Always Write Interview/Guest Post Series #6
#Bloggers Hosting Writing and Photo Challenges
Today’s guest post takes in a different perspective than all of our former interviews and guest posts in this series. Welcome to one of my new California blogging friends, Susan Gutterman on her blog, Musin’ with Susan. She’s a former talented photo challenge host turned participant and has the enthusiasm and boundless energy to go with her skills. See what she’s doing since she gave up her challenge.
Presenting Photo Challenge Opportunities to my Camera Club
by Susan Gutterman
I was very honored when Marsha asked me to write a guest post about my experience of doing a presentation about Photo Challenges online for my Camera club, the Friday Foto Fanatics, or FFF.
At our monthly meetings, and online, I often talk to others about the numerous challenges that I participate in and back in April my friend, Pam, approached me with the suggestion of delivering a presentation to the group, via Zoom, as we were already locked down. She thought that most of our members might not be aware of all of the photo challenges in the blogosphere and on social media and might be interested.
My Photographic Background
I was introduced to blogging in 2013, at about the same time as I began to get serious about photography. I started to read about photo challenges which sounded like a good way to improve my photography skills and keep myself motivated.
I had developed a love for macro photography and could not find a macro challenge on WordPress, so, in 2016, decided to start my own. I called it Macro Moments and the weekly challenge developed a small, but loyal following. I loved running this challenge and learned so much, but a year later decided that it was time to move on and spend more time participating in challenges moderated by someone else.
Criteria for Joining a Photo Challenge
My criteria for joining a challenge is that participants are serious and that it will encourage me to learn and grow. I look for challenges with technical themes, for example; macro, high key, bokeh, long exposure, and the like, as well as those that are just fun. I often try a new skill which fits with a theme. I have worked with water splashing, smoke, painting with light and tiny railroad figures, to name a few.
I wanted the club members to learn about online challenges and get them excited about joining in some themselves. I started with this slide and briefly discussed each point–
I then described a number of the challenges that I participate in regularly and shared a photo or two that I had submitted to that challenge along the way, as seen in the slides below.
52 Frames
- Each week has a theme. The purpose of 52 Frames is to turn YOU into a truly awesome photographer.
- When you join the group, you get your own page on the site.
- The Photo must be taken the week of the challenge and is due by Sunday at 12:00 am Eastern time.
- They have over 2,000 submissions per week.
- The pictures are published in an album each Tuesday.
- A select small album called “52 Picks” is published each Thursday.
- There are small groups of 10-12 that offer each other constructive criticism within the larger group.
- The website hosts local photo walks through their partners.
The Trevor Carpenter Challenge
- This challenge is in a public Facebook Group.
- Submissions are posted on the Facebook page or on Flicker
- The photo must be taken the week of the challenge.
- The themes are often technical.

Self-Taught Photographers
- This daily challenge is in a private Facebook group.
- Photos may be new or from archives.
- Submissions are posted on the Facebook page.
- Administrators choose one photo a day to be used for the banner in the next day’s announcement.
- The banner winner chooses the theme for the next day.
Sunday Stills
- This weekly challenge is on Terry Webster Schrandt’s WordPress blog, Second Wind Leisure Perspectives.
- To join, create your own blogpost and link back to Terri’s post.
- Photos may be new or from archives.
Macro Mondays on Flickr
- This weekly challenge is in a Flickr group.
- Each entry must be a macro (defined as no larger than three inches.)
- A photo must be taken during the prior week and posted on Monday.
- Submissions are posted to the album on the group page.
PhotograpHER
- This weekly challenge is a local group Facebook group out of Berkeley.
- It is for women only.
- The photo must be taken each week.
- It is added to a weekly album.
- They take local field trips.
Lens- Artists
- This weekly challenge is hosted on WordPress blogs by four rotating hosts.
- To enter you create your own blog post and add a link to the original challenge.
- Photos can be recent or from archives.
The final slide in the presentation was also my handout, emailed to the members. It is a list of the challenges that I regularly participate in, with links to the sites.
Exploring Online Photo Challenges
- 52 Frames: https://52frames.com/
- A Photo A Week Challenge:
https://nadiamerrillphotography.wordpress.com/
- Self-Taught Photographers:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1441617732734316
- The Trevor Carpenter Photo Challenge: https://photochallenge.tempusaura.com/
- Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: https://lagottocattleya.wordpress.com/2020/03/14/lens-artistsphoto-challenge-88-chaos/
- Macro Mondays on Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/317988@N20
- Terri’s Sunday Stills: https://secondwindleisure.com/
- Franks Tuesday Photo Challenge: https://dutchgoesthephoto.net/tag/fpj-photo-challenge/
- PhotograpHER (women photographers only):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/photographywomen
Conclusion and Responses
After my presentation, several people contacted me to tell me that they had enjoyed the presentation and that they were going to look into the challenges. I don’t think anyone was already participating.
I sent an email to the group yesterday asking them to let me know if they had joined any challenges and what their experience had been. One member responded that he joined 52 Frames right after my talk and he has been submitting every week.
He commented, “It’s a great group”!
This made me very happy and I immediately looked him up in the group.
Biography

Susan Gutterman was a diabetes educator before she retired. She counseled people with diabetes and worked for LifeScan, a Johnson and Johnson company which manufactures blood testing products. During her last years with the company she traveled for them to Europe and Asia and her love of traveling took off from there.”
Susan is married and she has two children and four grandchildren. In addition to her photos and travelogues, you can expect to occasionally hear about her life with Gabby, her yellow Lab, her family and friends, and her home and garden.
She hosted a weekly photo challenge called “Macro Moments” for a year and now regularly submit photos to various challenges on WordPress and other social media sites.
She loves “meeting” her fellow bloggers and photographers, and connecting with family and friends in this space. She meet Pat, from Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss, live and in person in Basel, Switzerland and Nicole, from Nicole Pottier Une photo, un poem from Normandy on recent trips. Lunches together were highlights of those trips! She can’t wait to read your comments and learn from each other.
Related Posts
- Suzanna Burke Flash Fiction Interview #1 Susan Burke
- How to Lasso a Wild Carrot in 99 Words-No More-No Less Interview #2 – Charli Mills of Carrot Ranch
- How Responding to a Photo Challenge Focuses Your Writing and Increases Your Followers – Guest Post #3 Terri Webster Schrandt Sunday Stills
- One-Word Writing Prompt Challenges Interview #4 Esther Chilton
- How to Run a Successful Writing Challenge for Four Years Counting Interview #5
Photo challenges were how I got interested in photography. I started with the WordPress weekly photo challenge (such a shame they ended the challenge ) and soon came across a few more. I even ran one of my own, but it was a lot of hard work, and I couldn’t keep up with it all. It ran for 32 weeks before I called it a day. By the time it ended, it was getting well over 50 participants each week. I admire all those who run these weekly and monthly challenges.
Now I tend to stick to the Wordless Wednesday photo challenge and also dip in and out of Sunday Stills. I believe that by participating in these challenges, your photography improves. The same goes for writing challenges (especially when there is a word limit).
What a great post, Marsha and Susan.
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Thanks, Hugh. I tried one when I first started blogging. I didn’t have a clue. I’m happy to participate, too. I have a hard time being Wordless, though.
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It can be difficult not adding any words, but I just tell myself that the word limit is zero. It seems to work.
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You are so funny, Hugh! 🙂
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Thank you so much, Hugh. I remember your challenge! I still miss the WordPress challenge, too; it was how I got started.
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I’d rather participate in a photo challenge than organise one. Another nice photo challenge people might be interested in is run by Jude – https://traveltalk.me.uk/2020/08/09/2020-photo-challenge-32/ She’s concentrating on photographic techniques.
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I’ve run into her several times. I will definitely check out her challenge. Thanks for sharing it, Carol. I’m with you. I don’t think I could be consistent enough to run a challenge unless I had someone to help me. The challenge coming up in Friday’s post is an interesting one that Susan talks about in her post run by four women from all over the world. You’ll enjoy it, I think. 🙂
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I enjoy participating in challenges very much. I’ll take a look at Jude’s page!
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Hi Marsha, hope all is well!! So great to see Susan here! We California girls need to stick together (at least virtually). I met Susan and participated in her Macro Moments challenge and I learned a lot. Susan is a talented photographer and I’m happy to read about her journey.
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Hi Terri, How’s the packing going? Hope all is well with you as well. Susan was a joy to work with as were the Lens-Artists whose post is coming up on Friday. You introduced me to the honored guests of both posts, so thanks again. Hope you are getting some play time in the midst of all your work. 🙂
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Have I mentioned I hate packing, Marsha? Uggh! But we have packed and moved 2 bedrooms + into storage. We signed our escrow papers yesterday…let the construction begin!
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Whoopee! That’s a lot. We have moved lots of stuff around. Did I tell you that our new air conditioner was installed improperly and the condensation leaked into our attic for a week or two. We have to move everything out of that room, and tomorrow they start tearing our spare bedroom apart! Yikes!
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Oh no! We’ll have to yak on the phone soon!
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I’d love to. 🙂
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Thank you so much, Terri. I feel so fortunate to have met Marsha through you. Don’t work too hard. I’m looking forward to your return to Sunday Stills.
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This is an interesting post, Marsha. I don’t focus on photography challenges but rather on writing prompts, but I do sometimes participate in Teri’s. If I post photographs they are always concerning my food art and baking.
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I’ve just started with the writing prompts, Robbie, and since I didn’t have a list of them, I started researching. I knew about Carrot Ranch and Colleen’s Tanka Tuesdays, but I’ve found a few more as well, but as I started the series, it morphed back to include photo challenges. I tend to be better at non-fiction and didactic writing, so photo blogging fits my style. I love that I can tell a story to my photos and still have them sharable on someone’s photo challenge. It’s still a lot of work, but I don’t have to concentrate so much on dreaming up the story or poem. Writing challenges are great mental exercises for me. 🙂
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Thank you, Roberta. I’ll look for you on Sunday Stills!
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Thank you so much for asking me to write a guest post for Always Write, Marsha! I enjoyed sharing my experiences with online challenges and, especially, meeting you!
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Thanks, Susan. I’m glad we met. It’s going to be a promising journey. I love that you take your blogging experience into the real world at home. I’ve presented a couple of times to my Kiwanis group and once to Rotary and a few times at the local high school. It’s a great experience. I hope your post gets tons of views and comments today! Keep on sharing your love for blogging and photography!
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Very nice post Susan and Thank you dear Marsha for sharing this on your site 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Too bad that I am a very bad photographer 😜😜😜😜
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Don’t you take pictures of your creations? You are not a bad photographer. 🙂
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I do but they are generally not upto the mark😜😜😁😁
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I set my marks pretty low sometimes, Shaheen. 🙂
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Thank you so much, Shaeen.
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Interesting post, Marsha. Thanks to both of you.
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Hi Cathy, Thanks so much for your comment. Have a great Tuesday. 🙂
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Thanks 🙂 You too!
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Thank you, Cathy. I’m glad you found it interesting.
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