The Master List of Themes & Challenges

January 17th, 2014
Lou
(Last updated March 2014)

I've done a quick count and have found that there's just over a scrillion different themes and challenges going regularly on 365. I don't know about anyone else, but that's way too many for me to keep straight, so I've been searching for a master list. There is none. And I, apparently, need a life. So here you are:



WEEKLY CHALLENGES

- 5+2 For the Love of Selfies – A self-portraiture challenge hosted by the seven participants of Five plus Two, with a new theme each week.

- 18 & Under – This is a challenge for all our 365ers who are 18 years of age or younger. Anyone can vote for their favorite entry at the end of the week, and the winner picks the next week's theme. Challenge hosted by Maddie B (@ryanarra2).

- Album Cover Challenge – Create an album cover (or multiple ones) based on a fictional band & album name. Vote for your favorite entry at the end of the week. Challenge hosted by the previous winner.

- Artist Challenge – Recreate or reinterpret a piece of art from the artist of the week. Vote for your favorite entry at the end of the week. Challenge hosted by the previous winner.

- Back to Basics (B2B) – Focus on the basic elements of art: line, shape, texture, etc. Vote for your favorite entry at the end of the week. Challenge hosted by Mr. T (@geocacheking)

- Camera Settings Challenge (CSC) – Learn the different functions of your camera by focusing on (pun intended) a different function each week. Vote for your favorite entry at the end of the week. Challenge hosted by the previous winner, or by someone else they choose.

- The Click – A group of seven 365ers who invite you to participate in their weekly themes. Hosted by The Click themselves.

- Danbo and Friends Get out the toy box! For this challenge, the subject of your photo needs to be a figurine or any other anthropomorphized object. Each week presents a new theme/situation for your character to brave. Vote for your favorite entry at the end of the week. Challenge hosted by the previous winner.

- Eye of the Beholder (EOTB) – “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”; find something not normally seen as beautiful and capture it in a beautiful way. Vote for your favorite entry at the end of the week. Challenge hosted by the previous winner.

- ETSOOI Challenge – aka “Edit the S[insert ending of choice] Out of It”; if you feel like your photo of the day is mediocre at best, think about the ETSOOI theme of the week and edit the snot out of it. Vote for your favorite entry at the end of the week. Challenge hosted by the previous winner.

- Get Pushed – Sign up, get paired with another 365er for the week. Browse through their album and assign them a challenge. Create a photo (or photos) based on the challenge that your partner assigned to you. Vote for your favorite entry at the end of the week. Challenge hosted by Northy (@northy).

- Haiku – Take a look at the latest haiku authored by the challenge host, Paul J (@bigugly), and take a photo to represent it. Vote for your favorite entry at the end of the week.

- Mad Hatters – You are invited to join the Mad Hatters in their mad tea party, as they challenge themselves with a new theme each week. Every time you attend, you will be looking for the fairy tale inside yourself, and in your camera.

- Mundane Challenge – Take the ordinary, boring object of the week and photograph it in a creative way. If you’re feeling more abstract, enter your shot into the corresponding Abstract Mundane Challenge. Vote for your favorite entry (in either challenge) at the end of the week. Each challenge hosted by the previous winner.

- My Favorite Photos in a Collage (MFPIAC) – Create a collage of six photos with various subjects (people, places, object, etc.) that represent the week's theme. Vote for your favorite entry at the end of the week. Challenge hosted by previous winner.

- RAWcomp – Take the week’s given unedited RAW image and edit it to your heart’s desire with a RAW processor. Vote for your favorite entry at the end of the week. Challenge hosted by the previous winner.

- Six-Word Story – Choose six words, put them together to make a story, and interpret your story with a photo. Or, take a photo and interpret that with a six-word story. The idea for this challenge was based on this site. Vote for your favorite entry at the end of the week. Challenge hosted by the previous winner.

- Song Title Challenge – Take a photo representing the week's chosen song or its lyrics. Vote for your favorite entry at the end of the week. Challenge hosted by the previous winner.

- Tag Challenge – A challenge that utilizes the "Browse by Tag" feature on the 365 website to give you new ideas for your next photo(s). Vote for your favorite entry at the end of the week. Challenge hosted by the previous winner.

- Technique Challenge – Learn about the photography technique of the week and create some photos using it. Vote for your favorite entry at the end of the week. Challenge hosted by the previous winner.

- Weekly Theme – Take a photo (or photos) based on the theme/concept of the week. Vote for your favorite entry at the end of the week. Challenge hosted by Ross Scrivener; the next theme chosen by the previous winner. You can find it at the 365 Project Blog.

- What Can You See... – ...out your front door? ...in your underwear drawer? ...in your rubbish bin? The possibilities are limitless, and after you vote for your favorite entry, the winner hosts for the next week and chooses the new theme.

- What Would You Do (WWYD) – Take the week’s given unedited photo and edit it to your heart's content. Vote for your favorite entry at the end of the week. Challenge hosted by the previous winner.



WEEK-BASED THEMES

- Daily Themes – A fixed theme for each day. Friday = food, Monday = macro, etc. No host or time limits – just enter and enjoy.

- One Night Stand (ONS) – For a whole week, take a photograph each day that fits into the day’s chosen type/category of photography. Hosted by Jerry Plume (@orangecrush).



MONTH-BASED THEMES

- Book Club – Join the participating 365ers in reading and discussing the chosen photography book during the course of a month. Each week focuses on a different set of themes, techniques or challenges from the book, for application in your photography. Hosted by Katie (@archaeofrog).

- Flash of Red – Photograph completely in black and white for the month of February, with the exception of Feb. 14th, on which you use selective coloring to flash some red in your shot of the day. Each week focuses on a different different theme or technique. Host chosen by previous host.

- March of Film – Shoot film for the month of March. Choose one of the given themes to shoot within, or go for them all.

- Macro March – Participate in the month-long challenge of shooting macro (close-up) photography. Explore the world of close-up, with or without specialized macro gear, and follow along in the optional weekly themes.

- Word-a-Day – Take your photo of the day based on the day’s chosen word. A complete list of the words is posted each month. (You can nominate which words you want for the next month, too). Hosted by Debra (@debrac).



If I missed any that you're aware of, if one of the names is incorrect, or if I biffed any of the guidelines, do let me know and I’ll amend the list ASAP :)
January 17th, 2014
fabulous! and your intro made me laugh :-)
January 17th, 2014
great post... the themes were starting to overhaul my mediocre mind haha...
January 17th, 2014
thank you - had you not done this I probably would have at some stage just to get my mind straight hahahaha
January 17th, 2014
Brilliant work!
January 17th, 2014
Lou
@hippiechick13 I'm glad :) No one can say it's not valid, though!
January 17th, 2014
Lou
@clairelouise Glad I wasn't the only one :)
January 17th, 2014
Lou
@annied I hope it'll be of use. Just remember that if something ridiculously time-consuming needs to be done, I'll probably end up doing it :)
January 17th, 2014
You forgot the daily word themes.
January 17th, 2014
Lou
@grizzlysghost Now if only it came out of my camera!
January 17th, 2014
Lou
@chapjohn Hi John. Do you mean the Macro-Monday, Gloriously Rusty Tuesday, etc themes? Or the monthly word list? Or is there another one?
January 17th, 2014
Great work!


Daily themes:

Macro Monday macro-monday
Gloriuosly Rusty Tuesday grt
Black and White Wednsday BWW
Throwback Thursdat tbth
Food Friday Food-Friday
January 17th, 2014
@mzzhope Is your Daily Themes an ongoing project or just for a certain time frame?
January 17th, 2014
Lou
@mzzhope Hi Hope - thanks for the help. I listed "Daily Themes" under Week-Based Themes, not under Weekly Challenges since they're not competitive (if I'm correct?)
January 17th, 2014
I was speaking about those that have a word for everyday of the month, whether it be a word for each day of the week or a different word every day.
January 17th, 2014
Lou
@chapjohn
Ah, okay. If this is the project you're thinking of: http://365project.org/discuss/themes-competitions/20334/2014-jumpin-4-january
I listed it under Month-Based Themes, since the word list comes out every month :)
January 17th, 2014
Thank you, this list is fab, certainly no excuse now for not posting :-)
January 17th, 2014
I started Flashback Friday, this is the second week ;)
January 17th, 2014
Scrillion is my new favorite word. And thanks for the list!
January 17th, 2014
Awesome list. Thank you for compiling. I am adding a link to this thread on a thread I started a couple of weeks ago compiling project information for newcomers (and me!).
http://365project.org/discuss/general/20547/newcomer-information-thread-repost
January 17th, 2014
Another one to add to the weekly challenge list:

Tag Challenge: use your two randomly chosen tags as an inspiration to create one picture that encompasses both tags.
January 17th, 2014
Awesome! As a newbie I was getting overwhelmed with all that stuff. Now I know what challenges to look for.

I think there is also an abstract challenge, that runs along with the mundane challenge. They use the same theme.
January 17th, 2014
This why 365 is so fun, so many challenges.
January 17th, 2014
Lou
@nadaa Doh! I even remember searching for the Tag Challenge at one point... oh well, off to make amends :) Thank you, Nada!
January 17th, 2014
Lou
@bizziebeeme Haha, I guess not! I hope it's helpful to you.
January 17th, 2014
Lou
@sassyinma Thanks Sandi! I'm thinking about writing up another list for the weekly "share" and "show me" threads, like Flashback Friday and Your Favorite b&w, etc.
January 17th, 2014
Lou
@pcarlaw Yay! Adding to vocabularies is my ultimate goal ;) I do hope the list will be useful to you.
January 17th, 2014
Lou
@teresaf Hi Teresa, welcome to the site :) I hope this does help you find the challenges you're interested in - they can be a huge help in the course of your year!
You're right about the Abstract Mundane challenge - I listed them together :)
Good luck with your next challenge :)
January 17th, 2014
Lou
@homeschoolmom Yep, I agree :)
January 17th, 2014
Great resource for when people say, "Wait, what challenges are there?"
January 17th, 2014
Thank you.....now which one to choose!.........
January 17th, 2014
@louuncouth This was great for you to do ;)
January 18th, 2014
Many thanks have been a bit confused by all the abbreviations
January 18th, 2014
We've got the Click @theclick weekly themes, sometimes selfies sometimes not that we encourage participation in too! Just tag your pic so we will see! This week is Amy winehouse inspired. Tag with click-amywinehouse

Here's my entry for this week for example :)

January 18th, 2014
mad minute words died a quiet and dull death... i'd love to resurrect it if anyone is interested
January 18th, 2014
Lou
@northy Plot twist! In comes the deaus ex machina with the astounding news that MMW is ALIVE ONCE AGAIN.

Sorry. I had cheesecake tonight, and cheesecake makes me giddy. I would love to help in the resurrection. You find the jumper cables and I'll put an ad in for the mad scientist.
January 18th, 2014
Lou
@appsie Cool, I hope this helps, Ian!
January 18th, 2014
Lou
@amyhughes oo sweet, I must have missed this project's start - I'll add it in the list. Thanks :)
January 18th, 2014
'k... weekend is bad time to start a challenge... maybe launch on sunday... first word could be "deus ex machina"" ;p
January 18th, 2014
Lou
@northy Oo, good one! Wish I'd thought of that xp Sunday works for me. Shall we set it up the same as before?
January 18th, 2014
i dunno... last time we were doing two words a week and leapfrogging who was posting and i think people might have found it confusing... and while i really liked the edginess of it, i'm not sure i'd be able to keep up right now with two a week...

would it be too wussy to do one a week?
January 18th, 2014
Lou
@northy Nope, I can definitely see how it was a little too mad. One a week sounds better to me.
January 18th, 2014
@louuncouth Well as long as it was cheese*cake* you had... I'm in for mmw as long as it's more sane and only done once per kiwi. Week. I meant week. Bibble.

@northy

Wasn't there a similar one for made up mad words? That is, someone made up a word, and people defined it through their photos? Or is that *too* mad...?
January 18th, 2014
Thanks very much @louuncouth. Exactly what I needed as a newbie.
January 18th, 2014
@kaesebiscuit yes - someone had a made-up word challenge... guess that's died off...
January 18th, 2014
Lou
@kaesebiscuit Yes, cake has power in the 365 community. Glad to have a sponserfor mmw's resurrection :)

And I guess I have to admit it. Your lame kiwi joke totally cracked me up.
January 18th, 2014
Lou
@lisatargowska I'm glad! Welcome to the project, and best wishes :)
January 19th, 2014
Thank you, hopefully this will help this newbie keep track!
January 20th, 2014
Lou
@northy Sunday night here - not sure if you're on but thought I'd give a shout.
Thoughts about the resurrection. Shall the rules remain the same, in that you have to post your photo a day after receiving the word? Aka if we post it tonight/tomorrow morning, the entry time is limited to Tuesday?
January 20th, 2014
@louuncouth hi Lou - I like the idea in theory - just not sure how doable it will be w the short timeframe... Would the tight timefrAme work for you?
January 20th, 2014
Lou
@northy It would work for me, but I just don't think I'd enjoy it. The other day I had been thinking (I know, scary!) and it almost sounded better as a project like The Seven or Five Plus Two, rather than another weekly challenge thread. That's a whole 'nother ball game, though...
January 20th, 2014
@louuncouth it is... i'm working with someone trying to get another group formed, and suggested MMW for the theme, but that isn't what they're going with... i'd be open to the concept tho'...
January 28th, 2014
Lou
@northy Lady, you're a 365 addict all right :) If we manage to find some other participants, I'd definitely be up for it. Whadaya say, wanna give it a go?
January 28th, 2014
@louuncouth hey Lou... i would definitely be up for it, but at the moment haven't quite got the time to invest in leading the charge... happy to help out whoever does want to lead it and certainly to participate (assuming it won't be anyone's noses out of joint if i end up being part of two groups of 7)...

if no one else interested in leading the charge, maybe i could do it in a month or so once the other group i'm on is up and running...

really trying not to play into the addictiveness of it all... life is pretty crazy busy otherwise... my excuse is that photography serves as an escape - the only thing i do for me... if it becomes so overwhelming as to become a chore or an obligation, i'm kinda toast, y'know?

oh, and another word i'm kind of liking now (should i start a list?) is vacuous ;p
February 3rd, 2014
@louuncouth
this was just what i was looking for! thanks!
February 3rd, 2014
Here's another one if anyone's interested...
http://365project.org/mei_photography/wild-life/2014-01-19
February 3rd, 2014
Lou
@luka365 Sure thing! I hope it helps :)
February 3rd, 2014
Thanks so much for this. The challenges are fun. Scrillion in deed. It is overwhelming.
March 12th, 2014
Thank you this is a great idea, especially for those of us who are new to the site. Perhaps it could be a link in the FAQ or getting started section?
March 12th, 2014
@sassyinma Which I love btw! Thanks for starting it!
March 12th, 2014
@dibzgreasley No problem! I love seeing everyone's pics :)
March 13th, 2014
Lou
@dibzgreasley
I'm glad you like it - hope it helps! I like your idea of linking it in the Getting Started Guide - perhaps we can suggest it to @Scrivna ...? :)
March 14th, 2014
@louuncouth thank you!!
March 14th, 2014
@northy @louuncouth - has the mmw been resurrected yet? with all these challenges, i've lost track of what's what and where and which. last time we did the mmw, we gave the word on the Monday and people would have the week to respond with their photos.
March 14th, 2014
@summerfield not yet...
March 15th, 2014
@louuncouth thank you! :)
March 15th, 2014
Lou
@summerfield It's been pricking the back of my mind, but I'm paranoid that if we resurrect it I might let the poor thing die just as soon...
Write a Reply
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.