Tuesday 22 January 2013

Inspired by a challenge

Last week, I was challenged to the '5 shot challenge' on Instagram by Judy from hey jude photography (jls316 on Instagram). The assignment she gave me was to take pictures of #round/circle.

I seem to remember having read somewhere that the challenge should actually be accomplished within 5 days or less, and that you're not allowed to post anything else in between. Well, I didn't stick to that part, I'm afraid. That was also due to the fact that I had to stay at home for a few days to nurse my bad cold, which limited my inspiration (although it did made for one of the shots for the challenge).


"Round" and "circle" sounded not too difficult, but I soon found out that it wasn't quite so easy. At least if I didn't want to go for the obvious, like traffic signs etc. I wanted to look for less obvious subjects, which really was a bit of a challenge. Especially when I tried to find subjects in nature, during a walk to the woods and along the river during my lunch break yesterday. Maybe it was because it was such a grey and uninspired day, and my mood wasn't really the best, that I couldn't find anything at all. (Although I'm quite sure that now, that my five shots are done, I'll see circles and round things pretty much everywhere, including in nature!). I did find the perfect subject for my last shot last night, though - a bright red lifebelt and glowing orange buoy in a boat on the river. I almost missed my train because of it. So I completed the challenge, and I passed it on to Maureen from Cottage 960 (cottage960 on Instagram), with the assignment to find and take photos of #transparent.

I really enjoyed the challenge. I hardly ever set myself a theme, and it was a good exercise for me to go and look for subjects to match one. And it has inspired me to do so more often. So I'm going to try and set myself little themes from time to time, both for photography and painting/sketching. Maybe I'll continue with the round/circle theme, or even try "transparent" myself.

2 comments:

  1. I loved your 5 photos for the round/circle challenge I gave you. You found some wonderful things! A big thank you for mentioning my blog in your post here, that was very kind of you. I too have thought, after doing one 5 shot challenge, that I will look for little challenges for myself throughout the year. (And believe it or not - I have a partially written blog post for the collaborative blog that I write for which addresses the same thing you're talking about here! I will be finishing it up to post on the last day of this month! Great minds think alike I think they say?!!!)As always, I love following your work, and I look forward to seeing your photos in The Art of Composition class too! :)

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  2. Very nice. I'm starting a new project for my instagram photos, which I'm calling My Photographer's Eye. It will be posted on Thrsday if you want to check it out.
    Rinda

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