Photo Challenges Hooked Bloggers- Content & Community
Readers and writers get hooked on photo challenges. Photo challenges provide themes and an example response to prime your writing or photography pump. Bloggers look at your work to get ideas. Some of them stick and become part of your community. In this post, you will find an updated list of photo challenges and some tips for participating in them.
“Photography is the only language that can be understood around the world” Bruno Barbey
- There’s no more wasted time thinking of a topic!
- You have time to plan and schedule posts.
- Now you can be consistent.
- Fewer unused photographs languish abandoned in your files. Why:
- There are not enough of them to create a post, or
- they are silly,
- bad,
- or just too purple.
Getting Hooked on Photo Challenges Supports
- The bloggers who host them,
- The blogging neophyte who makes an instant friend.
- Regular blog challenge followers form communities.
- Others’ posts inspire more ideas.
WordPress author Michelle W. posted about the importance of community and listed several sites to join. However, if you want to create your own photography community, realize that it takes a lot of time and thought to host a blog challenge. Host bloggers:
- are regular and consistent as the need for food
- create an icon for each published challenge
- publish themes for each challenge
- read the posts of those who respond
- sometimes/usually recognize them on their blog
- write comments on participant’s blog
“A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.” Eudora Welty
Thoughts on Photo Challenges
Terri Webster Schrandt writes in her blog, Second Wind Leisure,
“I love photography and I take tons of photos with my Samsung phone and my digital camera! There are a variety of photography challenges available and most are open to everyone.”
Here are some of the challenges that have hooked Terri’s and me.
Cee Neuner suggests the WordPress page of event challenges. There are tons of challenges of all types, and they are searchable. I clicked on some of them to test them out. One went to a private blog and did not have information. This page includes one-time challenges which have ended.
Yvette Prior also has a master list of challenges she enjoys on her blog. Here is a link to the Photography and Visual Arts page. You can sort by how often they occur as well. However, some of them are outdated from as far back as Sept. 2015.
Monday
- Trablogger’s Mundane Monday Photo Challenge
- Monday Window organized by Ludwig Keck.
- SL-Week is in French and English. There is a new theme or word weekly organized by Sylvain Landry. In addition to contributing pictures to the challenge, you can also participate by voting for winners.
- Monday Walks with Jo This is one of The Eternal Traveller‘s favorite challenges. It’s not really a challenge, just a chance to share your favorite walks. Couple with Cee Neuner’s Which Way Challenge
- Sally D’s Mobile Phonography Challenge There is a recurring theme each week, but the objective is to use your phone as a camera.
- Macro Moments Photography challenge by Susan Gutterman Deadline for submitting your entries is 8:00 a.m. Tuesday, Pacific Time.
Tuesday
- Cee Neuner’s Cee’s Odd Ball Challenge I like this one because it uses photographs that do not fit anywhere else. Cee hosts different challenges for different days of the week. Check her site for the many challenges she hosts.
- Jennifer Nicole Wells‘ One Word Photo Challenge She has seasonal challenges as well. See below for the most current seasonal challenge.
- Sandra from Wild Daffodil posts a calendar of themes for the entire year on her Photo Challenge. She and Cathy share the duties of monitoring the challenge.
- Here’s a new photo challenge that Terri Webster Brandt found, Dutch Goes the Photo. Each Tuesday Frank posts a new theme.
Wednesday
- Create with Joy’s Wordless Wednesday This blogger hosts challenges for practically every day of the week.
- Linda G. Hill posts a One-Liner Wednesday challenge.
- Trent’s World Weekly Smiles Note – the weekly smile runs Wednesday Morning to Wednesday morning. I post in the morning (Eastern US) and put up the link usually between 7 and 8 AM
Thursday
- Norm 2.0’s Thursday Doors
- Paula’s Thursday’s Special. Click on her link to see her scheduled challenges.
- Leanne Cole’s Thursday post is Monochrome Madness Entries must be emailed to her by Tuesday @ 6:00 pm Melbourne, AU time. Additional instructions are at the bottom of the post.
- Check out Nancy Merrill’s A Photo a Week Challenge. Take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday.
Friday
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Each Friday, WP creates a theme by which bloggers can share their photo depicting that theme. Pingbacks help bloggers discover other bloggers.
- Charlotte Wasylik of Prairie Birder hosts Feathers on Friday Challenge
- Ailsa Prideaux-Mooney’s Where’s My Backpack
Saturday
- Cate has a Six Word Saturday challenge I like. It’s sort of like writing a haiku or a tweet for your picture. It’s a challenge to pack bang into your word bucks.
- Jennifer Nichole Wells Weather Challenge Break from January – April. The themes are posted ahead of time.
Sunday
- Darren from South East of England My Sunday Photo
- Hey Jude’s Garden Photo Challenge on the first Sunday of the month
- Jay Mountford’s Silent Sunday Challenge one picture, no words, please.
- Paula has several challenges including Black and White Sunday
Any Day Photo Challenges
- Facebook had its Photo Challenge called #7DayNaturePhotoChallenge Hashtags get you all kinds of groups and communities – a topic for another post.
- One more #photochallenge on Facebook.
- Cardinal Guzman has an artistic challenge. He wants only new material each month. Check out his page, and you’ll understand what he wants.
- Photo a Day from Mat Mum Slim, who looks beautiful, BTW. #FMSphotoaday
- Carol, from my home state of IN shares an interesting challenge if you want flowers all year at May Dreams Gardens
- Dawn from the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, an hour outside of Washington DC, two hours away from the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay hosts Lingering Looks at Windows. You can post anytime during the month.
- Photo Rehab Lucille opened the Photo Rehab Event in this blog, a ‘healing clinic,’ for all of us who love photography (hobbyists, amateurs, pro-shooters, and enthusiasts) who missed the course and daily interaction with other photo bloggers.
Seasonal challenges
- Jennifer’s Halloween Challenge started Oct. 1 with a different theme each day. Check it out.
- Verena Cave posts a challenge called Festival of Leaves.
People who got hooked on photo challenges
Finally, most, if not all, challenge bloggers post a link to all the bloggers who enter their challenges. Follow the clicks to get instant friends. Sticky friends are the ones you enjoy and revisit frequently.
- One of my favorite Sticky Friends is Sylvia. She participates in almost every blog challenge in the blogosphere. Not only are her photographs excellent, but her stories about them are hilarious.
- If you want to learn travel facts, Justin Beaver and his mom, The Eternal Traveller use Photo Challenges and humor to educate both young and old.
- The World is a Book, a new blogger to me, participates in many challenges including my friend Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness
If you find other challenges, post a link to your post answering that ongoing contest in my comment box. 🙂
Please share if you enjoy photo challenges.
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
34 responses to “Getting Hooked on Photo Challenges”
[…] Getting Hooked on Photo Challenges […]
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[…] Getting Hooked on Photo Challenges: Part Two of a Four Part Series (Terri inspired this post of mine.) […]
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[…] Photo Challenges […]
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This is a great list of photo challenges. It not only gets you to post often (and the sense of community), but it also helps you work on your own photography skills and style. Since the photos aren’t for anything thing specifically, you can play around with photoshop and have fun!
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Yes, that was the purpose in posting the list. What photo challenges do you post in?
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[…] Getting Hooked on Photo Challenges […]
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Thanks so much for the mention.
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So worth it, Cee!!! You work hard!!!
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[…] Getting Hooked on Photo Challenges […]
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Thank you Marsha. You have put such a great list together – it must have taken you ages!!!
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It’s a process and always changing.! I just heard from Yvette, and she’s changing hers, too. So I’m just happy I can serve! ???
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Thanks for the mention in this great post Marsha.
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You’re welcome!
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I love Sylvia too :). I don’t know if you know about this monthly challenge run by the blogger known as Cardinal Guzman https://cardinalguzman.wordpress.com/2016/07/20/the-changing-seasons-july-2016/
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I did not, but I will add it! 🙂 If you know any others please let me know. Thanks, Paula 🙂
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Kyss og klem til Paula!
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I’m flattered that you mentioned my challenges, Marsha. Thank you.
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You are more than welcome. Challenges do a lot for photo bloggers.
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Glad to know that you are getting hooked by the photo challenges. Glad again that you joined MM challenge. The expressions in the pictures are cute! Hope to see your entries again. Sorry I missed to add your entry in the previous week. I’ll do it on the coming week’s post.
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I love this. The community blogging challenges create is beyond amazing. Thank you for sharing and for including the OWPC on the list.
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When I go back and look through many of my friend’s blogs, I notice that I met most of them through Photo Challenges., and I don’t even consider myself a photographer in the truest sense of the word. 🙂 I do love the challenges, though! You’re welcome for the shout out. 🙂
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Thanks so much for the mention. Challenge communities are so fun to be a part of. 😀
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You’re welcome, Cee. I don’t know how you have time to keep up on all you do!???
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Thanks for the shoutout!
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You are welcome!
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I find photo challenges give me ideas for new posts, especially on Justin Beaver’s blog.
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Yes, he does an amazing job on them. I will link him to my article!
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Thanks for the links. It’s a great list to be included in.
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Marsha, I’m so happy to know that I’m your alltime favourite ‘Sticky Friend’. You’ve just made my day. 🙂 ❤
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You are indeed one of the very best.???
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I see all these challenges and love looking at them and reading about them – one day I might just join in when I’m not so busy (and far more organised) 😀
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You are so busy. Working, writing, blogging. I’m retired, and I can’t catch them all regularly. Sylvia is one of the few I have found that does them all regularly. Terri Schrandt is starting to do this as well. It’s one way to build community. You build community a different way, Dianne. 🙂 Thanks so much for being part of mine! 🙂
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Awesome post, Marsha! And thank for the link and shout out! I would like to feature this post in a few weeks (we can make it a guest post). I’ll PM you wilth my idea. I am going to check out some of those other challenges. It can really be fun to combine challenges!
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Sounds good!
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