Welcome to the terribly transitional month of September, where we’ve bid farewell to the lazy days of summer but it’s not quite the crunchy-leaves-under-foot and cool nights of October. (Or the reverse in the southern hemisphere…) Where the kids are still tanned and freckled but they’re also back to school. It’s the start of a new chapter, in some ways both supremely slow and frightfully fast.

Here at the Sweet Shoppe, we’re spending each month of 2024 with a Baker’s Dozen of photo prompts to ensure we’re being purposeful about recording this sweet life we live. So here are thirteen new prompts to inspire your photography in the coming month.

September’s Photo Prompts:

A Little Inspiration…

Here’s a few ideas from my camera to help you get started.

Education

September is a big month for education; after all, kids and teens are back to school and young adults are off to college. But if none of those events are affecting your household, think a little bigger – after all, education comes in a variety of forms. Here, I captured a moment between my husband and our youngest grandson as he taught him how to drive our riding lawnmower. (And don’t fret; Cole was strapped in!)

Symmetry

Creating a symmetrical image by carefully lining up your shot can result in some gorgeous photographs. In this case, I kept my foreground symmetrical with the use of the porch railing, even though the background of trees and the sunrise didn’t have symmetry.

Snack

Food is a big part of our lives, and what we eat changes not only from season to season but year to year. What are your children having as an after-school snack? What do you grab for yourself in-between meals? I’m absolutely loving all the late-season berries like this perfectly gorgeous, juicy blackberry.

My Weekend

What does your weekend involve? Are you running errands, cleaning house, or chasing after children? Pull out your camera and capture a pic. To get this shot of my grandkids playing in a bounce house, I stuck my head in one of the openings and positioned my camera down low.

Something Old

Look around you and find something old you can photograph this month. I just undertook a major project to scan & digitize our family’s printed photographs. This quick shot I grabbed with my iPhone captures the behind-the-scenes of my labors. (And yes, that’s baby Angie in the green dress!)

Quotation

Words, words, and more words – they surround us, printed on everything from posters and wall art to pillows and dishware. Photograph a quote you love in your surroundings this month, just like I did with my favorite autumn-themed coffee cup.

Earth Tones

This month’s color challenge is to photograph something in earth tones. We’re talking about various shades of brown, tan, khaki, and sand. I shot a pic of my stepdaughter’s Biewer Yorkshire Terrier, Archie; all the browns and greys of his coat against my floor definitely qualify as earth tones.

Rest

What does the idea of “rest” mean to you? Is it a good night’s sleep? An afternoon nap? Or just an hour with your feet up? This month, we’re creating an image that honors the idea of rest. I made my bed one morning and was doing a little cleaning up when I turned around and discovered my dog Charlie apparently felt it was NOT time to get up. Somehow, that little booger burrowed back under the covers and made himself nicely comfortable for a bit more rest.

Pattern

There’s several different directions you can go with the prompt “pattern”. It could be the pattern on a piece of fabric or clothing, a pattern that you’re following to create something, or any other pattern in the objects around you. I’ve recently picked up an old hobby – crochet – and I’m loving the basketweave pattern I’m creating as I make a new blanket for our living room.

Join us (you could win a free kit!)

I hope you’ll play along with this month’s Baker’s Dozen of photo challenges. Remember, it’s all about being more purposeful about our photography and capturing more images in 2024. As always, I encourage you to share them where you feel comfortable doing so. If you post them on social media, use the hashtag #ssdphotochallenge – and when you scrapbook them, be sure to share your completed layout with us in the Gallery.

We’ve also set up a thread in the SSD Challenges forum for everyone to share their images – and as a bonus, for each photo you post, your name will go in a drawing and one person will win their choice of a kit or template trio or quad from the Shoppe! Congratulations to Romajo, our winner for the month of August.

Who will be next to win their choice of goodie from the Shoppe? It could be you when you join us in the forum in this thread for September and start sharing your Baker’s Dozen images now. I’ll see you there!