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Its been brought up that it might be interesting to devote the occasional picture of the week contest to a theme. Not every week or even every other week, more like once a month.

I'm envisioning announcing a theme 3-4 weeks ahead and then accepting entries around that theme. (We could also publish a full list of themes far in advance.) Pictures wouldn't need to have been created in that time, but it gives people enough time to create the picture if they like. We might devote one contest a month?

What does the community think? Is this something we should pursue?

For example - I'm thinking of possible themes like

  • Contrast
  • Now
  • Textured
  • White

There's many, many ways to interpret these and they're not confined to a single 'type' of photography.

Even a color like 'White' can be interpreted many, many ways. Maybe its a high key portrait, maybe its a dark scene with a single thing that's white in the scene to highlight, or maybe its a wedding cake - the possibilities are endless.

'Now' could cover fireworks, the moment of a kiss, a flower just opening, or a fresh coat of paint just laid on. There's a variety of options.

How these get decided can be discussed if the concept moves forward.

I'll be leaving this open till next Monday, at which time we can assume anybody who wants to weigh in, has.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I'm going to add a 'Lets do it' answer. Vote it up if you want to, down if you don't. \$\endgroup\$
    – rfusca
    Commented Aug 22, 2011 at 22:06
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    \$\begingroup\$ I have generally approached voting on a weekly picture more as a design decision, i.e., "what would look good as a part of the site banner?" and I think others may have taken a similar approach at times. Adding a theme to the contest could help to emphasis the photography aspect of the images. \$\endgroup\$
    – Sean
    Commented Aug 23, 2011 at 0:54
  • \$\begingroup\$ Its really confusing when there are two Seans and you can't see the gravatar in the comment lol. \$\endgroup\$
    – rfusca
    Commented Aug 23, 2011 at 14:09

3 Answers 3

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Let's do it!

(Vote this up if you want to have an occasional theme. Vote it down if you don't want to.)

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I've always enjoyed the random nature of the submissions each week and the diversity it brings. If you've got a great photo then you don't have to wait/hope for the appropriate theme to come round. \$\endgroup\$
    – Sean
    Commented Aug 23, 2011 at 7:33
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Sean - True, but at most you'd wait a week. \$\endgroup\$
    – rfusca
    Commented Aug 23, 2011 at 7:40
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    \$\begingroup\$ With themes being more interpretive, I could see this working. +1 \$\endgroup\$
    – jaxxon
    Commented Aug 23, 2011 at 20:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ +1 from me: A theme week once in a while could provide a nice impulse to catch some relevant picture and all the variations on the theme by the various participants would be surely interesting. \$\endgroup\$
    – Francesco
    Commented Aug 24, 2011 at 7:10
  • \$\begingroup\$ I think a theme week would improve discussion about that theme, so everyone would participate more and learn more. And as it was said «it's just a week». @rfusca Yes I plan to buy the D3100 \$\endgroup\$
    – dialex
    Commented Aug 25, 2011 at 16:06
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The submissions each week seem to be all over the place, covering such a wide variety of subjects. Not that that's bad. But it would make the routine a little more interesting to add some focus by requiring entries follow a given theme. We would get a number of photos on similar subjects, and the photos could be judged relative to each other within the theme.

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Personally, I'm a fairly narrowly niched photographer so this would keep me out of several contests. I guess that's not necessarily bad. But I'd be disinclined to participate if there are themes that aren't particularly interesting to me (portraits, say, or seascapes or whatever).

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    \$\begingroup\$ Well, I understand that - I'm generally only a portrait person. Given that though, 3 things: 1. If many people feel like its just not them, I'd rather not do it. 2. I'd hope we keep the topics general enough that they're open to heavy, heavy interpretation. I'd always be open to an abstract interpretation of the theme. 3. It wouldn't be every week. \$\endgroup\$
    – rfusca
    Commented Aug 22, 2011 at 22:02
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    \$\begingroup\$ That was my thought rfusca when you posted this. I was thinking we could have an open topic theme... like "Delight" or "Future"... something that a wide variety could try for but would allow a common theme across them all. \$\endgroup\$
    – RiddlerDev
    Commented Aug 23, 2011 at 0:18
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    \$\begingroup\$ @jaxxon - I posted a few example of themes like I'm discussing. Feel free to let me know if this makes you feel better, worse, or the same with regards to it. \$\endgroup\$
    – rfusca
    Commented Aug 23, 2011 at 1:06

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