Dogwood 52 Week Challenge

[Gidders]

I've just come across a reference to this challenge on another forum that I subscribe to and wondered who might be up for it.

Unlike most photography challenges which are just a simple list of ideas, this 52 week challenge is designed to push your photography to the next level. This list is going to be more challenging to complete than a simple 52 week photography challenge list. The idea is that by the end of it you will be a better photographer for it.

The challenge as set has a series of weekly challenges, which fall into three categories Portraits, Landscapes (which can include cityscapes & seascapes) & Artistic Impression (where can interpret the assignment literally or figuratively to let you creativity shine)

Full details here http://dogwood.photography/52weekchallenge.html

Personally, judging by the posts in the galleries here I think there is a big category missing - Natural History (including captive animals & cultivated fauna & flora)

So here's my suggestion if anyone wants to have go

• Although it says you can start anywhere, I suggest that we run with Week 1 as starting 4th Jan
• This means we are effectively in Week 3 now, so we give ourselves until, say 8th Feb (start of Week 6) to back fill for weeks 1 & 2
• That I/We come up with a series of challenges under the broad heading of Natural History
• I will then update the challenge list to include one of these every 4 weeks & post our challenge list in this thread
• People undertaking the challenge, post their pictures in their own galley, but we start a new thread each week that we post our images in as well to keep them together

So here are all the weeks from the challenge as it stands: -

WEEK 1 04 / 10-Jan Portrait: Self Portrait --- Start things off right with a "selfie"! Explore the self timer setting on your camera.
WEEK 2 11 / 17-Jan Landscape: Traditional Landscape --- Shoot a beautiful landscape and share it with the world. Find a nice foreground and don't forget the sky.
WEEK 3 18 / 24-Jan Artistic: Red --- Shoot whatever inspires you. Red should be the focus of the image. Don't be afraid to be creative.
WEEK 4 25 / 31-Jan Portrait: Headshot --- You shot a selfie, now shoot a "selfie" of someone else!
WEEK 5 01 / 07-Feb Landscape: Black and White --- Look for a scene with great contrast that will make a great black and white.
WEEK 6 08 / 14-Feb Artistic: Candy --- Your artistic interpretation this week should be inspired by something sweet. A great chance to play with macro photography.
WEEK 7 15 / 21-Feb Portrait: Faceless --- Tell someone's story without showing their face.
WEEK 8 22 / 28-Feb Landscape: Wide Angle/Panorama --- This is a great opportunity to explore panorama stitching and create a wide sweeping landscape.
WEEK 9 29 / 06-Mar Artistic: Shadows --- The opposite of light is dark, the absence of light is shadow. Interpret this into a masterpiece.
WEEK 10 07 / 13-Mar Portrait: Environmental --- Show a subject in their natural habitat. Their place of work or hobby is a great start. Tell their story with the environment
WEEK 11 14 / 20-Mar Landscape: Reflection --- Find a way to show your landscape/natural beauty in reflection. The mirror world revealed.
WEEK 12 21 / 27-Mar Artistic: Transportation --- Our world is one defined by how we get around. Literal or interpretative, find inspiration in transportation.
WEEK 13 28 / 03-Apr Portrait: High Key --- Expose to the right and create a light, airy high key portrait.
WEEK 14 04 / 10-Apr Landscape: Zoomed in --- Most landscapes are wide sweeping images. Try an alternative and zoom in instead.
WEEK 15 11 / 17-Apr Artistic: Metal --- Cold, hard steel. Shiny Aluminum. Or even rusted and broken down. Find your inspiration in metal this week.
WEEK 16 18 / 24-Apr Portrait: Movement --- Most portraits are stationary, so this week explore adding some movement. Dancing, twirling, or even hair flips.
WEEK 17 25 / 01-May Landscape: Urbanscape --- Most Landscapes are wide open spaces of natural beauty... this week find the beauty of the urbanscape/cityscape.
WEEK 18 02 / 08-May Artistic: Texture --- The artistic inspiration this week is texture. You should almost be able to feel the image.
WEEK 19 09 / 15-May Portrait: Messy --- Take an amazing portrait of someone, make a mess while you are doing it.
WEEK 20 16 / 22-May Landscape: Nightowl --- A tripod is going to be handy this week... time to shoot a night landscape. Look for some light for the scene! Car lights, city lights, or maybe just moonlight.
WEEK 21 23 / 29-May Artistic: Fantasy --- Is this real life, or is this just fantasy... Your artistic inspiration this week is fantasy.
WEEK 22 30 / 05-Jun Portrait: Hands --- Usually the face is the strongest element in the frame; with the hands being second. Make the hands the most important element in your image this week.
WEEK 23 06 / 12-Jun Landscape: Weather --- This week should be as unpredictable as the weather! Feature the weather in this week's landscape.
WEEK 24 13 / 19-Jun Artistic: Sparkle! --- Shoot what inspires you this week, just make sure it sparkles.
WEEK 25 20 / 26-Jun Portrait: Silhouette --- Expose for the background and let your subject fall into shadow. Shape is important this week.
WEEK 26 27 / 03-Jul Landscape: Simplify --- Simply the scene to make your primary subject stand out.
WEEK 27 04 / 10-Jul Artistic: Blue --- You were inspired by the fiery red earlier, now be inspired by calming blue.
WEEK 28 11 / 17-Jul Portrait: Family --- Whether it's the family you are born with or the one you choose, show the world what family is to you.
WEEK 29 18 / 24-Jul Landscape: Waterscape --- Ocean, lake, river, pond, or puddle. Make water the primary subject of this landscape.
WEEK 30 25 / 31-Jul Artistic: Patterns --- Get inspired by the rhythm that patterns bring to your images.
WEEK 31 01 / 07-Aug Portrait: Street Candid --- Candids on the street, show us life in your town through the lens.
WEEK 32 08 / 14-Aug Landscape: Colorful --- Shoot a landscape that packs as much color as you can find into the scene.
WEEK 33 15 / 21-Aug Artistic: Collaboration --- Doesn't matter what you shoot, just do with another artist. Share vision and ideas. Collaborate.
WEEK 34 22 / 28-Aug Portrait: Child --- Candid or posed, capture an image of a child. Try getting down on their level for a unique perspective.
WEEK 35 29 / 04-Sep Landscape: Nature up Close --- Get up close and personal with nature in this natural beauty shot. Flowers, bees, bugs and spiders might all make great shots
WEEK 36 05 / 11-Sep Artistic: Food --- Take your food photography to the next level. Its not lunch, its art.
WEEK 37 12 / 18-Sep Portrait: Fashion --- Avant-garde to commercial to traditional, and everything in between. The focus is the clothes this week.
WEEK 38 19 / 25-Sep Landscape: Get Low --- Time to look at the world from a different angle. Shoot a landscape from a low point of view.
WEEK 39 26 / 02-Oct Art: Handmade --- Your artistic interpretation should be inspired by another artisan's handmade work. Literal or interpreted.
WEEK 40 03 / 09-Oct Portrait: Sitting in a Chair --- Either a formal sitting portrait or a re-interpretation of this classic. Photography your subject sitting in a chair.
WEEK 41 10 / 16-Oct Landscape: Get High --- Everything looks different when you are high. Find a high perspective to shoot this landscape.
WEEK 42 17 / 23-Oct Artistic: Minimalist --- Isolate your subject using the minimalist approach. Inspire someone with your art.
WEEK 43 24 / 30-Oct Portrait: The Elderly --- Tell the story of an elderly person through the power of your camera. Capture the lines of their life.
WEEK 44 31 / 06-Nov Landscape: A Tree --- Some of the most famous landscapes in the world feature a tree. Time to see what you can do.
WEEK 45 07 / 13-Nov Artistic: Nostalgic --- Use nostalgic as your inspiration this week. Long for the moments we want recapture. The good times.
WEEK 46 14 / 20-Nov Portrait: Backlit --- The sun makes a great back light, as well as a flash. Don't forget the fill light. A flash or reflector can be used to fill in the subject.
WEEK 47 21 / 27-Nov Landscape: Abandoned --- Capture an image of that which others have forgotten. It may be the last image before its gone from us forever.
WEEK 48 28 / 04-Dec Artistic: Bokeh --- A shallow depth of field is often used to isolate the subject. Create an artistic interpretation using shallow depth of field.
WEEK 49 05 / 11-Dec Portrait: Dancing --- Whether it's a professional dancer, or just some kids in the street. Try experimenting with slow and fast shutter speed to both blur and freeze the subject.
WEEK 50 12 / 18-Dec Landscape: Symmetrical --- Often considered one of the hardest compositions to pull off, Symmetry. Challenge yourself this week by shooting a symmetrical landscape/urbanscape.
WEEK 51 19 / 25-Dec Artistic: Art --- It is time to really challenge yourself. Your artistic interpretation should be art, about art. So meta.
WEEK 52 26 / 01-Jan Portrait: Another Self Portrait --- For your final challenge, we end where we started. Take one last self-portrait, and be amazed at how far you have come in a year.


Who's in?

[sassan]

I am "in" that is a soon as I digest the rules and theme.

So the next set of images are going to be "Artistic Red"?

Also I like the idea of adding images to Gallery were exposure is max. Then ourselves or one of the moderators can add the URL from Gallery, where image is actually parked to here, were it really doesn't come as clutter/duplication to the site's server. Only a line of link.

I love to see large participation that makes it more interesting. Not sure how to motivate more to come in. May be exposure and time can do that.
Well lets see how it goes.

[Tugboat]

I'll be in it too, but we are going away next month for 2 weeks so will have to sort that out...just have to read the rules again and I''l be there.

[Gidders]

So shall we run with it exactly as it stands - Ie just 3 categories, or shall we modify it to add a series of challenges based on a Natural History category making 4 categories?

3 categories is easier - 4 categories is more varied & might appeal to a wide audience.

What do you think?

[Tugboat]

up to you Clive,the original is already set out, up to you if you want to do extra work and set out a new list, I don't mind either way. ( fence sitter )

[sassan]

I say, the easer, the better.
Also a question.
This is long term commitment. Would people be able to join later on? Having missed the initial sessions?
If not, I say, lets recruit at least a certain amount of people, before taking off, say at least 5. Or this is not needed?

[graham harcombe]

More than willing to take part, but not for a few weeks due to circs at home. Sounds like a good idea in principal.

[marydoll]

I honestly don't know if I have the staying power for a whole 52 weeks as I kinda just dip in and out of forum, I know I'm bad - but might like to give it a go - or is it too late?

[Tugboat]

Originally Posted by marydoll

I honestly don't know if I have the staying power for a whole 52 weeks as I kinda just dip in and out of forum, I know I'm bad - but might like to give it a go - or is it too late?

not too late, we haven't started yet

[Gidders]

Ok - I think its time to get this challenge on the road.

For simplicity, I think we'll go with the set of subjects in the original challenge & I've updated the first post in this thread will all 52 weeks challenges.

Post your images in your gallery, but I'll start a new thread each week for that week number to link your gallery images to the thread.

We are now in week 5 - which is Landscape - Black & White, but I suggest that we "back fill" for the first four weeks during February - I've started by posting my week 1 selfie