratt

Go to the nearest drawer in your house. Pull one item from the drawer at random. Take a nice picture that shows off that item.

I had something similar thrust upon me a few weeks ago - given an item that I probably wouldn't have picked, make 10 interesting pictures with it. I like your mechanism for the selection - thanks!

[Dobick]

Two things that get me shooting (they are not particularly original or inspiring though):

1: I go to one of the few "safe" spots (for me it's a local park, or the arboretum) and look around for unique or challenging shots. I do this because I feel comfortable in these locations, and I don't worry about things beyond the photography.

2: I grab a flashlight and a "reflector" and try to throw interesting light at a subject, any subject, and see if I can't get inspired by the results to try and incorporate a controllable repeatable result in other applications.

For both of these, the key is to do something boring or old, and breath new life into it, thereby incorporating new techniques into other shooting later on.

[Steelsun]

My favs:
1) Photo a day
2) Photo Scavenger Hunts
3) Just drive randomly for awhile and see what you find