NOTE: THERE ARE SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THIS WEEK’S THEME, SO MAKE SURE TO PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THEM. JUST DON’T SKIM BY THEM. NOT THAT ANYBODY DOES THAT. EVERYBODY HANGS ON MY EVERY WORD.

TEXTURE. It is something you really have to feel. But as a theme, did a bunch of people feel it? You will have to keep scrolling to find out.

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, May 29, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

1-Susanna Funk – 1 week (3)
2-Willy McAlpine – 1 week
3-Melissa Degeneffe – 2 weeks
4-Scott Degeneffe – 2 weeks (2)
5-Mary Green – 2 weeks (3)
6-Sara Lockner – 2 weeks
7-Tamara Peterson – 3 weeks (2)
8-Sabas Hernandez – 5 weeks
9-Mike Vest – 5 weeks
10-Alexis Baugher – 8 weeks (3)
11-Mindi Terrell – 15 weeks (3)
12-Monica Jennings – 20 weeks (2)
13-Brandon Kahler – 40 weeks
14-Linda Bennett – 44 weeks
15-Sarah Toot – 45 weeks (2)
16-Angie DeWaard – 49 weeks
17-Dawn Krause – 53 weeks (3)
18-Kim Barker – 59 weeks
19-Joe Duff – 60 weeks (2)
20-Logan Kahler – 62 weeks (2)
21-Teresa Kahler – 71 weeks (2)
22-Carla Stensland – 71 weeks
23-Micky Augustin – 73 weeks
24-Andy Sharp – 74 weeks (2)
25-Bill Wentworth – 75 weeks
26-Cathie Morton – 79 weeks
27-Elizabeth Nordeen – 80 weeks
28-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 82 weeks
29-Kio Dettman – 84 weeks (3)

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:

Suzie Brannen (Iowa) – 1 week

Nathanial Brown (Iowa) – 1 week

Nathanial Brown (Iowa)

Nathanial Brown (Iowa)

Jen Ensley-Gorshe (Iowa) – 1 week

Layla Gorshe (Iowa) – 1 week

Jesse Howard (Ames, Iowa) – 1 week

Jesse Howard (Boone, Iowa)

Becky Parmelee (Bella Vista, Arkansas) – 1 week

Susanna Funk (Oregon) – 2 weeks

Susanna Funk (Oregon)

Willy McAlpine (Boone, Iowa) – 2 weeks

Scott Degeneffe (Rural Boone County, Iowa) – 3 weeks

Scott Degeneffe (Iowa)

Sara Lockner (Iowa) – 3 weeks

Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 4 weeks

Mike Vest (Madrid, Iowa) – 6 weeks

Alexis Baugher (Iowa) – 9 weeks

Alexis Baugher (Iowa)

Alexis Baugher (Iowa)

Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 16 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa)

Mindi Terrell (Iowa)

Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 41 weeks

Linda Bennett (Boone, Iowa) – 45 weeks

Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania) – 46 weeks

Angie DeWaard (Ames, Iowa) – 50 weeks

Angie DeWaard (Ames, Iowa)

Dawn Krause (Iowa) – 54 weeks

Dawn Krause (Iowa)

Kim Barker (Altoona, Iowa) – 60 weeks

Kim Barker (Altoona, Iowa)

Joe Duff (Texas) – 61 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa) – 72 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa)

Carla Stensland (Iowa) – 72 weeks

Carla Stensland (Iowa)

Carla Stensland (Iowa)

Micky Augustin (Iowa) – 74 weeks

Andy Sharp (Iowa) – 75 weeks

Andy Sharp (Boone, Iowa)

Andy Sharp (Iowa)

Bill Wentworth (Nebraska) – 76 weeks

Cathie Morton (Norwalk, Iowa) – 80 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 81 weeks

Shannon Bardole-Foley (Iowa) – 83 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa) – 85 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa)

Christopher D. Bennett (Boone, Iowa) – 507 weeks

Before I get into participation rates and all that jazz, I want to reveal something on I saw on Instagram from one of our regular participants yesterday. I came across one of Mindi’s posts and the caption was:

Weekly Photo Challenge has made me excited about photography again.

This is up there with one of my favorite things anybody has ever said about THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. It is up there with when Joe told me that THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE changed the way he sees the world.

To be excited about photography and change the way you see the world. These are two of the very unstated goals of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

Thanks Mindi! I’m very excited that you are a regular participant and I always look forward to seeing your submissions.
However, the answer is still “No” about starting a Facebook group. Maybe a THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE participants “party” could happen though. Probably not though.

31 participants! That is a GREAT week! That is 3 straight weeks with 30+ participants. WooHoo!

Thanks to Funk being a mountain climbing badass, Oregon was added to the map this week.

There were submissions this week taken in the following places:

+ Arkansas
+ Iowa
+ Nebraska
+ Oregon
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas

Here is the current calendar year list for states:

+ Arizona
+ Arkansas
+ California
+ Colorado
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Nebraska
+ New Jersey
+ New York
+ Nevada
+ Michigan
+ Minnesota
+ Missouri
+ North Dakota
+ Ohio
+ Oklahoma
+ Oregon
+ Pennsylvania
+ South Dakota
+ Texas
+ Utah
+ Washington
+ Washington D.C.
+ Wisconsin
+ Wyoming

27 states and 1 district! That is pretty impressive! Over halfway there!

The Outside of the United States map is currently:

+ British Virgin Islands
+ Mexico
+ Nassau Bahamas
+ Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

I took my picture about 24 steps from my front door, so I continue to not contribute to expanding the map.

There were no major milestones reached this week. But there are some people closing in on some in the coming weeks. Particularly exciting this week was the 1st submission of the year from Layla! WooHoo!

However, it wasn’t all good news. There was a bloodbath of streaks, including some major streaks biting the dust. Melissa and Mary’s 2 week streaks are no more. Sabas’ 5 week streak is also no more. Monica’s 20 streak is history. Devastating. Just devastating. But perhaps most heartbreaking is that Logan’s 62 week streak is over. The longest streak to ever come to an end.

But enough dwelling on the past. Time to look to the future. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future! This week’s theme:

SLICE OF LIFE

SLICE OF LIFE! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what exactly is a SLICE OF LIFE image? This is where I normally give you kind of a broad definition of the theme, but not this week. For those that don’t know SLICE OF LIFE is the name of the postcard company that my Dad started and ran out of the basement darkroom in our house.

Here is the Trade Name documentation he filed in March of 1984:

He passed away in December of the same year.

He specialized in black & white postcards of local interest. Here is this week’s assignment. It is to take a picture that you could see being used on a postcard. Now back in the day, they used to take pictures of all sorts of things and put them on postcards. So don’t think that there is nothing in your area that would make it on a postcard. It could be a building that is interesting looking or has a historical significance. It could simply be a pretty scene. Back when I was doing THE POSTCARD RECREATION PROJECT, sometimes they took pictures of downtown intersections and put those on postcards.

While I will require your submission to be a postcard like image, meaning don’t try to “interpret” Slice of Life to mean something different, I will only strongly encourage you to submit the picture in black & white and also only slightly encourage you to throw some text on the image, if you have the editing skills or software.

There is one more thing. The is the one and only theme where if you write a SHORT description of your image (like you would see on the backside of a postcard) that I will include it along with your submission.

Here are some examples of my Dad’s postcards that will hopefully inspire you (excuse the low quality of the scans):

I don’t manipulate the order of themes for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. I put the 52 themes in a random generate it and then I have it generate the theme the number of times as there are letters in the name of my favorite person at that moment*. EXCEPT for this theme. This theme I put this week specifically. This week is my Dad’s birthday. So it seemed apropos to put the theme that is an homage to him during this week.

RULES

The picture has to be taken between 12:01 PM today and 11 AM next Monday. This isn’t a curate your photos project. This is a get your butt off the couch (unless you are taking your picture from the couch) and take pictures challenge. There is a limit of 3 submissions per participant. To be considered the photographer, you have to be the one that takes the picture. Don’t be stealing the work of other artists. You can submit pictures for other photographers that took pictures with your camera or phone, but give credit where credit is due.

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is it. Thems the rules!

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of SLICE OF LIFE in this place that is a continuation in many ways next Monday.