For those who like to plan ahead, and for those who may be looking for a new monthly theme for March, I thought I would share what I'm doing in case anyone would like to play along!
A member of the camera club I belong to posted this idea on our blog page awhile back, and I am going to give it a try this month. For anyone in need of a March challenge, consider giving this a try—it sounds fun, and challenging indeed!
The idea of this challenge is to take a month’s worth of shots of the same thing. The original article (by Tedric Garrison on picturecorrect.com) used the example of 36 shots of a mailbox—the same mailbox. Every shot must be unique.
How do you go about this? Garrison writes, “Well, let’s see, there is the front, back, left side, right side, shot from above, or shot from below. That’s six. Only 30 more shots to go…You could shoot with the flag up or the flag down or shoot just the flag itself. You could shoot with the mailbox door open or closed or somewhere in between. Congratulations! You are now up to 12 shots! Only 24 more to go. You could shoot with a little mail in the box, or a whole lot of mail, or somewhere in between. As you can see, the first 15 or even 20 shots aren’t that hard, but they aren’t the point.” What do you do for the rest of the month? That’s where the challenge comes in.
The point of it all is to think “outside the box,” as they say—how do you show the same thing in 36 different, unique, and compelling ways (or 31 ways, which fits neatly into a month, and which is how I’m structuring my challenge)? It will force you to focus on composition, lighting, DOF, processing options, and all that other good stuff—as well as challenge your creativity!
So for anyone who wants to play (for the full 31, or just a week or two), the challenge will run during the month of March. The rules I’ll be playing by:
1) You must shoot the same thing each day. It must be an object or scene that you can’t move around (like a mailbox). If you could move it to different locations, it wouldn't be as challenging. ;) So think “permanent fixture.” Mailbox. Front steps. Seventy-five pound cement birdbath. Tree. Kitchen stove. Back fence. Swingset. Your desk at work. Bathtub. Neighbor’s curious and disturbing lawn gnome statuary. Anything will work, as long as you can’t move it!
2) Each shot must be unique and compelling.
3) Tag your photos 31-shots.
4) This isn’t a competition, just a fun challenge to while away the month of March (which, around here, is still pretty wintery and blah). I won’t be selecting finalists or anything, but feel free to post your efforts to this forum if you would like to share as you go!
I was thinking of doing something like that. My idea was to pick a city block, and do different shot of that block each day. Would that work for this challenge?
uh oh.. tomorrow is the first... I better find my object! I definitely want to do one that is outside, getting cabin fever up here. :)
I'll go outside tomorrow and see what I can find.
@annied@stephomy@tetonia@zosimasy@cindyloo@caroli Hey, everyone--today is the first day of the 31 Shots challenge! (If I tagged you and you've decided not to participate, just ignore me. ;) This is the only time I'll tag everyone in the forum). If you've decided to give it a crack, feel free to post your "setup" shot here! What did you decide to shoot for the month? I'm going with my front steps, as seen above.
I was going to do the tree in our yard... but... -8F(-22c) and a foot of snow is hindering my motivation to shoot the tree... link to the photo I took this morning: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/zosimasy
I'm going to see what else I can find outside that doesn't involve wading through snow.
I may try this and I think I'm going to use forks. It's been way to cold to concentrate on anything outside, sub zero temps. So I'm going to stay inside and see how many shots of forks I can take. It's on my photography bucket list anyways so why not :) Is there a tag or did I miss that?
@shawnasays We've got the subzero temps too, but I've got cabin fever...I figure the front steps aren't too far from the cozy warm house. ;) Forks should be a fun subject that you can do a lot with! The tag will be 31-shots. Thanks for playing. :)
@mace508
the only thing I took today which is fixed is my - gaura lindheimeri 'whirling butterflies' plant - which today I heavily processed hahahaha
can I use the plant - I would like to give it a go hahahaha
@tetonia Yay! Glad you're in. :) I think it will be a fun challenge.
To post photos from your project in this forum, go to whatever photo it is that you'd like to post. To the right of your shot, under all the exif and information about the picture, there is a "Share" heading. Under all the Facebook and Twitter logos, there is a "copy and paste code" field. If you copy the code that is there and then paste it into a response in one of the forums, the picture will show up there and link back to your project automatically.
I did my shot for the challenge but had a few I loved after processing that I have 3 fork shots today but all for different challenges but this is for this challenge. I picked "fork(s)" for my object for this challenge. I won't be posting as many fork shots in one day otherwise I'm gonna run out of ideas fast but today was just a good day so lol.
My project for this month is a little bit different from this theme, but I'm doing all my pictures in my back alley for March. It'll be interesting because at first glance my alley isn't much to look at.
It has been raining since last night. Last night I was trying to get a shot of the light coming in my bedroom window but it didn't work very well. I tried it again this morning as the sun was starting to rise and.... there was my fence... and my challenge project was kick started.
There are some personal elements in this shot that I like. The candle, the things outside the window.
Ok. I went with the tree. My neighbors may think strange things of me taking photos of this tree every single day. LOL First shot? Not anything I'm proud of....but the opportunity didn't come until around 11PM. Let's hope for better pics in the future!! ha!
I love this idea. This is yesterday's shot of my local beach. Am hoping this will help me get out of the house/garden a bit more even in manky weather. I like a challenge so, here goes.
@mace508 hahahaha well luckily we are just coming out of summer --------i think this plant lasts for a fair while hahaha may be photographing mulch in the end lol
@mace508 Thank you. You included in the blurb at the top about each picture being "unique and compelling" so I had to stop simply seeing 'record shots' as I did before and spend time setting up creatively and patiently. The challenge has really helped with how I view things - thank you!
@gnome Glad you've enjoyed the challenge! :) I have found the same thing is true of my shots this month--I found myself looking for new aspects of everything in my "target area." Thanks for playing!
I think I got everyone tagged...apologies if I missed anyone...thanks to all who participated in the 31 Shots challenge (for the whole month of March or just part of it)--and a special shout-out to the ones who made it all 31 days! Feel free to share your reflections, observations, frustrations, and other "-tion" words relating to the challenge here! :)
A couple of my favs of doing this project are from this week. I haven't done my shot for today yet but I have it planned. This has definitely been interesting. I thought about continuing to do fork shots but I think I'll do that randomly. I am going to do another object for April though. Here's a few of my favs. I'll post my last shot later today.
@bellasmom thank you, this was a fun challenge, not sure I'll be able to.top it but we'll see. Thank you fir the theme idea, git me to be more creative, I appreciate that :-)
@stephomy Thanks so much for posting what it looks like now. As we discussed a little in "pretty pictures" thread...I have a tendency to not want to let people see what my place "really" looks like!
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I'll go outside tomorrow and see what I can find.
@annied @stephomy @tetonia @zosimasy @cindyloo @caroli Hey, everyone--today is the first day of the 31 Shots challenge! (If I tagged you and you've decided not to participate, just ignore me. ;) This is the only time I'll tag everyone in the forum). If you've decided to give it a crack, feel free to post your "setup" shot here! What did you decide to shoot for the month? I'm going with my front steps, as seen above.
I'm going to see what else I can find outside that doesn't involve wading through snow.
the only thing I took today which is fixed is my - gaura lindheimeri 'whirling butterflies' plant - which today I heavily processed hahahaha
can I use the plant - I would like to give it a go hahahaha
I have been mulling over what object I have to shoot and the limitations of my schedule for the month and have chosen my fence.
This project should really make me think.
I don't know how to post a photo here but I think my ACE status allows me to set up a second album.
Thank you for coming up with this fun challenge!
To post photos from your project in this forum, go to whatever photo it is that you'd like to post. To the right of your shot, under all the exif and information about the picture, there is a "Share" heading. Under all the Facebook and Twitter logos, there is a "copy and paste code" field. If you copy the code that is there and then paste it into a response in one of the forums, the picture will show up there and link back to your project automatically.
Looking forward to seeing your shots! :D
There are some personal elements in this shot that I like. The candle, the things outside the window.
Here's my Day 2 shot.
@bellasmom Woo hoo! Join the fun. :)
@gdireneoe Yup, jump right in whenever you feel like playing!
Day 5
And Day 6.
I'm getting to the "stepping outside the box point already." How are the rest of you faring? :)
Day 4/31 - Fence in the Rain
I am a couple of days behind but hope to catch up this weekend. Yes, I'm having to think about it because I don't want boring pictures of a fence...
I
Here's today's shot. It's my daughter's 6th birthday. :)
My Get Pushed/Collage entries for this week, on the porch.
Time for me to get in the picture.
Day 13 construction flaw.
Day 14!
Monday's shot. The white stuff came back, but it only hung around until noon. :)
Sycamore rubbish on the porch.
Today a digger invaded my beach!!
Sycamore burr, exploded.
And that's a wrap!
@essafel @annied @bellasmom @shawnasays @gnome @linnypinny @stephomy @tetonia @nicholas @aerjoseph @zosimasy
I think I got everyone tagged...apologies if I missed anyone...thanks to all who participated in the 31 Shots challenge (for the whole month of March or just part of it)--and a special shout-out to the ones who made it all 31 days! Feel free to share your reflections, observations, frustrations, and other "-tion" words relating to the challenge here! :)
@stephomy Haha. I am definitely ready to take a picture of something new! Will not be photographing my front porch for QUITE awhile (if ever, lol).