On March 9, 2013 the weekly challenge was born. 4 years later, the time has come for a turn that, dear reader, will not leave you indifferent. Read carefully what I tell below because, in addition, there is a prize involved.
The spirit of the weekly challenge had never been for anyone to win anything. Like everything we do at BdF, the intention of the weekly challenge was to motivate, promote, suggest, provoke.
Encourage.
To inspire.
Make you close your eyes, so you can open them next with an "imagined" photograph. If the ultimate goal of BdF was to teach you how to use your camera to take good photos, the weekly challenge was the culmination of that purpose. All the literature that Caro, Alexa, Iaio or I explained to you here in the articles, tutorials or eBooks that we published in BdF should serve that final goal: to promote a moment of intimacy and conversation between you, your camera, and the world that you surrounds. Yours
Your particular world. Imagined by you, and interpreted by your camera.
During 199 weekly challenges we have seen breathtaking photos that steal the floor. On more than one occasion, a photo of a BdF reader knocked me out, perhaps because he would explain moments, thoughts or feelings shared between that anonymous reader and me, and that I perhaps did not know how to explain in words. I think that when a photograph is more eloquent than any combination of words you can compose, the end of photography is fulfilled as a powerful and almost supernatural means of communication.
On some occasions, I have even gone so far as to see "side effects" that the weekly challenge caused in some people who read the blog, effects that went beyond the simple fact of shooting a photograph. Effects like that of a hospitalized reader who joined with all his strength and with all his enthusiasm to the challenge, leaving me stunned and thoughtful.
Photograph of Antonio Soto, Weekly Challenge 22: Feet
Aiming to create a section called "Weekly Challenge" was one of the best decisions I made at BdF. Today, after 4 years of weekly challenges, I consider the 200th challenge called: the last of the weekly challenges….
EVOLUTION
The previous paragraph was truncated. He said that this challenge, number 200, marks the end of weekly challenges…. as we knew them until now
If the objective of the weekly challenge was, dear reader, that you participate with your photographic creations and that you actively contribute your grain of sand to the blog, from next week you will have even more prominence.
The weekly challenge does not go entirely. It just evolves. It changes dynamics giving rise to a new format which, with the damn I am, and as you can already imagine, I do not plan to reveal it before next week.
I will only tell you that the new format will provide you with much more inspiration and creativity to get photographs that will leave you impressed. Get ready to start a weekly photographic addiction from which I hope you never get disengaged
WEEKLY CHALLENGE 200: PERSONAL CHALLENGE (FROM 03/03/2017 TO 03/09/2017)
To close this series of weekly challenges, we convened challenge number 200 with the theme "personal challenge".
Has it ever happened to you that a certain photograph was resisting you for a long time? Any photographic idea that you have imagined or seen, and when you wanted to execute it with your camera, the idea took a little more effort than you had initially thought?
We all have a photograph under our belt that makes us feel proud of ourselves as photographers, due to the difficulty of taking that photo.
Which of your photos was a personal challenge for you?
Obviously if you are going to participate with that photo in the challenge, if that photo is already a reality, that is that you have already achieved that particular “personal challenge” of yours. For the simple fact of participating, CONGRATULATIONS.
Show me your “personal challenge” photo and you may become an award winner (more details below).
As has been the tradition in the weekly challenge, you will be able to upload your photo to the BdF Facebook wall : In the photo description, please mention the keyword “Personal Challenge” followed by a title of your choice.
Alternatively you will be able to upload the photo also through Flickr, accessing the Group Mural of the Photographer's Blog and uploading the photo directly. Give your photo a title and be sure to mention “Personal Challenge” in it. If you want to participate through Twitter, you can upload the photo directly with the hashtag #RetoPersonalBdF
Note on the use of images: BdF will never take the copyright of your photography. You remain as the author and owner of the same and as the rights holder. However, by participating in the weekly challenge, you give me your permission to show your photo on the blog to other readers if it is finally chosen as a finalist, always mentioning you as the author of the photograph.
PRIZE
As I said before, the intention with the weekly challenge is not for anyone to win or lose. It is more to encourage you to "create". So we never intended to give any prize.
Having said that, as the culmination of this series of 200 challenges, I will choose a winning photograph. The author of the same will receive a scholarship for my photography course Mastering SLR Photography , in addition to the complete library of photographer's blog books in full, consisting of 7 titles: 365 Photography Tips , 100 Photography Exercises , Mastering Photography Portrait , How to Capture Splendid Landscapes , the Guide to Black and White Photography , Composition and Lightbook .
The photograph will also be shown on the blog next week with mention of its author.
That's all for now. Good luck to all, and until next week with the results of the "Personal Challenge" (Thursday). On Friday I will be unveiling the new format with a new call.
Happy photography.
UPGRADE
Few weekly challenges took me as long to close a selection as this time. The quality of the photos presented made this selection my own personal "challenge". Truth be told, the fact that this was the last of the weekly challenges didn't help much. You can not imagine the responsibility of composing a selection like this for what will be the last weekly challenge, when most of the photos uploaded had a level at least «excellent».
With that said, here is my final pick. Believe me, not seeing your photo here doesn't mean absolutely nothing. I have been forced to leave dozens of photos out because otherwise there would be too many photos, and here the idea is simply to show a small and representative selection.
I have had a really bad time choosing a winning photograph. I have hesitated among several: the grandfather's photo is impressive. The one of the silhouette of the couple is one of the most expressive, those of the stars with the Milky Way show a great execution of the long exposure, and so it could continue…. Objectively, any of the photos that appear in this week's selection could perfectly be the winning photo. All contain a great story inside, expressed through a magnificent photographic representation.
However, one of the most reliable methods to find out the photo that I liked the most is usually the time I spend looking at it. When I enjoy a photo I watch it for a long time, seconds and seconds going through the photo. Sometimes I am able to spend minutes like this. That happened to me with the photo signed by Clara, entitled "Her fidelity is infinite . " I am not a big fan of pets, but I have felt completely abducted by the shape and content of this photograph as I have rarely felt before looking at a photo of a dog.
Clara Betegón - Her fidelity is infinite
The first thing I noticed was the dog's gaze, thanks to the successful selective focus that leads the gaze directly to his eyes. Later I wandered for a while looking at the face of the animal, going through all its details, to finish fixing my gaze on the rest of its body and appreciating the softness of its fur. At the composition level, if you look, there is a marked oblique line that divides the frame, and that goes from the dog's head, going through the entire back to the bottom of the frame. The time of day has helped a lot, not only to achieve a correct exposure of the photo or to provide a magnificent warm hue, but also due to the aura that the light has brought around the figure of the animal.
As I said, few pictures of animals have made me stop so long to read the story. Clara's and the "infinite fidelity" of the protagonist mascot have enchanted me and made her worthy of being named "winner" of this weekly challenge. Congratulations
As promised in the call, Clara will have a scholarship to access the Master SLR Photography Course along with the complete library of photographer's blog books. In addition, the Weekly Challenge is transformed into a new format that I will reveal tomorrow in a new article. Clara's photography will have the honor of leading the way in this new format. I cannot tell you more, but tomorrow you will leave doubts
As always, happy photography!
