AOL Community Photo Challenge: January 2008

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Guidelines Revisited--A Synopsis

To all our wonderful photographers, we'd like to say "Thanks for playing!" In an attempt to make things clear and to settle all confusion, here's an outline of the challenge as it has evolved. If a question isn't answered, let Marie and Vicki know so we can address it.

Guidelines:

--Challenges are bi-weekly on the following schedule:

--Topic will be announced on a Friday, end the following Friday and winners will be announced on or before the following Monday. Everyone then rests for a week before the next challenge is announced the following Friday.

--You may still post an entry after the deadline, but it won't be eligible to win...we'd still love to see it, though!

--The winning images will be posted on the challenge journal the Monday following the deadline--for all to enjoy.

--Self-portraits must be just that--a portrait of yourself taken by yourself. If you submit a photo taken by someone else, it's not yours. This challenge is for YOU to showcase your best work.

--Entries - to be eligible for the challenge the following must be followed:

--Entries in your journal must indicate in the subject that it IS an entry into the challenge. The title of your entry can read: AOL Community Photo Challenge - <challenge subject> and should contain a link to the Challenge itself.

--The link (PERMALINK to the entry NOT your entire journal) should then be posted to the comments section of the announcement for the level you're participating in (Advanced or Beginner). This will guide folks back to view your entry and give you exposure.

--All entries must be new ones and be posted during the challenge timeframe. Please do not post a link to an old entry--it will be removed from the comment section.

--NEW: Make a decision as to whether you want to compete in EITHER the Beginner or the Advanced category...then post your image in ONLY ONE of them.

--Presentation counts. If your image needs a border, add one. If it doesn't, don't. Just be sure any frame or border you add enhances your image and doesn't overpower the image. The presentation can win or lose a challenge, sometimes KISS works (Keep It Simple...).

--IMPORTANT--PLEASE READ!!!!! All entrants into the challenge grant permission to the Challenge owners to post their images in the event they win. No further permissions will be requested and the ONLY use of the images will be to display them in the "winner's circle."

We hope this information clears up any remaining confusion. Let us know if it doesn't. :)

Tags: blogplugs, guidelines, challenge,

Monday, January 28, 2008

Beginners-HOMETOWN Winners

Thank you to all our judges; Betty, Donna, Julie, & Nancy in our Beginners Category.

FIRST PLACE

MICHELLE from Reflections

SECOND PLACE

Martha From Perception

HONORABLE MENTION

Sue from Southern Ca Desert and more...

Congratulations to our winners & Thank you to everyone who judged & participated!!!

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Advanced Winners-Hometown

This week we had a few new people to our challenge & I just want to say WELCOME... & a special Thank you to Donna for suggesting HOMETOWN! It was an enjoyable challenge.

We have a 1st place & 2nd Place winners in both categories...also, this time we have
an Honorable Mention. We thought it should be mentioned that HM did tie for 2nd
place in the beginners category, but there was no mention of the challenge in her
ENTRY, so we decided to include her this time, because it was an excellent image, she
did get votes & she is a newcomer.

I know things have been confusing the past month, but we are revising the Basic
Guidelines & hope it will clear things up. It is important to use the COMMUNITY
CHALLENGE- "NAME OF CHALLENGE" in your SUBJECT area of your post, this way it is
easier for people to find it & you must link our Challenge to your entry.

~Marie

Congratulations to our winners & thank you all for participating in our second challenge. Please spread the word for future Challenges.

Thank you to Rob from Lord I Was Born a Ramblin Sam
& Vicki our judges for helping out

If anyone would like a copy of the comments that Sam & Vicki left along with
the scores I will send privately.

FIRST PLACE

Betty from My Day My Interests

SECOND PLACE

Monica(a wedding Photographer) from Midnight Conversations

Tags: Winners, challenge, hometown, blogplugs, advanced

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Tags: challenge links, blogplugs, hometown, photography

Challenge Banner

Here are 2 Challenge Banners for future entries, you may copy & use on future challenges. I kept it narrow & simple, so it wouldn't over power your entries.
There are 2 sizes. I use a 10.5 inch banner on my MAC;

A smaller size - 8 inches wide, recommended for Window PC's

You have permission to copy these & use on your journal challenges. You may try
to link the image to this journal, but sometimes it needs to be linked twice...for some
reason the links to images does not set the first time. Make sure you check the link.
Thank you all for your continued support~

Tags: Photo, blogplugs, challenge, banner, photography

Friday, January 25, 2008

Basic Guidelines

Basic Guidelines on all Challenges

Basic Guidelines

1.Challenges will be biweekly

2.Any photos submitted must be taken by you, the person participating.
If you are in the photo, then it must be a self portrait.

3.We post the new challenge on Fridays & give you a full week to get out & photograph or just select a past photo you have taken, then post it. You can post anytime during that week.

4. The deadline is always the following Friday ( for judging)....but you may post anytime after that. Judging will take place on Saturday &/or Sunday. We will post the winners on Monday. It's a friendly challenge, not a popularity contest.

*5. All entries need a link, just the entry, not the entire journal, back to OUR Challenge entry .
[We need to see the entry as The Challenge entry which needs to link back to this journal. When posting your permalink to the comment area it needs to be a link to the ENTRY, not just your journal.]or it may not be considered in the judging.

6. ALL entries need to be new posts. It must be an entry posted within the given time, not before, you can not add a link to the comment area from an old post.

We ask that you visit all entries & leave comments when you can.....Ü Just to be nice~

Tags: Challenges, photo, guidelines, blogplugs

Monday, January 21, 2008

Beginner or Advanced? How to decide...

There seems to be some confusion as to what constitutes Beginner and Advanced in skill levels, since 99.9% of us are really amateurs. I hope I can clear things up with the following:

--Beginners are folks who snap a photo for whatever reason they have--creating "snapshots." They don't have the training for advanced photography. It's where we all started out. Most don't stay at that level...so keep learning!

--Advanced photographers have been shooting long enough (how long is enough? that's very subjective!) to have acquired some skill in composition, lighting, etc. They don't all have to be using SLR cameras, but if you're skilled at using one, you're definitely advanced. Folks who belong to camera clubs, who have taken any classes, or tutorials, on photography, who have skills in Photoshop...these are advanced.

Look back over your photos...if you've improved greatly since you started, you should seriously think about entering at the Advanced level. Marie and I will try to gently nudge those of you who we think belong there. The final decision is yours, though.

Tags: blogplugs, skill levels, beginner, advanced

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Clearing Up Some Confusion

There seems to be a bit of confusion about which level folks should enter to submit their images. I think the confusion comes from the use of the word Amateur for both of the levels, since even the advanced photographers are mostly amateurs. To clarify the differences, please think of the two levels as:

1. BEGINNER

2. ADVANCED

We hope this clears up any confusion folks might have. You can always email one or all of us if you have any questions. :)

Tags: blogplugs, skill levels, categories

Friday, January 18, 2008

Community Photo Challenge-Hometown[Advanced ONLY]

Community Photo Challenge-Hometown[Advanced ONLY]

The theme for this week's challenge will be Hometown, suggested by Donna.

Select a photo that best represents "Hometown"
This could be something you love about where you live, either your hometown, home state, country....anything that shows your home. It is your interpretation of "Hometown" or "Home"

Repeat from another post....
[Marie: "Examples; NYC, the city skyline at night. or Could be a seaside cottage, or country home..... I recently was part of a photo challenge & was asked to suggest a theme.
This was mine "Home is where the Heart is"]

You may add something about why you chose this photo.
All entries must have a description of the photo, including when it was taken (the year) & where. Anything that would be of interest to visitors checking out your image.

AGAIN....
Keep in mind when shooting or selecting a photo for the challenge;
1. The theme of this challenge
2. Presentation
3. Composition
4. Interest
5. Quality

ALSO.....
Please TRY visit all participants in both categories & leave comments on all those who have entered in this challenge. Don't forget to leave your link on all comments. Ü

A reminder....Vicki & I will be posting photos, but will not be considered in the challenge when judging.
Thank you all, again, for making the first challenge a great success & all your wonderful, encouraging comments left on this journal. We all truly appreciate your support. Ü

If you have any suggestions, you may leave them in the comment area or E-mail one or all of us.

•ADVANCED ONLY POST IN THIS COMMENT AREA•

Tags: blogplugs, photo, challenge, photography, hometown, aol journals

Community Photo Challenge-Hometown[Amateurs ONLY]

Community Photo Challenge-Hometown[Beginners ONLY]

The theme for this week's challenge will be Hometown, suggested by Donna.

Select a photo that best represents "Hometown"
This could be something you love about where you live, either your hometown, home state, country....anything that shows your home. It is your interpretation of "Hometown" or "Home"

Repeat from another post....
[Marie: "Examples; NYC, the city skyline at night. or Could be a seaside cottage, or country home..... I recently was part of a photo challenge & was asked to suggest a theme.
This was mine "Home is where the Heart is"]

You may add something about why you chose this photo.
All entries must have a description of the photo, including when it was taken (the year) & where. Anything that would be of interest to visitors checking out your image.

AGAIN....
Keep in mind when shooting or selecting a photo for the challenge;
1. The theme of this challenge
2. Presentation
3. Composition
4. Interest
5. Quality

ALSO.....
Please TRY visit all participants in both categories & leave comments on all those who have entered in this challenge. Don't forget to leave your link on all comments. Ü

A reminder....Vicki & I will be posting photos, but will not be considered in the challenge when judging.
Thank you all, again, for making the first challenge a great success & all your wonderful, encouraging comments left on this journal. We all truly appreciate your support. Ü

If you have any suggestions, you may leave them in the comment area or E-mail one or all of us.

•Beginners ONLY POST IN THIS COMMENT AREA•

Tags: blogplugs, photo, challenge, photography, hometown, aol journals

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Reminder, vote for the next challenge

The next challenge will be posted on Friday with 2 separate entries for 2 separate
groups, Amateurs & Advanced amateurs/Professionals. Please remember to post only
one in the group you feel comfortable entering. [If you are a photographer, please do
not enter in the amateur group]

I, Marie, will be judging the advanced group, along with Vicki & Rob.

Keep in mind when shooting or selecting a photo for the challenge;
1. The theme of this challenge
2. Presentation
3. Composition
4. Interest
5. Quality

Here are a few links you may want to check out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/apictureofbritain/how_to/

http://www.hitouchimaging.com/DigitalTech/THD_DT702.asp

http://www.popphoto.com/?path=G&WT.srch=1&gclid=CPPhmuCV5ZACFQfbQAodmxMQQg

Vicki added.....
Comment from: cmishvicki
"Hi, Marie, and everyone...just want folks to know that Marie and I will still post something appropriate for the challenge. We just won't be eligible to win...but this is FUN!
Vicki"

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

CHALLENGE•POLL

Donna's suggestion is
Hometown, a place where you live, your home state, country...what you love about your home. Something that represents your home,state, country. It is your interpretation of "Hometown" or "Home"

[Marie: "Examples; NYC, the city skyline at night. or Could be a seaside cottage, or country home..... I recently was part of a photo challenge & was asked to suggest a theme.
This was mine"Home is where the Heart is"]

Nancy,
"The Unexpected"
Anything surprising....could be anything. Something one sees that they didn't expect to see (and they shoot it)...or it could be a photo that one manipulates to show the viewer something unexpected.

Betty
suggestion for February.....love/romance for St. Valentine's Day. which we will do the following challenge for Feb.

Julie
suggested Winter, so Vicki also made mention about the color Blue & Winter Blues......So maybe The Color Blue & Winter Blues so a winter scene....with blue in it..Ü
Maybe something blue with a winter theme.

Please vote only once. Thanks~

In additon....Any theme that was listed & not used will be added to our list for future challenges.

Comment from: cmishvicki
"Just want to clarify something about my suggestion. I loved the idea of a Winter theme, but many of us live in areas where there are really no seasons...so, Blue or Winter Blues gives someone in southern Florida the chance to enter something that's still appropriate--like a Blue Heron. :)

Tags: poll, blogplugs, challenge, photo, photography

Monday, January 14, 2008

Winners• Beginnings

I want to thank, again, EVERYONE for making our first photo challenge a success!
All the photos were beautiful & I hope everyone will try to participate in as many challenges as they can.

To support our efforts & spread the word of our challenge, you may snag the small graphic image in the post below & post it on you side bar of your journal, with a link to this blog. You don't have to, just letting you know that it's there if you want to...Ü

Now....On to the winners!

Tied for 1st place, both had the most votes......

Betty from My Day My Interests

& Donna from This and that and hockey

Second Place photos....
Nancy, Nancyluvspix

and Julie, My Photo Journey

Both tied.... for second place. I was not going to make 1st & 2nd, but both deserve
to be highlighted for the amount of votes they received. I was only going to take the
top 3 winners, but in this case, it'sthe top 4...........Congratulations to all~

Those winners will email me their suggestions for the next challenge which will start
& be posted on Friday. These winners will judge the next challenge in the amateur
Challenge. They can also compete in the profession/advanced amateur challenge,
which will be judged by a few photographers.

Tags: blogplugs, winners, photo challenge,

Sunday, January 13, 2008

VERY IMPORTANT Ü

***VERY IMPORTANT ***

For all future challenges.......

All photos MUST be original photography taken by the participant/Journal owner. It cannot be a photo of them unless it is a self portrait.

Some comments about the voting for this challenge...

As I visited every entry I knew this was going to be a difficult decision on what was my favorite image for this challenge. I did take many things into consideration, but never looked at who the person behind the camera was, whether or not I knew them. I just viewed the photos. After going through all 27 entries and viewing them over & over & over as some were being voted on, I have finally narrowed down my choices for my favorites to 4--which was difficult! So, I realize that this is a difficult decision for all Jlanders who are voting for only 1! [NOTE: I am counting the votes--I am not voting.]

I am questioning a hand full of votes (hanging chads, you know) but on the whole it seems like most people that are really voting for their favorite image...and some even go into detail regarding the reasons for their vote. Those people, I know, really gave a lot of consideration to their final decision & viewed all images.

I have visited every journal that entered and was hoping everyone would do the same--and leave a comment to show their support and to give encouragement. Unfortunately that did not happen.

The newer journals were only getting about 10-17 comments while the more popular journals (of course) got more. We had 27 entries, not including mine (which was not included in the voting). I had hoped that at least 27 comments would be left on all journals that entered. I even checked out who was leaving comments and who was not. I looked into a couple of voters who never even left a comment on the photo after voting for it. With that said, I think a new voting procedure will be tested for the next challenge.

The next challenge will have a different voting method...Thank you to all that made some wonderful suggestions on how we can do this.

I decided to make this a combination--using ideas that were posted and what we had originally wanted.

There will be 2 categories
1. Amateur
2. Advanced amateur/professional

Each participant will select what category they feel they should compete in, based on their level of expertise and experience. Anyone who has won competitions, sold their work, etc. should enter in Category 2. Beginners should, of course, enter in Category 1.

Both categories will have the same subject for the challenge.

There will be a total of 3 winners:

2 winners in the Amateur category
1 winner in the Advanced category

The 1st category--Amateurs--will be judged by the last 3 winners (in both categories) of the previous challenge.

In the 2nd category--Advanced--a small select group of judges will vote on the winner. This is the procedure used for juried art/photography shows and PSA and camera club competitions.

All winners will get a small award to add to their journal. They will then have the opportunity to help suggest the next challenge as well as judging the next challenge. We ask them to email their suggestions to us--we will create a poll so that everyone can vote; and then announce what the next challenge will be.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

REMINDER.....VOTING

Voting has started!
Email your vote to me, Mariebm56@aol.com

Friday, January 11, 2008

Beginnings-The challenge has begun

I want to thank everyone for participating in our First Photo Challenge. Although it will never replace John Scalzi's Monday Photo Shoot, I hope it will come close to being successful as his challenge. This challenge is dedicated to John Scalzi....

Thank you John for giving us the incentive to continue with a wonderful tradition!

I also want to thank a few extra people, Vicki, who along with myself put this whole project together, Gina & Martha who have just started & have some wonderful ideas. Thank you to a few Jlanders who have very popular blogs for promoting it!

THANK YOU EVERYONE who participated!

I am posting the links early because we had so many participants & I want to make sure that everyone's entries gets seen. Any additional entries posted tonight will be added tomorrow morning.

Email votes to me, @ Mariebm56@aol.com
beginning Saturday & ending Sunday at midnight. (see second entry for details-GUIDELINES)
Add the person's name, name of journal, & permalink
subject area; Challenge VOTE

Moving on to the challenge & voting...Ü

Before sending in your votes, I want to emphasize that all entries need to be seen, in all fairness.
1. Try to visit ALL entries before voting ,
2. THEN vote & remember to keep in mind,
    a. best photo that represents the subject of the challenge.
    b. should be based on the quality of photo, take into consideration the     composition, light , color and/or contrast.

Here are the 27 participants!!!

UPDATE: No more entries. These are the final participants...Ü
Make sure you visit all journals & try to leave comments on all. Just to let them know you viewed their work.
Thank you~

myrdog

midwestvintage

pharmolo

ma24179

_rRose

madcobug

nay0114

inafrnz247

cmishvicki

nightmaremom

fasttrack58

gehi6

lsfp1960

specialadyfink

nhd106

ryanagi

benu4444

oldetownephotos

stupidsheetguy

fowfies

cyn4mc2856

lifes2odd

monicasmemoirs

wwfbison

rbrown6172

rap4143

inquestoftruth

Tags: blogplugs, first aol photo community challenge, photography, vote

Thursday, January 10, 2008

On Voting.....looking for your thoughts~

I posted this on the wrong blog....Geeeeez, I am getting as bad as Jimmy.
; (

On voting........

We are looking into a few options with the voting part of this Challenge BLOG & would like feedback on this. If you could email me on your thoughts, or leave comments here.
these are some options that we are considering....

1. Voting be open only to those who submit an entry.

2. Voting open to anyone.(this is what we are doing this week)

3. Have a few judges, who have a background in photography & must have a photosite so we all can view their photos. (this way, people can understand that the submissions ARE being judge fairly.) Then, THEY select the best 3 & have the AOL community vote thru AOL polls .

4. Just have a small panal of photographer judges vote & then post one winner.

Keep in mind, that this IS NOT a popularity contest. I have seen in the past, Unofficial AOL award nominations handed out to people who clearly were not photographers, just had a journal with family pictures on it. This is not a challenge where you email your friends & tell them to vote for you.

It is no big deal. The winner justs gets their photo(with permission) posted on here at the end of the challenge. No prize, no money handed out.....just a small recognition.

It's also a good idea to visit all entries & leave a comment & your own link to your journal. The idea is to get exposure, learn more about photography..... get out & shoot.

And.....If you do not like the idea of voting, you can still submit & not vote. OR try other challenges that do not have voting.

I've been a Round Robin participant for the past 2 years & we also have challenges twice a month.
This is a well organized challenge & they are always looking for new photographers to join in.

Krissy has a JLAND challenge & Karen also started a Monday Photo shoot , which may be an every week challenge. I don't know too much about these challenges but I think it's a spin off of John Scalz's Photo challenge, like ours.

The reason why I added the voting was, b/c someone suggested it...Ü & my photo was selected a few times for the MAIN BLOG page site, by John Scalzi. Every week someone's photo was on there & I thought it was kind of nice getting that exposure on my photography. I am not trying to make this a competition, I want it to be a friendly venture.

Ü

Tags: blogplugs, Photography, photo challenge, voting

Sunday, January 6, 2008

To Add a Direct Link to Your Entry

For those who do not know how to add a direct link to their post, follow directions below

1. Go to your journal and create your challenge entry.

2. At the bottom of that ENTRY, next to your name, is a link that says permalink.

3. Click on "permalink" and,

4. it will show just that entry.

5. Go to browser address bar on top where you type web addresses and you will see the address for the entry. Highlight the entire address, go to edit > copy. Now you have the address on your clipboard.

6. Go back to the Challenge Journal and paste it in the comment section of the challenge entry.

Remember that folks are clicking on that link to see your ENTRY...not your entire journal. If you want to add readers to your journal, following these guidelines can help! If someone likes what they see, they'll check out the rest of your journal and subscribe to alerts!

Tags: Adding links, permalink

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Basic Guidelines for the Photo Challenge

Here are a some more detailed guidelines for the Photo Challenge. Remember, everyone...this is just for fun, but since we all seem to be more motivated when there's a prize or a ribbon or a "First Place" sticker involved, we'll be voting for our favorites--vote for the photo that you feel deserves to be honored.

New challenges will be posted on a Friday. Entry deadline is the following Friday. Voting will take place that weekend, ending on Sunday at midnight. Winners will be announced on Monday and will be posted on this journal for all to see and admire!

The dates of the current challenge will be posted along with the topic. For your vote to count, you need to send an email to Mariebm56@aol.com in the voting time period.

Simple, right?

So, to start things off right the Absolute First Photo Challenge information follows:

Topic: Beginnings

Deadline for entries: Friday, January 11th

Dates for voting: Saturday & Sunday, January 12th & 13th (before midnight)

Winning photos will be posted, along with links, by end of day Monday, January 14th.

Have fun!

Tags: blogplugs, photography, photo, guidelines, challenge

Community Photo Challenge-BEGINNINGS

Community Photo Challenge-"BEGINNINGS"

To start off the New Year & a New Photo Challenge we have decided to make the first challenge "BEGINNINGS" Any goes as long as it represents beginnings. New baby, budding flowers, baby birds, sunrises...You can use your own file photo(past photos) for this one. Not many rules here. Try to be creative--presentation is important, even if you just add a small border around the photo so it doesn't get lost on the background of your journal.

You can add as many photos as you want, but the first/main photo posted will be your entry and the one that's included in the voting.

The whole idea of this challenge is to enjoy our photography, get exposure for our images and journals, visit with fellow photo-bloggers and comment on what we see. We'll also have a vote on each challenge--votes to be sent to Mariebm56@aol.com. The subject of your voting email should be: Challenge Vote. We will revisit the voting situation after we've had a couple of cycles to see how it works out.

The "We" in this group includes Vicki, Gina and me, Marie, with Martha as our eager helper. We welcome all to our very first Photo Challenge!

Plans are to post the challenge on a Friday with a 1-week deadline for entries to be posted. Voting will take place over the weekend following the deadline (deadline for votes would be Sunday at midnight, eastern time). On Monday, thewinners will be announced and, if allowed, posted on this journal.

Enter your photo by posting it on your Blog or Photo Site, along with a link to this challenge. Come back here and leave your: Name, Journal or Site name and a link to your entry in the comment section.

The winner will have input to picking the next topic--don't worry, we have a list if you need help with that.

Ladies and Gentlemen...start your cameras!

UPDATE: To clear up any misunderstanding, the deadline on this challenge will be January 11.

UPDATE 2: Make sure you leave your PERMALINK to your entry on the comment section and make sure it gets there & works. Ü Instructions on where to find the permalink is in the 3rd entry & you can also click on the link found on the sidebar too.

Tags: Blogplugs, photos, photography, challenges, beginnings

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