Many people buy a great camera, use it for few weeks, and then it just sits in the closet, abandoned. Don't let this happen to your camera too! You can start some simple yet interesting projects, which will bring out the creativity in you. And you will get better in photography, as the project progresses. But before you start on the project, it is a good idea to understand the basics of photography. Get some ideas on the exposure triangle, basic digi camera controls, and some basic photo techniques. Understanding settings like self-timer and digital filters will allow you to take better pictures. So without further ado, here are cool ideas that will get your started on your project.. Interesting Ideas to Start a Photography Project 365 Self-Portraits: This is one of the most common and interesting photography project you can take up. It is a simple one which everybody can conveniently do. However, this is a long term project, which needs your few minutes everyday for a whole year. In this project, you simply take one photograph of yourself everyday for 365 days of the year. You will get bored within a month by taking the same sort of self-portraits and soon will start trying out new ideas. This will bring out the creativity in you, as you will start thinking of shooting the subject (which is you) in some unique and different ways. 11 Babies & 11 Pups: Here is an extremely cute idea for a photography project. All you have to do is take 11 pictures of different babies and 11 pictures of different puppies. Combine these pictures together, and you have a cute photo album. This project can be quite challenging, as babies and pups won't pose for you. So you will have to catch them in their cute moment unawares. 31 Moods: Everybody has their mood swings from time-to-time. So whenever a mood strikes, just take a picture of yourself. But you will need to capture 31 different moods of yourself. You can capture yourself in moods like bored, angry, happy, sad, calm, sleepy, bright, aggressive, dramatic, excited, careless, indifferent, etc. You can go on and on... So, capture these 31 unique moods of yourself. 50 Textures: Have you ever really looked at things? Have you looked at your fingertips and observed the concentric circles on it? Have you observed a leaf to see the various shades and spots on it? Do you feel the texture of the cloth you are wearing? This photography project asks your keen observation and touch feeling towards various things. So go around and discover the world again and the beautiful textures of various things that it has to offer. While taking the shots, make sure you get sharp well-lit pictures, so that you capture 50 texture pictures which show-off the details. 26 Bugs: A mosquito biting you when you are in a deep slumber can get very bugging, but bugs can sometimes be interesting too, you know. For this project, you need to find 26 interesting insects and capture them. You can shoot a caterpillar, mosquito, spider, beetle, housefly, etc., to complete your 26 bugs project. This is a great macro photography project theme, so use the macro mode to its optimum to capture all the details of the bugs. 19 Spooky Trees: Here is a spooky project. For this project, you will need to go out even at night sometimes. Search for some spooky looking trees. Best are trees without any leaves. Trees at nighttime also look scary. So go out searching for some spooky looking trees and take black and white or sepia pictures of them. 99 Strangers: This is another popular photography project which involves taking shots of 99 strangers. This photography project can be quite challenging, as it will be difficult to capture strangers. And not everybody would like you taking their picture! But at the end of the project, you will have a collection of some really great pictures. 31 Eyes: Here is a soulful project, because 'eyes are the windows to the soul'. So capture 31 eyes of different people. Don't discriminate your picture-taking to only people of a certain age or sex. In the collection of 31 photographs, collect as many vivid looking eyes as you can. For a dramatic look, you can consider cropping the picture to show just one eye. 27 Bus Stops: 27 bus stops is another interesting photography theme. Simply keep taking pictures of 27 various bus stops at different times of the day. This project might ask you to travel throughout the city. Or you can simply do this project in a day's or two day's time. Sit on a bus, and buy a ticket for next bus stop. Get down and take a picture of the bus stop. Then again get on the bus, get down on next stop, and take a picture. This way you can complete your 27 bus stops photo collection. 11 Water Drops: Water drops are interesting ideas for a photography project, which can give some surprising results. All you need to do is take a big bowl of water, and mount your camera on the tripod. Then put it on timer and let some drops fall on the water filled bowl surface. This way, keep taking lots and lots of pictures, till you get the best 11 shots. To make the photographs look more interesting, try out various filter modes in your camera. These were the 10 cool ideas for photography projects. So what are you waiting for? Don't let your camera gather dust... Start with a small project now like the 11 water drops, or a yearlong photography project like 365 self-portraits. Bonne chance!