Find The Magic Photo Hunt — 50 prompts to help you start seeing the magic
Summer 2026 Photo Inspiration Challenge
Some of the most beautiful photographs ever taken weren't planned. They weren't taken by professionals with expensive gear in perfect locations. They were taken by someone who was simply paying attention — who noticed the light falling a certain way, or a child lost in a moment, or something small and ordinary that suddenly looked extraordinary through a lens.
That's what this list is for.
If you've been wanting to pick up your camera more, document your children's everyday moments, or simply find your creative eye — this summer photo hunt is your invitation. Fifty prompts. No rules. No pressure. Just you, your camera, and a summer full of moments worth remembering.
How to use this list
There's no right or wrong way to approach it. You can work through it in order, pick the ones that speak to you, or use it as a loose inspiration guide when you're not sure what to shoot. Some prompts are literal — "puddle" means find a puddle (or make one) and photograph your child interacting with it. Others are more open to interpretation — "brave" could mean your child jumping off a diving board, or trying their first bite of something new, or simply climbing higher than they ever have before.
The goal isn't technical perfection. The goal is to start seeing. To slow down enough to notice the light through the leaves, the freckles on a nose, the way little hands hold things. These are the moments that slip away faster than we think — and the ones we're most grateful to have captured when we look back years from now.
A few simple tips before you start
Chase the light, not the subject. The single biggest difference between a snapshot and a photograph is light. Early morning and the hour before sunset give you the warmest, softest, most beautiful light of the day — and they're the easiest to work with as you're finding your eye. If the light looks beautiful to you in the moment, it will look beautiful in the photo. Shade is also a good place to have good light for moments that happen in between the golden light moments. Rules can be broken and noon day sun can look good if it is an intetional look you are going for. Just keep in mind that it is harsh light and will cause harsh shadows in return.
Get closer than you think you should. Most beginners shoot from too far away. Fill your frame with your subject — a face, a pair of hands, bare feet in the grass — and see what happens. Detail shots are some of the most powerful images you'll ever take.
Let them forget you're there. The best childhood photos happen when kids are absorbed in something and not performing for the camera. Give them something to do — a puddle to splash in, a hill to roll down, a flower to examine — and photograph them while they're lost in it.
Don't wait for the perfect moment. The messy moments, the mundane ones, the in-between ones — these are the ones that will mean the most to you someday. Photograph the ordinary like it's extraordinary, because it is.
The 2026 Summer Photo Hunt
My Deer Little Fox Edition
Bare feet
Before dark
Between the trees
Blooming
Brave
Bubbles
Butterflies
Caught mid-air
Chasing shadows
Climbing
Daydream
Dusk
Early morning
Feathers
Fields
Fireflies
First light
Floating
Footprints
Freckles
Freedom
Golden
Grass stains
Growing
Hiding
Hilltop
Holding on
Laughing
Lazy afternoon
Leaping
Light through leaves
Little hands
Looking up
Meadow
Melting
Muddy
Puddle
Rainbow
Reaching
Reflection
Ripples
Running
Sand
Splash
Sunbeams
Sunglasses
Watermelon
Wheels
Wildflowers
Wonder
Share your magic
When you capture something you love using this list, share it on Instagram and tag it #FindTheMagicPhotoHunt or #MomsCapturingMagic— I'd love to see what you find. Every season I'll be adding a new list, and that hashtag is where our growing community of mothers finding their creative eye will live. Your image might just inspire someone else to pick up their camera too.
Photography is a practice, not a destination. Every time you pick up your camera and look for something worth capturing, you're training your eye to see the world a little more beautifully. Some shots will surprise you. Some won't turn out the way you hoped. All of them will teach you something. The best way to get good at any thing you do is to do it over and over and over again.
This summer, give yourself permission to experiment, to make mistakes, and to find the magic in the ordinary moments only you get to witness. Nobody else has a front row seat to your children's lives the way you do. That matters more than any technical skill.
Now go find the light!
Want to learn how to use your camera to its full potential so you can capture these moments the way you see them in your mind? My Capture the Magic workshop was made for exactly this — a full day of hands-on learning designed specifically for mothers who want to finally feel confident behind their camera. Learn more here.
