Awareness of environmental details and all the interesting things that happen around you is vital for any photographer, amateur or veteran alike. We were curious to find out how people can cultivate this awareness.

"Being aware of your surroundings comes from being able to disengage, at least in my opinion," photographer Dominic from Ohio explained to Bored Panda.

"Taking the time to disconnect from the world and be at one with nature (if that's where you are) is an asset that just takes time to get used to," he said that there are elements of practice and experience at work here.

Bored Panda also wanted to get the photographer's perspective on what can inspire people to relax and be less stressed about the entire process of photography as a whole. Enjoying oneself can be difficult for some creatives when they're so focused on getting the very best results possible.

Dominic opened up to us that having more fun is an area of his life where he's had to focus on improving himself. "Just taking photos for yourself and making sure you're enjoying what you're doing is what's important," he said.

"Life can be far too serious and it's always good to remember to have fun in all that you do," the photographer shared some heartfelt advice.

It’s an understatement to claim that the ‘Mildly Interesting’ online group is well-known online. It is one of the most popular internet communities out there, with a long history of sharing awesome content and inspiring its members to actively participate.

On the surface, the focus is sharing photos from everyday life. While some pics are just kinda sorta cool, others are incredibly aesthetic and could easily be called ‘wildly’ interesting.

First created exactly 13 years ago on February 5, 2012, ‘Mildly Interesting’ has grown to become a second home to a whopping 24 million members from all corners of the internet. A very happy birthday to the entire group!

At the time of writing, the group was the 22nd largest subreddit on Reddit as a whole. The concept is so popular that numerous other social media groups dedicated to mildly interesting content have since sprung up.

According to the large moderator team that keeps the group’s sprawling community and flood of photos in check, the entire point of the subreddit is to post mildly interesting stuff.

Aka, “Stuff that interests you. Mildly. It’s in the name.” Naturally, the point is to share photos of things. So, this isn’t the place to post memes that you liked.

Originality is a core tenet of the subreddit’s philosophy. The moderators highlight the fact that you aren’t allowed to post something that has been submitted to the site before, “even if you were the one who posted it.”

The only exception is sharing a fixed version of your post if it was removed or deleted by the moderators—or is wildly unpopular. After all, good timing is hard to pinpoint: some pics will get a ton of attention because you got lucky when you shared them.

The moderators stress the fact that if you didn’t take the picture, you shouldn’t be posting it. They’re also not big fans of images with significant photo editing. Nor should you share any personal information, whether yours or someone else’s. It’s okay to censor those details for the sake of privacy.

Meanwhile, you can’t share screenshots on ‘Mildly Interesting.’ And you should try to write the titles for your posts to be as concise and exact as you can be, for the sake of everyone who comes across your photos.

During a previous interview with Bored Panda, one of the moderators explained to us that their focus on original photos is what helps them set their content apart from other internet communities.

“Our content is generated by our community and given that titles cannot be clickbait, there is a unique feeling of people seeing something mildly interesting, whipping their phone out of their pocket, capturing, and posting,” RedSquaree said.

“The community feels very interactive (the content creators are all here) and laid back. This is probably why our comments sections are almost always nice and relaxed and, themselves, mildly interesting,” the moderator explained to Bored Panda earlier.

According to them, they had to expand their moderator team as the number of submissions “massively increased.” That—plus their no-tolerance approach toward clickbait—has been part of the reason why the sub continues to be so successful. Having a higher bar for the quality of the content is a great thing.

Which of the images on this list did you think were the most (mildly) interesting of the lot? What are the latest mildly interesting things that you personally took photos of? What, for you personally, is something in a photo that piques your curiosity no matter what? We’re always happy to hear from you. If you have a moment, share your thoughts in the comments.