November Challenge, 2008: Manual Labor

As we’ve attempted a wide variety of topics for our photo challenges, I’ve had a really good time. Not only have I learned more about photography, I’ve become more and more observant. Colors talk to me. I see wonderful light sources, casting their power upon a subject. Sometimes, I just see a scene in black and white. I’m always seeing wonderful portrait potential.

Each challenge has brought a slightly different group of participants. We’ve had over 25 a couple of times, and we’ve had as few as 3 or 4. You’d think I might become disappointed by the smaller numbers, but oddly enough I’m unphased.

I’m sure that the topics have influenced how many participate. If you’re not interested, or think you won’t have the time or energy to hunt down the desired topic, you might decide to skip this one. My encouragement to you is to consider that we grow the most, when we’re challenged to work outside our normal boundaries.

During this political season, here in the US, I’ve actually spent more energy reading and listening to the opposing party. I have not compromised my worldview, but I have expanded what news I have chosen to consume.

This applies to our art too. Challenge yourself, this November, to get out and successfully participate in the challenge. What’s odd, is that I’m pushing you to do this, with no real motive. Unless you see your growth and my happiness from that, as motive. Yes, I have an ad running on this blog. But I run that ad on my personal blog and Photowalking.org too. I’m not getting any kickbacks or cash for clicks. All I get is a nice pro account, with SmugMug.

OK, you’ve lasted this long…what’s the challenge? If you read the blog title, you already know. We’re going to shoot scenes of manual labor. I wanted to set out to simply shoot work, but that became a little vague, as I researched it some more.

So, the goal is manual labor. With the shift of the seasons, fall here in the northern hemisphere and spring in the southern, there will be much transition in our lives. There are leaves to rake, wood to chop, repairs to be made. Go out and shoot it all!

We’ll start shooting and submitting on November 1st, 2008. Make sure to tag your photos correctly, “novemberchallenge2008“.

What happened with the September Challenge? Did we have a winner? Yes, the judges and I are selecting the winner right now. I hope to announce the winner and their prize in the next week, or so.