The original Dogwood Photography 52 Week Challenge was a huge success, with tens of thousands of photographers participating from around the world. In celebration of those who have completed the first challenge, a new challenge is now here! The challenge for 2017 has a higher difficulty level than the original challenge. While this challenge is a follow on to the original challenge here, it is also suitable to be completed as a stand alone challenge. There is no specific start date for this challenge. Each photographer is on their own journey, and only competing with themselves from week to week. If you wish to form a challenge group and compete with each other based on this list you are welcome to do so! If you form a challenge group drop me an invite I would love to watch the progress. Weekly Challenge Categories:Each week, the weekly assignment will be in one of 3 categories:
Story Telling: Good photographers can take beautiful images of something. Great photographers can take an image that tells its story. This category makes use of compositional rules and directed prompts to push you towards not just looking at the beauty of something, but to find a way to tell that something’s story.
Technical: Technical Aptitude is just as important as creative inspiration in photography. With that in mind this category is a mix of in camera and post processing techniques designed to expose you to new technical skills and techniques.
Artistic Impression: When this category comes up, you really have room to express yourself. You can interpret the assignment literally or figuratively. Unlike the other two categories that are more focused, the idea of this category is to let your creativity shine.
WEEK ONE: Story: Rule of Thirds: The rule of thirds is the first compositional rule most photographers learn; but most don't know why they learn it. The rule of thirds is amazing for telling a story. Tell a story using rule of thirds.
WEEK TWO: Technical: SOOC: Straight out of the Camera. No Photoshop. Shoot a compelling image and post it without edits. No cheating! (Be sure and save the image file for the end of the challenge!)
WEEK 3: Artistic: Land: Your inspiration this week is land. This could be a landscape, or an image inspired by the land in some way.
WEEK 4 Story: Mirror: Tell a story using a mirror.
WEEK 5: Technical: Ten ShotsShoot 10 shots of the same subject. Each shot should be from a different angle, distance, and focal length. Share your favorite image from the set.
WEEK 6: Artistic: Candy: A throwback to one of the favorite weeks of the original challenge. Your artistic inspiration this week is candy. Since this is the advanced challenge... you can't actually use candy in the scene.
WEEK 7: Story: Forgotten: Abandoned was a very popular week in the original challenge. For the advanced challenge tell the story of something forgotten.
WEEK 8: Technical: One Shot: Imagine that it is the last frame on a roll of film, and you have to nail it. For this challenge only take one shot. No deleting, no 2nd shot. The honor system is in play.
WEEK 9: Artistic: Still Life: Your inspiration this week is Still Life. A couple of pieces of fruit on a table won't impress in the advanced challenge though... so really be creative.
WEEK 10: Story: Perspective: Perspective for the purpose of this challenge is the relationship of objects in the scene. If you really want a challenge this is a good chance to use forced perspective.
WEEK 11: Technical: Split Tone: Split Tone is an editing technique where the shadows are toned one color, and the highlights a second color. Split toning is often used with color grading in the media to give a scene a desired look and feel.
WEEK 12: Artistic: Orange: Your inspiration this week is orange. Either the color orange or an actual orange. Or both.
WEEK 13 Story: Golden Hour The golden hour is the hour before sunset or after sunrise when the sun casts amazing golden tones. Find a way to use the golden hour to tell a story.
WEEK 14 Technical: Panning: Use the technique of panning to capture a subject in movement. Panning is using a slower shutter speed while following the subject with the camera to create the sense of movement in an image.
WEEK 15 Artistic: Hard: Your artistic inspiration this week is hard. Hard is both an adjective and an adverb. Interpret this how you wish.
WEEK 16 Story: leading Lines. Leading Lines are a very important compositional element that every photographer needs to master. Use leading lines to tell a story. No train tracks.
WEEK 17 Technical: Loop Lighting. Loop lighting is one of the most used portrait lighting techniques. Shoot a portrait using loop lighting. If you don't have an off camera flash setup, get creative with how you light your subject.
WEEK 18: Artistic: Purple: Your inspiration this week is purple. Purple is the color of royalty, magic, and mystery.
WEEK 19: Story: Back Yard: Tell the story of your immediate surroundings. Give us a glimpse into your daily life.
WEEK 20: Technical: Sky Overlay: Sometimes the sky just doesn't cooperate. This week replace the sky in your image. If you need a sky to use in the replacement, search flickr.com for an image to use under Creative Commons Licensing.
WEEK 21 Artistic: Soft: Your artistic inspiration this week is soft. Just like hard earlier in the challenge, soft is both and adjective and an adverb. Interpret this how you will.
WEEK 22: Story: Geometric ShapesTriangles, squares, and circles. They are all very strong compositional elements in an image. Find a way to use geometric shapes in your storytelling.
WEEK 23 Technical: F/8 PortraitShoot a portrait using an aperture setting of F/8. Since this is the advanced challenge, be sure to find a way to isolate your subject other than shallow depth of field.
WEEK 24: Artistic: GreenYour inspiration this week is green. Green is the color of life, nature, and hope.
Week 25: Story: Toy Story
Week 26: Technical Light Panning: Put your camera on a tripod at night, open the shutter for 30 seconds, and paint your subject with light. Flashlights, LED strips, and even laser pointers work great.
WEEK 27 Artistic: Communication Your inspiration this week is communication. We live in the age of endless communication, so there is inspiration everywhere.
WEEK 28 Story: Portrait as Landscape Shoot a portrait that is posing as a landscape. Tell a story of the subject using the landscape around them. Fool the viewer.
WEEK 29 Technical: Water Drop Photographing a water drop is a mix of lighting, macro, and patience. There are plenty of ways to pull this off, enjoy figuring it out!
WEEK 30 Artistic: Family In the last challenge you shot a family portrait. This time use family as your inspiration. Since this is the advanced challenge no people can be in the image.
WEEK 31 Story: Frame Within a Frame Another classic compositional tool is to frame the subject within the frame of the image. Use this technique this week to tell your story.
WEEK 32 Technical: HDR HDR is the technique of combining several photos of the same scene but shot at different exposures to create an image with a High Dynamic Range.
WEEK 33 Artistic: High Key: High Key was one of the most interesting during the last challenge. Last time it was a portrait; this time it is back as inspiration. High key lighting produces relatively shadowless images with a “blown” bright white background. Basically, high key is shot on a white background,
Welcome to: WEEK 34: Storytelling: Stranger
Week 36 - Low Key
WEEK 37 Story: Balance is the compositional technique of giving each area in a scene equal visual weight. You can achieve balance using color, tone, or juxtaposed subjects.
WEEK 38 Technical: 50mm Learn to sneaker zoom! Shoot an image using only the 50mm Focal Length. Either use a fixed 50mm lens or set your zoom lens to 50mm. Since this is the advanced challenge make sure the image is compelling.
WEEK 39 Art: Water Your inspiration this week is water. Interpret this how you will
WEEK 40 Story: Colorful B & W Tell the story of a colorful scene. Because this is the advanced challenge, no flowers. Do it in Black and White.
WEEK 41Technical:Levitation is part camera trick and part photoshop. Create an interesting levitation image this week.
WEEK 42 Artistic: Music Your inspiration this week is music. This is wide open so have fun with it.
WEEK 43 Story: Movement Capturing and creating movement in a still photo is a challenge for every photographer. Use movement this week to tell a story.
WEEK 44 Technical: Magic ND FilterUse an ND filter combined with a shutter speed of 30 seconds or even longer to create your image. Try a waterscape or even a busy landmark to see the magic happen.
WEEK 45 Artistic: Cold Your inspiration this week is cold. Interpret this how you want.
WEEK 46: Story: Landscape Foreground: Many stories are based around portraits, but landscapes can have stories also. Tell the story of a landscape by using the foreground as the subject and the background as the scene.
WEEK 47 Technical: Shaped Bokeh Bokeh was one of people's favorite weeks. This year take it a step further and create a scene using shaped bokeh.
WEEK 48 Artistic: Bodyscape The human form has been the study of art since art was first inspired. Your inspiration this week is the human body.
Story:Blue Hour The Blue Hour is the hour after sunset or the hour before sunrise when the sky is dominated by amazing blue and purple hues. Use this to tell your story this week.
.WEEK 50 Technical: Full Edit Use the SOOC shot from the beginning of the challenge and re-edit it to it's full glory. If that shot isn't available feel free to re-edit any of your past work.
WEEK 51 Artistic: Fear Fear is your inspiration this week. Find a way to show fear in a way that your viewer feels it.
WEEK 52 Story: Your Story Tell your story. WEEK 52 Story: Your Story Tell your story.
This year my story is A LEARNING CURVE. I retired from teaching fiction writing, literature, and communication at a community college. I bought a canon rebel T6I with money my colleagues gave me. I began taking online tutorials and courses in taking photographs, editing photographs, and also in using my iPhone as a camera and editing tool. I plunged into learning Light Room. This photo for Week 52 is a snapshot of my learning: I learned to levitate, take panoramas, tell a story, create a tryptic, celebrate the golden hour, and experiment with macrophotography. Each photograph involved paying attention, taking risks, and playing. I joined photography groups. I create a photography website. I looked at thousands of photographs. I took thousands of photographs. It’s been great fun. It is a joy to keep on learning. I look forward to my learning curve for 2018.