The 2008 Challenge

*****This is a reposting of the original announcement from TrevorCarpenter.com*****

In October, 2007, I challenged you all to select an area or genre of photography that you wanted to learn better. I chose black & white photography. In lieu of something else, many of you chose the same thing. That challenge turned out to be fun, challenging, and educational. I find myself looking at a scene with more awareness to the light balance now. This is a direct result of my black & white’s.

Then in December, 2007, I set out to shoot a portrait a day, all month long. This time many more people joined the Challenge. At one point I counted over 30 people submitting images to Flickr and Zooomr. I can’t say that I met the Challenge exactly, but hey it’s my challenge. I only missed a few days.

I’ve been working on some more ideas, to help expand the idea. I’m also working on a book idea, compile all the work I did into a nice coffee table-like book.

The largest project idea that has been birthed is to combine my existing efforts to document my own suburban community and the lessons of disciplined shooting, every day.

I’m announcing the 2008 Challenge. What is it? I’m challenging each participant to spend the whole year of 2008 documenting their community. All you need to do is commit to shoot just one great image a week. Just one a week. That’s not bad!

The one important thematic issue to follow is to shoot your community. We’re going to get out there and document our immediate community. Wherever you live, commit to shooting it. This will take a bit more work, thought, and planning however. I’m not looking for your best shot from your weekly photowalk. I’m looking for a thoughtful image representing your community from that week. So, for example, on Independence Day (in the USA), I’d like to see how your community celebrates our nation’s independence.

One of my motivations for this challenge is that I too have done a poor job embracing the photogenic area where I live. Earlier this year, we planned on relocating to another state. That opportunity fell through and now we’re faced with falling in love with our home again. While doing this, I’ve been reminded of all the great things about Southern California.