How Brandi Nicole’s Creative January Helps Inspire and Encourage

The start of the new year marks new beginnings and a fresh start on your goals and ambitions, so you’ll often see people manifest their resolutions for the year. By contrast, creativity is often considered something that cannot be forced but rather nurtured. However, portrait photographer Brandi Nicole has developed a movement for five years to help nurture that creativity flow while building a community of like-minded photographers with a platform she named Creative January.

I’ve known Brandi Nicole for several years now and have always been inspired by her use of lighting and sets to evoke emotions. So, I was grateful to sit down with her and chat with her a bit more about Creative January. The premise of Creative January is simple – to help expand your creative thinking with active goals and a community. As Brandi explains — “Creative January was born in January 2020, just before Covid shut down the world in March. It started with my best friend Emily Teague & me wanting to start the new year with an intention to be more creative in the new year, but needing a way to incorporate structure and ensure we follow through with the goal. We love a short challenge, and doing something every day (or back then, every other day!) for a month sounded like a doable but still challenging undertaking.”

There is a long-standing legend that it takes 21 days to develop a habit. Creative January kicks the year off right by encouraging creative thinking and execution – but after a few years of Creative January, it has extended beyond just photography. With a diverse community of creatives, Creative January has developed into a small movement that has challenged and encouraged people of all works of creativity. “I have built a stronger community of creative enthusiasts through this venture, not just with photographers but also with artists of all kinds! Every year, somewhere between 20 to 90 people officially join! Whether they do a single creative hobby through the month or explore new ways to be creative – I have seen so many different forms of art and exploration – from working with yarn, painting miniatures, working on hand lettering, trying new hair/makeup looks, people going on photo walks, new recipes, etc” Brandi tells us.

By building a community, Creative January differs from just making a personal goal. It adds a level of accountability while also encouraging others with their own set of inspiration. Brandi inspires others to join this project by joining her Facebook group, where others share their daily work, and by signing up officially through her Google Sheets sign-up page. Brandi’s encouragement and support are unwavering. She writes, “It is never too late to sign up and join in; I happily encourage anyone interested to officially sign up via this Google doc so that I can tag you in stories for accountability.”

But the community isn’t just what Brandi is offering with her project; her Facebook group also offers tools to help others think creatively – not just for January but the entire year. “A word prompt list has been created for those who need a little more direction, & others choose to work on a big project through the month and share in the little milestones. A good idea would be to set aside 10 minutes to quickly write down every little creative thing you would enjoy doing or dabbling in – and then boom – you have a note to reference each day what task you might want to do.”

Brandi is lucky to have her own personal photography studio set up in her apartment (a topic I also encourage you to do if you have the space) – allowing her to experiment and learn through trails and occasional fails. “Part of my plan for Creative January is always exploring new sides to photography and how to use the gear I have creatively. After 17 years, I always love to find new techniques with lighting or props that spark my imagination. I am grateful I live in a home studio where I can take a creative idea in one moment straight into the studio to shoot,” Brandi writes.

Over those 17 years, Brandi has also collected plenty of gear to help with the creative process. As of writing this, Brandi uses her Nikon D850 and Nikon Z8 for all of her personal shoots. Brandi enjoys using the Sigma Art series of lenses along with the Nikon camera bodies, particularly the 50mm f/1.2 Art, 85mm f/1.4 Art, and 35mm f/1.4 Art. Since Brandi does many self-portraits to help with her Creative January projects, some tools are a must. “Part of my kit that is also critical is my Peak design tripod and Kupo c-stands, which help me keep my gear right where I need it. My Nikon z8 […] especially helps me with self-portraits due to its eye autofocus.” Brandi explains. Additionally, Brandi uses Elinchrom lights and modifiers, of which she is an ambassador.

You can join in on Creative January by joining Brandi’s Facebook group on the topic, or by signing up on her Google Sheets. You can also see all that is being created through this project by following the hashtags #creativejanuary and #creativejanuary2025 on social media platforms. And be sure to follow Brandi’s work on her Instagram and website, and share some of your creative goals for 2025 in the comments below.

Author: Zach Sutton

I’m Zach and I’m the editor and a frequent writer here at Lensrentals.com. I’m also a commercial beauty photographer in Los Angeles, CA, and offer educational workshops on photography and lighting all over North America.

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