52 Week Photography Challenge? Don’t Do It Alone.

Summary

The article discusses the benefits of participating in a 52 Week Photography Challenge with peers rather than alone, emphasizing collective growth, accountability, and the value of honest critique.

Abstract

The 52 Week Photography Challenge is a popular annual online event where participants create and share one photograph per week based on predetermined themes. The author advocates for collaborating with friends during this challenge to enhance the learning experience. By engaging with others, photographers gain honest feedback, which is crucial for improvement. The article highlights the importance of constructive critique over simple praise, as it helps in identifying specific strengths and weaknesses in one's work. Additionally, the social aspect of the challenge ensures participants remain accountable and consistently engaged. The author reflects on their personal experience of completing the challenge with two friends, which led to a significant improvement in their photography skills and inspired them to continue with another year of self-designed weekly tasks. The article concludes by encouraging readers to embark on their own collaborative photography projects and provides ten creative prompts to help them start.

Opinions

The author values the depth of learning and improvement that comes from honest critique rather than superficial praise.
Working with others is seen as a way to ensure accountability and maintain consistent engagement with the challenge.
The challenge's structure, with its rotating categories of Storytelling, Technical, and Artistic Impression, is believed to effectively push photographers out of their comfort zones.
The collective design of weekly tasks in the subsequent year after completing the challenge is considered a testament to its success and the participants' commitment to growth.
The author is confident that a collaborative approach to a year-long photo project will expand a photographer's visual toolbox and skills.

The benefits of working with others.

Photo by author.

It is the time of the year when 52 Week Photography Challenges populate the internet like mushrooms after a rain. The concept is simple: create one photograph a week based on criteria provided by the designer of the challenge. Share your image on social media. Rinse and repeat for 52 weeks.

The challenges are based on categories, or prompts, designed to expand your photography skills — by pushing you in new creative directions. You may be an enthusiastic landscape photographer who is suddenly asked to shoot a portrait. A dedicated street photographer may find light painting to be a foreign concept, yet interesting and playful once experienced. That is the secret sauce of a 52 Week Challenge: you will become a better photographer by immersing yourself in these new experiences.

Don’t do it alone.

Five years ago, I invited two friends to join me in a 52 Week Photo Challenge. The intent — based on decades of friendship — was to go beyond a mutual admiration loop. I wanted honest critique. I also thought that working with others would collectively improve our photographic skills. This was not about collecting “likes,” or “claps,” or pats on the back. I was looking to tap into the knowledge and skill of two photographers who I respect and admire. I trusted them enough to be completely honest in their assessment. I knew they would not just give fluffy compliments. They would carefully dissect the merits, or pitfalls, of the images without fear of bruising or inflating egos. Learning to identify the specific elements that make an image work, or fail, is invaluable information. That is what I was looking for.

The secondary benefit of having partners in this photo adventure is that they keep you accountable. You cannot hide behind anonymity. They know who you are.

So, what did you create?

The challenge, originally published in the photography portal PetaPixel, asked that you create photographs based on three rotating categories: Story telling, Technical, and Artistic Impression. From depicting levitation to photographing a stranger. From creating leading lines to telling a story using a mirror. There was enough variety in the weekly challenges to keep everyone interested. For example, one of the tasks asked to tell the story of something forgotten. How would you approach that?

Levitation. Photo by author.

Light Painting. Photo by M. Agrios.

Mirror. Photo by J. Keeler.

Moving on.

After 52 weeks of shooting, editing, posting, and commenting — the project proved successful. I believe that working through the challenge with other photographers was an important reason for its success. It was a fun, interactive, engaging, and rewarding experience. The proof: we decided to continue for another 52 weeks, but we collectively designed our own weekly tasks that following year.

To get you started.

Here are ten suggestions you may want to try to get you started. I hope you find them inspirational:

Color outside the lines. Interpret that as you will.

The Moody Blues. Like the band, or not.

Abandoned. Show the lost and found.

A song title. Got a favourite tune?

Power to the people. Interpret that as you will.

Light trails. Slow that shutter speed and catch the light.

Toy story. Lots of room to be playful here.

Still Life. A good project for a winter day.

Upside down. Turn the world on its head.

Tell your story. Flip the camera inwards.