Week One:

Close Portraits. Include no more than your one subject’s shoulders and face. The goal here is to frame your shots with almost only the subject’s face. This isn’t really a style of portraiture, it’s more of a skill that will enhance your creative portrait taking. Sometimes, just moving in a little closer can produce some wonderful tension and/or composition.

Week Two:

Couples Portraits. If you look around, you’ll notice that many photographers shoot portraits, but almost always limit themselves to solo shots. Rarely do you see photographers including more than one subject. So, I want you to spend the second week shooting pairs of people. They don’t have to be a “couple”, although engagement photos can be a nice way to get your feet wet with a new portrait business. Shoot siblings, best friends, co-workers, etc. There are many options.

Week Three:

Children. Ah, the dreaded kids! This week may be difficult for some of you. If you don’t have kids, you may be limited in the amount of subjects available to you. Plan ahead! Take some time, right now, to think of a few people in your life who have children. I’d suggest you ask them permission as soon as possible. Consider offering them copies of the shots, as a favor. There are two issues to really focus on. The first is the logistical issues. Where to meet? Arrangements with the parents, etc. The second is much more important. How do you photograph a child? I wrote a couple of articles for BeAGoodDad, that might be helpful. Also, the Digital Photography School has a good one to read too. Take the plunge. When parents see amazing photos of their kids, they’re willing to drop down their cold, hard cash for them. Guess what, if you’re good…you get that cash!

Week Four:

Environmental Portraits. Describe.

To continue your preparation, I’d suggest you go back and take a look at last year’s December Challenge. Additionally, below I’ve tossed in a few of my favorite portrait-takers. Each of them shines in their own way. When I’m seeking new ideas, or searching for inspiration, I always peruse the work of really great photographers. These are just a few.

Close up portraits: Karen Strolia

Couples Portraits: Honeysuckle Photography (Josh & Maggie)

Close up Portraits: Kelco

Environmental Portraits: Thomas Hawk

Kids Portraits: Brian Auer

Here’s a few more good portrait articles to keep you learning…

• How To Take Portraits: 19 Portrait Photography Tutorials
• Portrait Photography
• Engagement Photo Ideas
• Engagement Photography Tips
• 16 Inspirational Portrait Photography Techniques
• Creating a photo with a pure white background

Oh yeah, you want to know what the prize is going to be, don’t you? Well, I have one item selected. However, I’m trying to get a few more. So, hold on just a few more days and I’ll fill you in soon.

Each of these weeks’ themes will challenge you, no matter what level of photographer you are. You’ll grow, and by the end of the month, you should be able to recognize that growth. With the exception of the environmental portraiture, you have the freedom to shoot all of this on location or in a studio. If you’ve been a lover of the Strobist’s work, you should be ready to apply what you’ve learned over there. You’ll never know how good you really are, until you take the plunge, and start shooting with a little challenge!

In recent challenges I have sent you all out to shoot the challenge, and then stepped back to see what happens. It has been interesting to see those photographers who commit, and keep up, without any constant reminders. Several of you are committed to growing as a photographer, and you do what it takes to achieve growth. Good for you!

Now, I understand that many of us have lives, outside of our photography. Me too! I have wanted to contribute more to the challenges myself. So I’m not trying to criticize those who haven’t been able to completely meet each challenge. You, growing as a photographer is the goal.

Looking back at the almost full year of photo challenges, I am satisfied not just with my own efforts, but with you efforts too.

You started out with your own theme, several of you joining me as I shot B&W, all month long. Then we all shot a portrait-a-day. What a challenge that was, for me. I’m confident that I learned more during that challenge, than all the others combined. We have continued on, shooting a wide variety of themes, each one bringing another layer of talent and skill to our tool chest. It is the portrait challenge that I keep going back to, though.

So, without any more tension…

For the month of September, 2008, we will be shooting a portrait-a-day, again. This time, there will be a prize! For the first time ever, here at PhotoChallenge.org, we’re shooting for a prize. I have amassed a team of judges, to assist me with selecting some of the best portraits, shot by you.

• Thomas Hawk, a tremendous photographer
• Brian Auer, publisher of Epic Edits, another amazing photographer
• Bill Wadman, one heck of a portrait photographer. (not that he doesn’t shoot other things well too)

These guys will be helping me judge your work, at the conclusion of the Challenge.

Of course, with the addition of a prize, there will be an increased need for you, the participant, to follow the instructions of the challenge. Here they are:

• Each photo must be shot during the month of September, 2008. As great as your past work is, the purpose of this challenge is for you to plan, organize, and shoot your submissions within the time constraints.
• Only one shot per day may be submitted. You aren’t being required to shoot every day. But, if you do, you increase your chances of winning. Plus, you’ll grow that much more.
• In addition to shooting a portrait, each of the four weeks will have a different type of portrait for you to focus on shooting. (The last 3 days of the month will be open to any portrait submission you choose.)
• You’ll have to be a Flickr user. This makes it so much easier for me to organize the work. If you have issues with this, please contact me directly.
• You must tag your submissions properly.
  • You may shoot more than you submit. We’d love to see all your work. For these photographs, you can follow the regular procedure. “photochallenge” & “septemberchallenge2008″ are all appropriate tags.
  • Of course, you can add the all to the PhotoChallenge.org Flickr Group pool.
  • The actual submissions you choose, must be submitted to the PhotoChallenge.org Flickr Group pool AND be tagged with, “septemberchallenge2008-submission”.

To quickly close, I recommend you take a look at the Digital Photography School’s recent resource packed post about portrait photography. This post is more than just a good article. It is a resource you’ll probably need to bookmark and go back to, several times.

First, I’ve seen many of you who did an amazing job of photographing your subject light fixture. You capture the fixture, and a great sample of the light it produces. There are some submissions that could easily be caught in a magazine or catalog, advertising said fixture. Wonderful job!

Second, I’ve seen many of you experimenting with the various ways to capture the light, in an artistic manner. What I mean here is that sometimes I see gorgeous light, bathing a wall, the fog, or the vicinity around the fixture. Many of you have created great works of art, whilst allowing your subject fixture paint your canvas. Wonderful job!

This challenge was fun to watch, as you all created great submissions. Below are some of my favorites, and I’m proud to have had each of you participate.

Keep a special watch here, because in the first few days of August, I’ll be announcing the September Challenge. This one will be a fun, big step for PhotoChallenge.org, you won’t want to miss it!

However, I had already shot a nice lamp at my parents’ home. For the 5th, I decided to shoot an odd light at my new home. I shot the under-the-microwave-stove-light. It was cool to see how it lit the utensils stored on the stovetop. What do you think?

So it’s been a month since we finished the April and May Challenges, back-to-back. I kinda felt bored with my photography in June. Not only did I not get much done, I didn’t get out and shoot very much.

Now, I know that I need to take a break from the monthly challenges, occasionally. Every other month is the best pattern. I get a month to rest and develop the next exciting challenge, then off we go! Shooting all month long then becomes exciting and fun. Seeing what you’re all doing only challenges me even more. So far we’ve shot daily challenges and weekly challenges. We’ve even done one in the middle. I’d say that I actually prefer the daily challenges. It gets me out and shooting on a regular basis. Making the effort every day isn’t really that hard. When we’ve shot weekly, I find that I procrastinate until the end of the week, and I come up with lower quality work.

So, we’re going to shoot daily, again. Don’t like it? Too bad! (he, he)

For July, I want you to go out there and shoot all the lighting fixtures that you can find. Shoot desk lamps and floor lamps. Shoot street lights and head lights. Shoot flood lamps and brake lights.

I’m looking for you to capture the actual light. The fixture is also important, but don’t forget the light it produces. I’d prefer for the light to be lit, but this isn’t a requirement. I’m not interested in what the light is illuminating. That’s not the focus of this challenge. I want us all to grow in our ability to manipulate how we capture the actual light being cast. I’ll follow up this post pointing you in the direction of some sound wisdom about how to do just this.

Below are a few ideas to get you started. I found them with a little search work on Flickr.

We’ll shoot one a day, all month long, for July, 2008. I want new photographs. Make sure to tag your submissions correctly…

• “photochallenge”
• “julychallenge2008″
• “photochallenge.org”

1. Beverage
2. Automobile
3. Your Shoes
4. the # 7
5. Your Thumb

I’d say that the participation was great. I’m pleased with the regular amount of people who are taking the initiative to stretch themselves and stick to a shooting challenge. Forcing yourself to be creative, whilst following a set of guidelines can really be great for your own photographic imagination. For those who have been involved, at any level, I know that you’re glad you joined us.

Here’s the whole set of participants. Below are a few of my favorites…

Taken on the drive home, along the Pacific Ocean, whilst driving the PCH, my thumb is wonderful.

Here’s a few ideas…

This week’s object is inspired by Play Nicely With Others: Games to Play With Your Camera. In that article you’ll find some pretty cool and inspiring ideas to help spark your creativity with your photography.