The 2008 Challenge
For the few of you who are regular readers, you may have noticed that I’ve been tossing out Challenges to my photographically minded fans. In October, 2007, I challenged you all to select an area or genre of photography that you wanted to learn better. I chose black & white photography. In lieu of something else, many of you chose the same thing. That challenge turned out to be fun, challenging, and educational. I find myself looking at a scene with more awareness to the light balance now. This is a direct result of my black & white’s.
Then in December, 2007, I set out to shoot a portrait a day, all month long. This time many more people joined the
Challenge. At one point I counted over 30 people submitting images to Flickr and Zooomr. I can’t say that I met the Challenge exactly, but hey it’s my challenge. I only missed a few days.
I’ve been working on some more ideas, to help expand the idea. I’m also working on a book idea, to combine the December Challenge into one nice catalog.
The largest project idea that has been birthed is to combine my existing efforts to document my own suburban community and the lessons of disciplined shooting, every day.
Today I’m announcing the 2008 Challenge. What is it? I’m challenging each participant to spend the whole year of 2008 documenting their community. All you need to do is commit to shoot just one great image a week. Just one a week. That’s not bad!
The one important thematic issue to follow is to shoot your community. We’re going to get out there and document our immediate community. Wherever you live, commit to shooting it. This will take a bit more work, thought, and planning however. I’m not looking for your best shot from your weekly photowalk. I’m looking for a thoughtful image representing your community from that week. So, for example, on Independence Day (in the USA), I’d like to see how your community celebrates our nation’s independence.
As the next week approaches, I’ll publish another post, with many examples of other photoblogs doing similar things. Until then, take a look at Kathleen Connally’s; A Walk Through Durham Township.
Popularity: 38% [?]
Take a look at some similar posts:
- So, how’s your October Challenge going?
- 15 days until the December Challenge
- February Challenge
- The December Challenge recap…
- December Challenge
Comments
Comment from Drew
Time: December 21, 2007, 9:10 am
This will fit very well with my Photo-A-Day project. I was thinking about going and meeting the people who make up our downtown for the Portrait Challenge and maybe compile a book of the community. Good idea.
Comment from Jeremy Brooks
Time: December 21, 2007, 10:36 am
Sounds interesting, Trevor. How broadly are you going to interpret “community”? Just the city you live in? The county? The general geographic area?
Comment from Gary H
Time: December 21, 2007, 11:13 am
I’m in. I tried a photo a day, but that didn’t work. Maybe one a week is more realistic. I’ll be posting to Zooomr.
Comment from Leigh Lopez
Time: December 21, 2007, 12:42 pm
I am in Trevor. This will be fun.
Comment from Nickolus Roy
Time: December 21, 2007, 1:32 pm
I’m really excited about this project… I live in San Diego (so does Brian Auer of Epic Edits) which has a lot of interesting things to photograph… I know my images won’t be quite as successful as Brian’s because I’m about as amateur as they come (not to mention my equipment deficiencies), but I’m really excited about this challenge!
Pingback from Document your community through photos
Time: December 21, 2007, 3:31 pm
[...] walks. Save it! Stumble it! Digg it! Twitter it! Trevor Carpenter is running the “2008 Challenge“, a project which is meant to encourage people to document their community through photos and [...]
Comment from Julie
Time: December 21, 2007, 5:13 pm
Sounds interesting. Here’s my thoughts:
http://www.barrettmanor.com/julie/archive.aspx?ID=1849
Comment from trevor
Time: December 21, 2007, 7:48 pm
@Jeremy…
You know, I think your community is different for each person. I would expect the those living in a heavily populated urban setting, their community may be a very small area. However, for myself, living in a suburban community, I’ll stick to my city. I may venture out and hit other locations or subjects. But I probably won’t leave Ventura County.
Comment from trevor
Time: December 21, 2007, 7:53 pm
@Julie…
Great blog post. I appreciate you taking the time to contemplate how this Challenge applies to you. You’ve done a nice job defining your community, and I hope others follow your example.
Comment from Brian Auer
Time: December 21, 2007, 9:44 pm
Getting ambitious, aren’t we? But seriously, cool idea! I’ll do what I can to participate, but I’m not signing in blood. My schedule can make it hard for me to get out and shoot once or twice per month sometimes, but the summer hours should be a little easier to work with.
What’s the Flickr/Zooomr tag? And will you set up a group just for this challenge?
Comment from trevor
Time: December 22, 2007, 1:18 am
Yes, I’ve set up a group already at Flickr, its in the TrevorCarpenter.com Challenge group.
The tag is “2008challenge“
Comment from the_wolf_brigade
Time: December 22, 2007, 3:56 am
Considering my random attempts at the December Challenge, I’m not sure how I’ll go, but I’m definitely interested.
I’ve actually been thinking about using an online service like Snapfish or a flickr partner to make a photo book of my life up to the point where I had kids. Then another documenting my life with the kids, though the latter may wait for some time so that they can be old enough to participate.
However, the challenge may (hopefully!) give me that little push I needed to get started on that project. Having spent the part of my life that I was old enough to remember in a fairly small section of Australia, the challenge and my concept should tie in perfectly. It may even be more helpful than I can predict at this point, as I suspect that I will write a small blurb for each photo - this could then be incorporated into the book…
At this point are you planning to hold some small monthly challenges as well? Perhaps one every second month? If so, perhaps we could get a thread started on flickr for some ideas…maybe in the morning when my brain functions normally.
Comment from trevor
Time: December 22, 2007, 4:22 am
Oh, yes definitely. I’m already working on the February Challenge. And then every other month after that.
Pingback from Link Roundup 12-22-2007
Time: December 22, 2007, 12:15 pm
[...] The 2008 Challenge TrevorCarpenter.com Trevor is getting ambitious with his photographer challenges — this time he’s asking us to take a photo a week with the intent of documenting your community. [...]
Comment from Andrew Lighten
Time: December 23, 2007, 4:57 pm
I’m in. The community I live in is a smallish rural town in central Victoria, Australia. Lots of colorful characters and buildings. The town started as a goldrush town in the mid 1850’s, so I’m hopeful of finding plenty of interesting subjects for a weekly posting.
Pingback from 2008 challenge « Lipstick on a pig
Time: December 23, 2007, 5:04 pm
[...] community and post one picture per week. The term “community” is loosely defined. His blog post has more [...]
Comment from trevor
Time: December 23, 2007, 7:46 pm
@Andrew…
Welcome to the Challenge! I can’t wait to see your work from your town. It sounds fun.
Pingback from Leigh’s Photos » The 2008 Challenge
Time: December 24, 2007, 12:57 am
[...] great image a week. Just one a week. That’s not bad! For more information, I invite you to see Trevor’s 2008 Challenge blog. « [...]
Comment from Bill Scherer
Time: December 24, 2007, 10:50 am
I’m in. This challenge will be much easier for me to complete than the December challenge. But it will take longer…
Comment from Patricia
Time: December 25, 2007, 7:54 pm
Trevor, I’m going to give this a try. The portrait-a-day for December has been, to put it kindly, quite challenging. But I’m glad I committed to it and have enjoyed the experience. I agree with Bill: This challenge should be easier for me to do, though to do it well will take thought and planning. Thanks for organizing this.
Comment from David Stone
Time: December 29, 2007, 10:09 am
Sounds like fun-count me in on it. 
Thanks for offering up the challenges. Seeing everyone’s portraits has been really awesome.
Pingback from 2008 Goals. Oh my! « raising the camera
Time: December 30, 2007, 7:58 pm
[...] the 2008 Challenge - Over on TrevorCarpenter.com Trevor is challenging each participant to document their community for an entire year, posting one [...]
Comment from Ian Crane
Time: January 5, 2008, 9:42 pm
I have been commitment phobic so far to your challenges, though i have really wanted to join. This time, i think i’m in! 52 photos, over a yr? i can do that (i tell myself).
Pingback from Leigh’s Photos » Photo Challenge Blog Site
Time: January 5, 2008, 10:59 pm
[...] see his amazing work. Wanting to help others accomplish something similar, I decided to launch the 2008 Challenge. « 2008 Challenge Week [...]
Comment from Chris Nixon
Time: December 21, 2007, 9:07 am
I’m in Trevor. Great challenge.