July Challenge

A melancholy angle of light

So it’s been a month since we finished the April and May Challenges, back-to-back. I kinda felt bored with my photography in June. Not only did I not get much done, I didn’t get out and shoot very much.

Now, I know that I need to take a break from the monthly challenges, occasionally. Every other month is the best pattern. I get a month to rest and develop the next exciting challenge, then off we go! Shooting all month long then becomes exciting and fun. Seeing what you’re all doing only challenges me even more. So far we’ve shot daily challenges and weekly challenges. We’ve even done one in the middle. I’d say that I actually prefer the daily challenges. It gets me out and shooting on a regular basis. Making the effort every day isn’t really that hard. When we’ve shot weekly, I find that I procrastinate until the end of the week, and I come up with lower quality work.

So, we’re going to shoot daily, again. Don’t like it? Too bad! (he, he)

For July, I want you to go out there and shoot all the lighting fixtures that you can find. Shoot desk lamps and floor lamps. Shoot street lights and head lights. Shoot flood lamps and brake lights.

I’m looking for you to capture the actual light. The fixture is also important, but don’t forget the light it produces. I’d prefer for the light to be lit, but this isn’t a requirement. I’m not interested in what the light is illuminating. That’s not the focus of this challenge. I want us all to grow in our ability to manipulate how we capture the actual light being cast. I’ll follow up this post pointing you in the direction of some sound wisdom about how to do just this.

Below are a few ideas to get you started. I found them with a little search work on Flickr.

We’ll shoot one a day, all month long, for July, 2008. I want new photographs. Make sure to tag your submissions correctly…