Weekly Photo Challenge 2016: Project 52

Sweet SistersYou have probably heard of 365 photography projects where you are challenged to take a photo every day for a year. So far I have attempted this type of project twice and have not made it past 5 months. This year I am trying something different and I am hopeful that I will actually complete this challenge.  Fingers crossed… I have made a list of 52 photo challenges that I want to try this year.

Weekly Photo Challenge

Actually, I started by brainstorming and thinking about different types of photography, places that I wanted to photograph, and skills that I wanted to learn or improve upon. I also included photo editing skills and challenges that involve using video, like making a cinemagraph. I ended up with a few pages full of ideas that I narrowed down to the 52 most interesting and fun (one for each of the 52 weeks in a year.)

Choosing a challenge week-to-week works best for me instead of having a predetermined set-list of assignments for the year. I like the flexibility of choosing a challenge based on the level of difficulty and how much time I have available that week. I am using a highlighter to check off the challenges from the list as I do them.

Personalized Project 52 Card Deck

To make choosing a challenge feel a little more random and fun I took a deck of cards and wrote a challenge on the back of each card with a black sharpie.  Since there are 52 cards in a deck and 52 weeks in a year, a regular poker deck worked out perfectly. If you are thinking about trying this, a red deck works better than a blue one because it is easier to read the black writing on the red background. I have been carrying these cards around with me so I can go through them whenever I feel like it and group them into categories. Before choosing my weekly challenge I make categories based on how difficult it is to photograph the subject (like, sunset or at night) and how much time I will need to spend on the computer processing photos later (like HDR and double exposure.)

Level of Difficulty

I made sure to include easier challenges (like reflection, macro, and shadow) as well as more difficult ones (like time-lapse, double exposure, and photo-to-painting.) This way I can think about how busy my week is going to be and then choose a challenge that will fit into my time schedule. When I have more time to spend on photography I can go the extra distance to get a photo or spend more time on post processing. During weeks that I am super busy, I can choose one of the simple challenges. So far this has been a great way for me to feel motivated to get out there and make more photographs. I am also learning a lot since I am trying out new techniques and creative ideas.

So…are you up for the challenge?

Photo Challenge 2016: Project 52

1. Reflection
2. Photo to painting (post processing filter)
3. Crowd
4. At Work
5. At Play
6. At Rest
7. Shadow
8. Four Seasons- photo 1
9. Four Seasons- photo 2
10. Four Seasons- photo 3
11. Four Seasons- photo 4
12. Paint by hand over a photo (use actual paintbrush and paint)
13. Architecture
14. HDR
15. Worn/weathered/aged
16. Faceless
17. Through a polarizer
18. Windmill
19. Cinemagraph
20. Time
21. Paint over photo (post processing)
22. In my hand
23. Silly
24. Early in the morning
25. From a boat
26. Panorama
27. Selfie
28. Artist at work
29. Water drop
30. Black and White
31. Texture
32. Fountain
33. Green screen
34. Motion/Speed (motion blur)
35. Macro
36. Sunset
37. False perspective
38. In flight
39. Palm tree
40. Where I stand
41. Creative/Fantasy
42. Time lapse
43. Make the mundane interesting
44. Music
45. From above
46. Night scape
47. Double exposure
48. Photo merge (many action shots of one subj.)
49. Streaking lights
50. Reproduction of famous art
51. Merge 2 photos (PS layers, subject on one layer & texture layer)
52. 30 ways (one subj, 30 different shots…be creative)

Break the Rules: If you do not like the topic for the week, try to get a good photo that breaks one of the basic rules in photography… Take a great photo that incorporates an uneven horizon, sun flare, camera shake, bad crop, subject out of focus, too much flash, or using the wrong lens.