It is the last collection of submissions for the month of November, so it is a good time to revisit the THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE FAQ. I’ve noticed an uptick in small-sized submissions lately. It wouldn’t hurt to review the resolution FAQ if you haven’t looked at it lately.

Award winning photographers? Really?

Yes. I can think of at least 10 photographers that participate regularly that have won a photography award of some kind.

Is this a competition?
NO.

Is there a limit to the number of submissions I can have each week?

Yes. That limit is 3. If you send me more than 3, I will post the first 3 that you send. I’m not trying to harsh your photography buzz, but any more than that starts to overwhelm the other submissions and it takes me about 5 minutes to take a picture from my inbox to code it on the website. So I have to manage my workload. This limit is tentatively scheduled to go down to 2 at the beginning of 2024. Unless there is a sudden big falloff in participants.

If you are going to submit more than one picture, I strongly urge you to choose completely different subjects for each submission. If you are submitting multiple pictures of the same subject, make sure that each picture is saying something unique.

If participation rates climb, that limit of 3 is subject to lower.

Can I send you several pictures and have you pick the best one?

No! No! NO! If those words come out of your mouth or your keyboard, I consider that to be a non-submission.

Do you ever question whether somebody’s submission fits the theme?

Meh. Only if I think somebody is clearly confusing this week’s theme with last week or next week’s theme. Otherwise, if the submission makes sense in your head, that is good enough for me. However, I would urge you to not try to fit your favorite subject into the theme. This isn’t a challenge to share a picture every week of your kid or your business or your pet. It is a challenge to take pictures of different things every week. Which isn’t to say subjects can’t be repeated, but you shouldn’t become reliant on the same ones.

Why can’t I submit after 11 AM on Mondays if the post doesn’t publish until 12:01 PM?

I go to lunch at 11 AM. I leave my office. I’m not near a computer. At 11 AM I hit “Schedule” and then I go throw food down my throat. 167 hours is more than enough time to send a submission. Okay, 166 hours and 59 minutes. You got me.

Do I have to wait until Monday morning to submit?

Absolutely not! In fact I appreciate the submissions that make it to me by Sunday evening. Makes the job of putting this together on Monday morning much easier!

Are there resolution requirements for submissions?

I won’t turn down submissions that are too small. I will probably ask you for a picture of greater resolution if it is really small. The typical 4 x 6 image posted to my website has a resolution of 1280 pixels x 853 pixels. While a 400 x 300 image might look okay on your phone, it looks like trash on a computer monitor. I prefer images that are at least 1000 pixels at their widest point, but don’t ban smaller pictures at this point.

What format should my submission be?

.JPG but .PNG also works.

If I write a description of my image will you include that in your post?

No. Photography is art that should stand on its own. Only exception is the SLICE OF LIFE theme. But if you let me know where the picture was taken, I will include that.

When will you start accepting suggestions for next year’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE themes?

I will take suggestions only and ONLY in the comments sections of the THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE posts the last week of October and the 1st week of November.

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The themes for Year 11 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE have been selected. There are 53 Mondays in 2024, so there are 53 themes for Year 11. Here are the selected themes, in no particular order:

1. Necessity (Joe Duff)
2. Sentimental (Joe Duff)
3. Monochrome (Joe Duff)
4. Out-of-Date (Angie DeWaard)
5. Clothing (Angie DeWaard)
6. Symmetry (Sarah Toot)
7. Rule of Thirds (Sarah Toot)
8. Wheels (Sarah Toot)
9. 6:00 PM (Sarah Toot)
10. Ugly (Sarah Toot)
11. Emotion (Andy Sharp/Sarah Toot)
12. Animal (Shannon Bardole-Foley)
13. Passion (Shannon Bardole-Foley)
14. Anything But a Cat (Andy Sharp)
15. Leading Lines (ISF Theme)
16. Trains, Planes, and Automobiles
17. #Instagood
18. Street Photography
19. Flower
20. Slice of Life
21. Still Life
22. Art
23. Ruins
24. Road Trip
25. Sign
26. Purple
27. Orange
28. Path
29. Self-Portrait
30. Abstract
31. Games
32. Glass
33. Reflection
34. Macro
35. Hobbies
36. Work
37. Entertainment
38. Park
39. Breakfast
40. Time
41. Circle
42. Square
43. Faceless Portrait
44. Sunday Morning (Sarah Toot)
45. Science (Joe Duff)
46. Camera
47. Window View (Sarah Toot)
48. Decoration
49. Letters or Numbers
50. Places
51. Music
52. Not Your Hometown (Andy Sharp)
53. Holidays

+++++++

ANIMAL! Almost everyone loves an ANIMAL or two, but did they find one to photograph to make ANIMAL a popular theme? You’ll have to keep scrolling to find out!

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, November 20, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

1-Jen Ensley-Gorshe – 1 week
2-Evie Gorshe – 1 week
3-Mary Green – 1 week (2)
4-Amy Peterson – 1 week
5-Susanna Funk – 2 weeks
6-Suzie Brannen – 3 weeks
7-Elainie Hernandez – 3 weeks
8-Alexis Stensland – 6 weeks
9-Scott Degeneffe – 13 weeks (2)
10-Sabas Hernandez – 14 weeks
11-Mike Vest – 20 weeks
12-Sheri Fakhouri – 23 weeks (2)
13-Logan Kahler – 24 weeks (3)
14-Nathanial Brown – 25 weeks
15-Jesse Howard – 25 weeks
16-Tamara Peterson – 28 weeks
17-Mindi Terrell – 40 weeks (2)
18-Brandon Kahler – 63 weeks
19-Linda Bennett – 69 weeks
20-Sarah Toot – 70 weeks
21-Angie DeWaard – 74 weeks
22-Dawn Krause – 78 weeks (2)
23-Kim Barker – 84 weeks
24-Joe Duff – 85 weeks
25-Teresa Kahler – 96 weeks
26-Carla Stensland – 96 weeks
27-Micky Augustin – 98 weeks
28-Andy Sharp – 99 weeks (2)
29-Bill Wentworth – 100 weeks
30-Cathie Morton – 104 weeks
31-Elizabeth Nordeen – 105 weeks (2)
32-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 107 weeks
33-Kio Dettman – 109 weeks

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:

Kio Dettman (Boone, Iowa) – 110 weeks

Shannon Bardole-Foley (Iowa) – 108 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Indiana) – 106 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Indiana)

Cathie Morton (Denver, Colorado) – 105 weeks

Bill Wentworth (Nebraska)

Andy Sharp (Iowa) – 100 weeks

Andy Sharp (Iowa)

Andy Sharp (Iowa)

Micky Augustin (Iowa)- 99 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Boone, Iowa) – 97 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Boone, Iowa)

Carla Stensland (Iowa) – 97 weeks

Joe Duff (Texas) – 86 weeks

Kim Barker (Galveston, Texas) – 85 weeks

Dawn Krause (Iowa) – 79 weeks

Dawn Krause (Iowa)

Angie DeWaard (Iowa) – 75 weeks

Sarah Toot (Baltimore, Maryland) – 71 weeks

Linda Bennett (Iowa) – 70 weeks

Linda Bennett (Kansas)

Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 64 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 41 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa)

Mindi Terrell (Iowa)

Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 29 weeks

Nathanial Brown (Iowa) – 26 weeks

Jesse Howard (Iowa) – 26 weeks

Logan Kahler (Iowa) – 25 weeks

Logan Kahler (Iowa)

Sheri Fakhouri (Iowa) – 24 weeks

Sheri Fakhouri (Iowa)

Mike Vest (Iowa) – 21 weeks

Sabas Hernandez (Iowa) – 15 weeks

Scott Degeneffe (Boone County, Iowa) – 14 weeks

Scott Degeneffe (Boone County, Iowa)

Alexis Stensland (Iowa) – 7 weeks

Elainie Hernandez (Iowa) – 4 weeks

Susanna Funk (West Des Moines, Iowa) – 3 weeks

Amy Peterson (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Mary Green (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Mary Green (Iowa)

Jen Ensley-Gorshe (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Willy McAlpine (Iowa) – 1 week

Sara Lockner (Iowa) – 1 week

Christopher D. Bennett (Boone, Iowa)

34 participants again this week! A pretty good week!

There were submissions this week taken in the following places:

+ Colorado
+ Indiana
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Maryland
+ Nebraska
+ Texas

Thanks to Elizabeth’s Thanksgiving travels, we were able to add Indiana to the list. Down to 9 states that haven’t been represented! I don’t know we will get any of the missing states, but even if we don’t, this is still pretty impressive!

Here is the current calendar year list for states:

+ Arizona
+ Arkansas
+ California
+ Colorado
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Hawaii
+ Idaho
+ Illinois
+ Indiana
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Kentucky
+ Louisiana
+ Maryland
+ Michigan
+ Minnesota
+ Mississippi
+ Missouri
+ Montana
+ Nebraska
+ New Hampshire
+ New Jersey
+ New Mexico
+ New York
+ Nevada
+ North Carolina
+ North Dakota
+ Ohio
+ Oklahoma
+ Oregon
+ Pennsylvania
+ South Carolina
+ South Dakota
+ Tennessee
+ Texas
+ Utah
+ Vermont
+ Washington
+ Washington D.C.
+ Wisconsin
+ Wyoming

41 states and 1 district! That is pretty impressive! Over 80% of the way there! Every continental state west of the Mississippi is now accounted for.

The Outside of the United States map is currently:

+ Spain
+ British Virgin Islands
+ Mexico
+ Nassau Bahamas
+ Canada
+ Peru
+ France
+ Austria
+ Germany
+ Italy
+ Slovenia

The big milestone this weeks was Andy joining the Triple Digit Club! WooHoo! Plus Nathanial joined the Half Year Club! WooHoo! Jesse did too! WooHoo!

But it wasn’t all good news. Evie’s couldn’t build on last week’s submission. Suzie’s streak ends at 3.

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:

HOMETOWN

HOMETOWN! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a HOMETOWN picture? It is simply a picture that represents your HOMETOWN. It doesn’t have to be the HOMETOWN you grew up in. Or even the town you currently call home. But at the very least, it should be a picture that suggest a HOMETOWN for somebody.

While thinking about possible subjects for your ANIMAL picture, meditate on the following quote and I have no doubt you will come up with a fabulous image:

I was eight years old
And running with a dime in my hand
To the bus stop to pick
Up a paper for my old man
I’d sit on his lap in that big old Buick
And steer as we drove through town
He’d tousle my hair
And say, “Son, take a good look around”
This is your hometown

In ’65 tension was running high
At my high school
There was a lot of fights
Between the black and white
There was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a Saturday night
In the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed in a shotgun blast
Troubled times had come
To my hometown

Now Main Street’s whitewashed windows
And vacant stores
Seems like there ain’t nobody
Wants to come down here no more
They’re closing down the textile mill
Across the railroad tracks
Foreman says, “These jobs are going, boys
And they ain’t coming back
To your hometown

Last night me and Kate we laid in bed
Talking about getting out
Packing up our bags, maybe heading south
I’m thirty-five, we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up behind the wheel
And said, “Son, take a good look around
This is your hometown”
-Bruce Springsteen

I look forward to your interpretation!

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 HOMETOWN in this place that originates from my hometown next Monday.