Allow me to introduce you to my friend Terri. When I started this series on hosting challenges, the intent was to focus just on writing challenges. However, many bloggers do some of their best writing in response to photo challenges.
If you host a writing or photo challenge, please contact me. I’d love to set up an interview/guest post with you.
Please, give Terri a huge Always Write welcome with tons of comments and likes. Don’t forget to participate in her challenge, Sunday Stills.
Guest Post by Terri Webster Schrandt, Second Wind Leisure Perspective
Ⓒ 2020
My Blogging Journey
I began blogging consistently in Fall 2014, as I neared retirement from my 32 years with a public parks and recreation organization. Like any blogger, I wanted to write interesting content and meet other bloggers. As I neared retirement, I thought I would start a consulting business and blogging seemed like a good fit for promoting it. Once I went back to university lecturing, teaching 15 units a year, I found I lacked the time to sustain a side business.
I blog on the WordPress hosted platform which sponsored several blogging how-to’s and challenges. Some readers may remember the Blogging University which taught new bloggers about the basics of blogging (Blogging 101) and Photography 101. In 2014, not only did I meet and follow new bloggers, but I also grew a set of followers as a result of the community that developed around the challenges.
It was during this time I realized I had a knack for photography and used my background in art and journalism to write posts about recreation and leisure using my original images.
I learned quickly that including an image with a blog post created visual interest and attracted more readers. Over time I was inspired to write my first short book Better Blogging with Photography which continues to sell worldwide on Amazon.
Like any blogger, I wanted to write interesting content and meet other bloggers.
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What prompted you to begin to host a photo challenge?
Challenges bring new readers, interest, and engagement to any blog. Challenges fit well within the framework of hobby blogging.
I always enjoyed the WordPress Weekly photo challenge early on in my blogging journey and I discovered other challenges and participated in link parties. This was during the time I was building my readership and meeting new bloggers. I enjoyed the Sunday Stills Photography Challenge, but the original host announced he was through with blogging and called it quits.
My own blog morphed into photography with emphasis on fitness, leisure, and recreation. After a lengthy blogging break in early 2018, I woke up one night with the idea that I could reinstate and host Sunday Stills myself. The timing was rather interesting. I jumped back in with Sunday Stills in May 2018 just as WordPress announced the end of its ridiculously popular weekly photo challenge.
What is your purpose in hosting the challenge? How does it help photographers?
The purpose is simple: to inspire others to create images related to a weekly theme. I am challenged, too, as I select each month’s themes in advance. Many photo challenges out there are very specific to photography techniques and their hosts are not only a wealth of information about photography techniques, but accomplished photographers in their own right.
Photobloggers help each other in this way by sharing techniques, ideas and continuing support and enthusiasm for each other’s work.
One photographer in northern California went so far as to recommend a camera to me. For that I am eternally grateful for his advice and support.
I also believe that images help create the idea for the story when inspiration is lacking.
Bloggers are not limited to posting only on Sundays, as they have all week to share their own post and images.
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How much time does it take to create a blogging challenge?
It can take 5-10 hours a week. Just creating my own post and prepping my images for publication often takes me 3-5 hours. Being that this has a weekly theme, I first decide on each month’s set of themes. I publish this on my Sunday Stills page so the planners of the blogosphere can plan their images and posts in advance. Of course, I must find my own images for each theme, post-edit them, and write a post that not only showcases my images but provides examples for other participants. I comment and share each post on Twitter and Facebook when possible. Bloggers are not limited to posting only on Sundays, as they have all week to share their own post and images. Some of the time spent is checking daily for new pingbacks and approve, comment and share.
What steps do you take to get your challenge ready?
At the end of each month, I choose themes and post them one month advance on my Photography page. I choose photos that highlight the theme while writing a title and post that is general but inspiring to other bloggers.
How do you follow up with your participants? I post every Sunday at 7:00 am Pacific Time and bloggers read and many link to the challenge. I approve links, read and comment on each post and share on social media.
How did you attract people to participate?
I have a good following and many folks seem to enjoy my photography. Sunday Stills had been popular, and many were excited to see it come back. As I join other challenges, other bloggers find my blog and participate in my challenge.
Is your challenge like a club where you put a widget on your website or embed something on your post?
Not really, but I have a Sunday Stills image widget on my sidebar where bloggers can click to the page for more information.
Do you determine winners? If so, how?
No, everyone is a winner! I share posts of new bloggers in the first day of the month’s post with links to their blogs.
I also grew a set of followers as a result of the community that developed around the challenges.
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Do you post or promote the results or links anywhere?
I share Sunday Stills posts to my Facebook Page or Twitter, sometimes on Pinterest. When I began Sunday Stills, I hosted a link-up on INLinkz for a few months. Not as many linked to it, so I stopped after a few months.
For my favorite photos, you can see more at https://secondwindleisure.com/2019/11/24/sunday-stills-your-favorite-photo/
Bio
Terri is a writer, self-published author and retired recreation and parks practitioner living in Northern California. As a university lecturer teaching various courses in the recreation and parks major, Terri takes leisure very seriously because it involves one-third of our lives…really!
Her active lifestyle involves stand-up paddling, camping, hiking, reading, writing, gardening, walking the dogs, traveling, and photography.
Second Wind Leisure Perspectives is her blog about leisure, fitness and photography.
Connect with Terri
Blog: https://secondwindleisure.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SecondWindLeisurePerspectives/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/windigenredhead
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terri.websterschrandt/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/aquachica/
More about the images I chose:
I added five of my favorite images that represent milestones on my photography journey and some good luck!
This one titled Autumn in Quincy, taken with a point-and-shoot digital camera in 2010, was the first image where I received many compliments and suggestions for entering it into contests.
I captured the plumeria with my galaxy edge mobile phone. It was the first plumeria I grew in 2019.
The sunflower with the bee was also captured with the same mobile phone in 2019, truly a lucky shot!
The windsurfer and my dog Brodie were taken in July 2017, with my Lumix FZ300, my beloved bridge camera with a long travel lens. Both represent action shots that were taken in major zoom mode but details still stood up to the wind and action.
Thank you so much, for participating in this series on writing and photo challenges, Terri. It was great having you here.
Related Posts
- Suzanna Burke Flash Fiction Writing/Photo Challenge Interview Series #1
- How to Lasso a Wild Carrot in 99 Words-No More-No Less Writing/Photo Challenge Interview #2
- 15 Rosy Ways of Looking at Perspective Sunday Stills my #1 entry
- The Beauty of Sky Lines Sunday Stills my entry #2
- Three Ways I Rightsized in Retirement – reblogged Terri’s post
- Where to Find a Fabulous Offer for Free Photos – a post about Terri’s generous offer of the use of her photos for free.
- Better Blogging with Photography – a book review of Terri’s book
- Photo Challenges and Resources – a list of photo challenges including Terri’s and resources for free photos
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
63 responses to “How Responding to a Photo Challenge Focuses Your Writing and Increases Your Followers”
[…] How Responding to a Photo Challenge Focuses Your Writing and Increases Your Followers – Guest Post #3 Terri Webster Schrandt Sunday Stills […]
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[…] have included bloggers Sylvia, Irene Waters, Colleen Chesebro, Charli Mills, Cee Neuner, Terri Webster Schrandt, Susan Gutterman, Yvette Prior, Susie Burke, Lens-Artists Team– Tina, Patti, Amy and […]
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[…] How Responding to a Photo Challenge Focuses Your Writing and Increases Your Followers – Guest Post #3 Terri Webster Schrandt Sunday Stills […]
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[…] How Responding to a Photo Challenge Focuses Your Writing and Increases Your Followers – Guest Post #3 Terri Webster Schrandt Sunday Stills […]
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[…] How Responding to a Photo Challenge Focuses Your Writing and Increases Your Followers – Guest Post #3 Terri Webster Schrandt Sunday Stills […]
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[…] How Responding to a Photo Challenge Focuses Your Writing and Increases Your Followers – Guest Post #3 Terri Webster Schrandt Sunday Stills […]
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[…] How Responding to a Photo Challenge Focuses Your Writing and Increases Your Followers – Interview #3 Terri Webster Schrandt Sunday Stills […]
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[…] How Responding to a Photo Challenge Focuses Your Writing and Increases Your Followers – Guest Post #3 Terri Webster Schrandt Sunday Stills […]
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[…] How Responding to a Photo Challenge Focuses Your Writing and Increases Your Followers Interview with Terri Webster Schrandt […]
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[…] How Responding to a Photo Challenge Focuses Your Writing and Increases Your Followers – Interview #3 Terri Webster Schrandt Sunday Stills […]
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So nice to see Terri featured here. It’s always nice learning more about our writing friends. And of course the photos are stunning! ❤
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Yes, and even better, Terri is coming to visit me tomorrow. So exciting! Your post is coming up fairly soon. 🙂
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Wow, nice you’re having visitors in lockdown 🙂
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We are not locked down in CA. Our restaurants do not have indoor seating. Our churches can’t meet inside and can’t sing. We can’t meet in groups of more than 5, and we have to stay six feet away or wear a mask. The state is still open to tourism, but people can only stay in hotels with immediate family members. We have what is like a hotel room separate from our house where she is staying. My sister-in-law and I made it COVID-safe, sanitizing everything. Anyway, we had a great time.
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Well that’s fantastic!!! I’m glad all those rules are in place to keep people safe 🙂
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Yes, I’m sitting in my truck all masked up.
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❤
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I know just how much hard work goes into hosting a blogging challenge, so a big thank you from the blogging community for hosting Sunday Stills, Terri. From the comments you get on your posts, I know you have inspired many bloggers to take up your challenge and take up photography. I’m sure many are now budding photographers. Had I not taken up the WordPress weekly photography challenge, I’d never have got an interest in photography.
Thanks for hosting Terri, Marsha.
My best wishes to you both.
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Thanks, Hugh. You are one of those who spends hours on your blog and even more hours encouraging others. Terri is an exciting blogger, and I am thrilled that she is coming to see me soon. Through her, I met Tina and she and her friends host the challenge that stepped in after WP quit the weekly challenge. You are going to love that post, too, Hugh. Thanks for stopping by. BTW, if you want to write a guest post for Always Write or have me write one for you give me a holler. tchistorygal@gmail.com.
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Hi Marsha, that’s great that you and Terri are going to meet up. There’s nothing quite like meeting up with other bloggers. There’s never an awkward break in conversations because there is always so much to talk about.
I’d love you to write a guest post for publication on my blog. You can contact me via the ‘Contact Hugh’ button on my blog.
I look forward to hearing from you.
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Ok, I will do that soon. I am so honored! 🙂
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Lovely post, Marsha and Terri. I enjoy Terri’s site because her pictures always carry me somewhere new. A little break from the world.
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Yes, and she tells a good story to go with them. Thanks so much for reading and commenting. It means a lot to both of us. 🙂
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Nice interview with Terri, Marsha! Terri and I meet virtually through WordPress Photography 101, then several times since then in person. I have always enjoyed her photography and her generous spirit. Her Sunday Stills challenge always has great prompts and I join in when I can.
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Hi Janis, Thank you for your response. I live a few hours south of Terri. We have talked on the phone several times, but she is coming to see me next week, so I’m so excited! I’m so glad to get acquainted with you and look forward to getting better acquainted. 🙂
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Enjoyed your conversation with Terri Marsha – I’ve been following her for some time now. Your interview with her introduced me to your blog which is terrific ! Terri participates often in our Lens-Artists Photography Challenge which posts each Saturday. We have a 4-person team running the challenge, which was a follow-on to the WP Weekly photo challenge. Our latest post is here https://travelsandtrifles.wordpress.com/2020/07/11/lens-artists-challenge-105-spring/ . We’d love it if you could add us to your list of challenges. There are several listed that I’ve not seen before so I plan to give them all a look. Many thanks for your promotion of some outstanding blogs!
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Hi again, Tina, I will definitely check out your challenge and add it to my list. I’d love to interview your co-hosts to tell your story. It’s great that you followed up on the WP Photo Challenge. I used to participate in that as well. So to clarify, I add you to the Saturday list! 🙂
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Your photos are amazing, Terri! I’ve participated in a few of your Sunday Stills challenges and enjoyed them immensely, thank you 🙂
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Thank you, Jacquie! You’ve been a loyal participant to SS of late and I appreciate it and enjoy your photography, too!
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Terri takes fabulous pics. Thanks for your comment. I’ll check on your photos, too. 🙂
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Thank you!
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Hi Marsha, thanks for sharing Terri today. I love her Sunday Stills challenge and participate when inspiration strikes. Now that I am here, I will poke around and get to know a little more about you. Take care.
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Thank you Suzanne. Terri honored me by sharing her story. I love that she saved a great photo challenge. I will also poke around your blog as well. I’m sorry it took me so long to respond. I’ve been behind the wheel of the car for about twelve hours a day for the last three days. Feels so relaxing to sit behind a computer screen! Marsha 🙂
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No problem Marsha. Sounds like you are a busy lady. I would welcome some busyness right now.
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What are you doing to stay busy during these strange times? CA is not in total lockdown but restaurants have closed indoor seating, same with churches and many other services. AZ is tight, but a few more freedoms.
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I play golf and do water aerobics. Reading a lot, cooking and cleaning keep me busy. Lots of down time. We used to travel a lot, and when we weren’t traveling, we were planning a trip. That took a huge bite out of our schedule. Florida is a hot mess, so we stay close to home as much as possible.
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Our county in California is a hot mess, too. I just got a call from our best friend saying that her daughter may be sick with it. I couldn’t quite tell if she had been tested or just self-diagnosed. Either way – hot mess! A friend and I just traveled to AZ to look at houses. Restaurants were open, but careful. We wore masks everywhere. They don’t always wear them here at home, though that is changing quickly. I hope we can soon put this into our history! Be careful and stay safe. Thanks for the wonderful conversation. 🙂
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Great post ladies, and wonderful images.
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Thank for checking out Terri’s story, Cathy. 🙂 See you soon at your blog. Marsha
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Thanks, Marsha 🙂
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Nice to meet you, Marsha. I greatly enjoy Terri’s beautiful photography on her blog and on Instagram. I bought her book “Better Blogging with Photography” and it is filled with many photography gems.
I enjoy photography, yet I have always thought a weekly challenge could be very time consuming. After reading this interview I may consider it again. I like when photobloggers share techniques and ideas. I think for many of us, photography is our happy place. Your images are stunning here, Terri. The picture of you, beautiful.
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Hi Erica/Erika, Terri is one of my favs, both as a photographer and as a friend. Another friend suggested that we combine a photography with a poem challenge then publish a book. I thought that sounded intriguing. I think it would be fun to do as a group rather than putting all the work on one person. I notice that there are several bloggers doing that now. My email is tchistorygal@gmail.com. Email me if you might be interested in doing something as a group.
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[…] to be featured on Marsha’s blog yesterday! If you enjoy photo and writing challenges, visit Always Write for […]
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Wonderful interview! I love Terri’s challenge and contribute regularly.
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Susan, you were an inspiration to me a while back with your Macro Monday photo challenge! I learned a lot from the experience!
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Thank you, Terri. I enjoyed Macro Monday and learned that it’s not easy running a challenge! It never took off like Sunday Stills.
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Hi Susan, Did you host a challenge? I tried, too, but I didn’t have a clue about how much work it was to get it off the ground. So it languished on my pages for a long time. I had trouble posting consistently. It’s a lot of work. My hat’s off to Terri! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by and commenting! 🙂 Marsha
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Hi Marsha, I hosted a weekly macro challenge for about a year. I had about twenty loyal submitters. One photo a week was chosen as the next week’s banner, sometimes by me and sometimes by the group. I learned a lot and made some wonderful friends. It took so much time that I decided to close down the challenge to allow myself to participate in more challenges. I now participate in anywhere from three to six or seven different challenges each week.
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Time is the key element, isn’t it? What happened to your loyal submitters? It sounds like you are still busy. It takes quite a bit of time to respond to that many challenges. I would love a guest post from you on life after the challenge and possibly how you choose the challenges you follow. What do you think?
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Marsha, I am still I’m touch with many of the submitters. We contribute to the same challenges, so out paths cross. Some of us participate in a weekly macro challenge on Flickr called “Macro Mondays”. I am honored to be asked, and would love to write a guest post for your blog. I actually gave a presentation (Zoom) to my photo club last month about the challenges that I participate in.
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That would make a fabulous post! How did they respond? Did you convince some of them to submit their photos to the challenges? Were any of them already participating in challenges? Anyway, just let me know when you can submit a post. Send it to my email, tchistorygal@gmail.com. I’m so excited! 🙂
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Hi Marsha, I would like my post to be about the challenge and life after the challenge; how I choose the challenges that I participate in. I don’t really have enough information about the participants in my challenge to answer the questions that you’ve posed above. I can submit something to you around mid-August. I am currently completing a Pandemic Porch Portraits project. Thank you!
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That sounds fabulous. My readers and I will look forward to it. Your new project sounds interesting. Is everyone wearing masks?
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Yay, Susan! See everyone makes a difference and an impression and doesn’t always even know it! Right!?
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Hi Susan, I’m reading backwards, from most recent. Thanks for your comments. I’m coming to your blog as soon as I answer all these comments. I look forward to seeing your great photos, too! 🙂
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Marsha, your post came out well, thank you for hosting me today. 😁When I get organized this morning, I’ll reblog it on my site. I hope my experiences might inspire others to participate in blog challenges of any kind. By the way, I’m loving the click to tweet feature. That used to be exclusive to self hosted blogs.
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Thanks, Terri. I’m glad you like it. The .com has so many more features than it used to and it’s a lot easier to work with.
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Some of those photos are amazing, Marsha. What a great way to get the creative juices flowing.
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Terri is an amazing photographer. Don’t you live the wind surfer? You can see his expression even!
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Pretty cool. 🙂
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Thank you, Nora! I hope you can check out the photo challenge of some of the writing challenges Marsha has mentioned!
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And now I know that two of my best blogging friends already knew each other. Small world! 🙂
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One day …
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