Got the determination for a 52 week photo challenge?

I tried something similar for a monthly challenge a few years ago. I set myself 12 themes for the year, one for each month. Previous years I had been more general. I found it extremely frustrating having to change gears every month, and ultimately did not complete that year's challenge. The one month that I did enjoy was where I had a specific subject and returned to it multiple times throughout the month.

This year (2018) I set myself a single subject (Lone Trees in Black & White) and have been working to build a decent collection. I have about 120 or so pictures in the collection, which I will filter down in January to get my final collection. I think that this is a better way of working as it allows time to learn about the subject, what works and what doesn't and allows opportunities to learn from mistakes and re-do failed pictures.
 
I think these kinds of lists are good motivators for people that need motivation. Even if you just read through the list once in awhile for ideas, it's worth the read....even if you don't want or need to commit to some yearlong project.
 
I enjoyed these when I first started out. I never could do all of them, though.

Some people find these used though, so whatever gets you, keeps you shooting is great.
Now, I prefer shooting projects that take multiple months or a year to complete.

Like others mentioned, the thing that put me off was changing gears. I hated not being able to fully explore something. That and with the changing theme,I would inevitably get frustrated with some of the subjects they would pick... They just didn't interest me.

I could probably have just shoot something else, but never have it enough thought to do so.

I find now I'm looking into the GuruShots site to see if they have anything or there that interests me to participate in. I find very few, but in my slow season (December-March), I have not time for personal projects.
 
I think these kinds of lists are good motivators for people that need motivation. Even if you just read through the list once in awhile for ideas, it's worth the read....even if you don't want or need to commit to some yearlong project.
You can always just follow along as best you can and use a forum like this for feedback.
 
Back in 2009 I embarked upon a 365 day/POTD project, and did OK with it until along about October, when I simply hit the wall and said, "I can't do this any more!" and quit. I was totally burned out and didn't touch a camera again for a rather long time. Only recently have I been getting back into doing more shooting again and enjoying it once more. Lessons learned from that POTD -- too many (self-imposed) rules and restrictions definitely took away from the pleasure in the project, and while I did learn a lot from it and did create some pretty good images, losing my joy in photography was not a good outcome.

If I were ever to attempt such a project again I would be much, much more relaxed about the entire thing and far more spontaneous in my shooting, finding inspiration wherever it happened to be, rather than trying to go by some list of suggested subjects or themes, as that simply does not work well for me. I also would be more casual about the gear used and editing approaches, too, perhaps experimenting with interesting filters and such in post-processing. The other thing which I found to be problematic was sharing the images each day in a thread on a photography-based site, and therefore I clung to the impression that each and every image had to be just "perfect", which of course is simply not realistic and really not going to be possible!
 
Well, now....... Since that last post above, written three years ago, a few things have changed. The biggie, of course, was making a switch from Nikon to Sony in late November of 2019. Not long after that we were approaching the new year of 2020 and someone suggested that I do a 52-Week Project, and at first I hesitated but then thought, "yeah, that would fit my style much more, and would be far more flexible than trying to do a POTD,!" It also would get me using my new gear on not only a regular basis but challenge me to really explore my new lenses and what they could do. Actually, though, at that point I only had three, two of which were macros....go figure! I knew I'd be gradually accumulating more lenses as the need arose and the funds were available, so that wasn't much of a barrier. Sure enough, not too far into the new year I did add a long lens to give me more options and through that year I did get a few more lenses.

On January 1st 2020 I launched my first 52-Week project and enjoyed it so much that I continued with it in 2021, and am just about to wrap up Week 50. I've been waffling about doing another one, though and am still thinking about it and various optional approaches to change things around a bit, or perhaps simply only doing a Twelve-Month project instead.
 
Oh, so THAT's what that "626" means!!! I noticed the odd numerical thread title when I was fumbling around last night and then again today while having more time to look at things but the penny didn't drop as to what it exactly was...... Well, whaddya know! :D. OK, so there's a new thread daily and whoever is participating tosses in a new image that he or she has shot that day, right?

The way I've been doing the 52 Weeks project is that I shoot pretty much every day anyway, but some days are better than others when it comes to inspiration, shooting conditions, other things I need to do, etc. I keep things pretty loose -- I don't confine myself to just one camera -- I'll use whatever comes to mind and/or hand, including the iPhone. I don't follow any list of suggestions -- it's all pretty spontaneous. I get up and eventually at some point in the day when I'm in the mood to shoot and if I have the time to do so, I briefly consider what I'd like to do and get the camera and a lens out and off we go. Some days I haven't had the time to shoot. At the end of the week, I review the images I've processed and select four or five as the best ones and on Sunday I post to my 52 Week Project thread on Nikon Cafe. Last year we had a few participants, each with his or her own thread, but over time, some of them dropped out. This year it has just been two of us doing this and the other person seems to have fallen by the wayside with her project. No one at Nikon Cafe has done a 365 POTD in quite a few years if I recall correctly.

Ah, so now that I know what that is I'll take another, closer look at what you guys are doing here!
 
You can participate in the Today Challenge for any given stretch of time - the idea is to keep on going for as many days as possible; most of the current participants have been going from the get-go (starting with a year-long "Daily" Challenge being continued and merged into the current one), but some have joined later and dropped out again, some are still with us. But you *can* just drop an image of any given day in there - we just appreciate a little series (of days).

No other restrictions apply - for the use of pre-selected gear, we have the "Single in" challenges every nine months (at the moment).

Oh, and we usually share daily threads - it's much easier to find and appreciate all contributions this way, I find.

M.
 
Thanks! Right now I'm wrapping up my 52 Weeks project on Nikon Cafe, but haven't quite decided what I'm going to do in the new year..... Being here now also opens up new possibilities, as I can see! The "Single In" challenge sounds similar to NC's "Octoberfest" challenge, where participants shoot with specified camera body and lens(es) for the entire month of October. There's also a Week 50 challenge going on right now there and about to finish, where everyone has been using a 50mm lens for the duration.

So many pictures to shoot.....never enough time!
 
I like the Daily challenge treads, and have been a bit on and off in them, depending on if am participating in something else going on here, or not.

This year I have partaken in the "Small sensor challenge" and then the "Single in" (incidentally also with a small sensor), both of which I have found to be good and great challenges, and if I understand it correctly, something that comes around once a year or so. (y)
 
Thanks! Right now I'm wrapping up my 52 Weeks project on Nikon Cafe, but haven't quite decided what I'm going to do in the new year..... Being here now also opens up new possibilities, as I can see! The "Single In" challenge sounds similar to NC's "Octoberfest" challenge, where participants shoot with specified camera body and lens(es) for the entire month of October. There's also a Week 50 challenge going on right now there and about to finish, where everyone has been using a 50mm lens for the duration.

So many pictures to shoot.....never enough time!
The Octoberfest (Oktoberfest?) was the predecessor of the "Single in" challenges on this forum as well, so yes, pretty similar.

And yes, there certainly are reasons to keep shooting - with or without pushing oneself :)

M.
 
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