FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE

Who are your favorite submitters?

Obviously all of you are my favorites. But the real ones do 4 things.

1. Submit by Sunday night. (Yes, the deadline is 11 AM, but we’re talking about the real ones.)
2. Submit in the correct format. (That is .jpg or .png. Notice, not listed is .heic. I get it. You are a big time Apple fanboy. But .heic images have to be converted. Please save me from having to convert your images!)
3. Their submission communication includes that the picture if for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE and isn’t just some random image that they are sending me to share about their life, hopes, and dreams.
4. Their submission communication includes where the picture was taken.

This isn’t to single Mary out. It is just an example I have from this week. Those are great pictures, but they can barely be seen. Remember that the “suggested” minimum resolution is 1280 pixels x 853 pixels for a 4 x 6 image. Don’t overcrop.* Check your email and text message settings. Are they resizing your images?

Is this a competition?
NO. It is a challenge. There are no winners and losers. Well the people that don’t participate are losers.

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

Yes. That limit is 2. If you send me more than 2, I will post the first 2 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.

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 I start to average 45 participants a week, I will lower the limit to 1.

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 every week. 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.

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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TRANSPORTATION! What a great theme! But how many people got their photography juices in motion? Keep scrolling to find out.

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, March 24, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks:

1-Mary Green – 1 week
2-Sara Lockner – 4 weeks
3-Jesse Howard – 5 weeks
4-Suzie Brannen – 7 weeks
5-Sabas Hernandez – 11 weeks
6-Monica Jennings – 11 weeks
7-Deanna McClain – 12 weeks
*8-Alexis Stensland – 12 weeks
*9-Deb Powers – 30 weeks
10-Willy McAlpine – 35 weeks
11-Mike Vest – 43 weeks
12-Lowell Davis – 64 weeks
13-Brandon Kahler – 65 weeks
14-Scott Degeneffe – 83 weeks
15-Sheri Fakhouri – 92 weeks
16-Logan Kahler – 94 weeks
17-Nathanial Brown – 95 weeks
18-Tamara Peterson – 106 weeks
19-Mindi Terrell – 110 weeks
*20-Linda Bennett – 139 weeks
21-Sarah Toot – 140 weeks
22-Angie DeWaard – 143 weeks
23-Dawn Krause – 148 weeks
24-Kim Barker – 154 weeks
*25-Joe Duff – 155 weeks
*26-Teresa Kahler – 166 weeks
*27-Carla Stensland – 166 weeks
28-Micky Augustin – 168 weeks
*29-Andy Sharp – 169 weeks
30-Bill Wentworth – 170 weeks
31-Cathie Morton – 174 weeks
32-Elizabeth Nordeen – 175 weeks
33-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 177 weeks
34-Kio Dettman – 179 weeks

Here is the list of rules for Year 12 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:

1. The picture must 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 and take pictures challenge!

2. There is a limit of 2 submissions per person per theme. If you send me more than 2, I will use the first 2 that you submit. If you submit 2 pictures, make sure they are of different subjects.
3. Deadline to submit your submission is 11 AM Central Time the following Monday. But that is a deadline. Pictures can be submitted as soon as you take them.
4. To be considered the photographer of an image, you have to be the one that clicks the shutter. If you hand your camera over to somebody else to take a picture of you, you are NOT the photographer of that image.
5. No screen captures. This is a photography challenge. Not a “look at what I found on the internet” challenge.
6. Please include the location of where the picture was taken with your submission.

There are still 2 ways to submit:

1. Email your submission to bennett@photography139.com.
2. Text your submission to my Google Pixel 8 Pro.
   

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

Kio Dettman (Boone, Iowa) – 180 weeks
Shannon Bardole-Foley (Des Moines, Iowa) – 178 weeks
Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 176 weeks
Cathie Morton (Norwalk, Iowa) – 175 weeks
Bill Wentworth (Omaha, Nebraska) – 171 weeks
Andy Sharp (Fulton, Illinois) – 170 weeks
Andy Sharp (Illinois)
Micky Augustin (Ames, Iowa)- 169 weeks
Carla Stensland (Boone, Iowa) – 167 weeks
Carla Stensland (Boone, Iowa)
Teresa Kahler (Iowa) – 167 weeks
Teresa Kahler (Iowa)
Kim Barker (Ames, Iowa) – 155 weeks
Dawn Krause (Boone, Iowa) – 149 weeks
Angie DeWaard (Ames, Iowa) – 144 weeks
Angie DeWaard (Ames, Iowa)
Joe Duff (League City, Texas) – 156 weeks
Joe Duff (Houston, Texas)
Sarah Toot (Orlando, Florida) – 141 weeks
Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 140 weeks
Sarah Toot (E. Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania)
Mindi Terrell (Saylorville, Iowa) – 111 weeks
Mindi Terrell (Saylorville, Iowa)
Tamara Peterson (Ogden, Iowa) – 107 weeks
Nathanial Brown (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) – 96 weeks
Logan Kahler (Memorial Union – Ames, Iowa) – 95 weeks
Sheri Fakhouri (Ankeny, Iowa) – 93 weeks
Scott Degeneffe (32,000 feet about Denver, Colorado) – 84 weeks
Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 66 weeks
Lowell Davis (Iowa) – 65 weeks
Mike Vest (Madrid, Iowa) – 44 weeks
Willy McAlpine (Boone, Iowa) – 36 weeks
Deb Powers (Ames, Iowa) – 31 weeks
Deb Powers (Ankeny, Iowa)
Alexis Stensland (Iowa) – 13 weeks
Alexis Stensland (Iowa)
Deanna McClain (Perry, Iowa) – 13 weeks
Monica Jennings (Boone, Iowa) – 12 weeks
Sabas Hernandez (Ankeny, Iowa) – 12 weeks
Jesse Howard (Boone, Iowa) – 6 weeks
Mary Green (Indiana) – 2 weeks
Mary Green (Indiana)
Christopher D. Bennett (Boone, Iowa)

33 participants this week!

There were submissions this week taken in the following places:

• *Colorado (1)
• Florida (1)
• Illinois (2)
• Indiana (2)
• Iowa (33)
• Kansas (1)
• Nebraska (1)
• Oklahoma (1)
• Pennsylvania (1)
• Texas (2)

Thanks to Scott’s travels, we added Colorado to the map!

Here is the Year 12 list of places where submissions have been taken (submissions taken in each places):

• Arkansas (6)
• California (2)
• Colorado (1)
• Florida (4)
• Illinois (1)
• Indiana (3)
• Iowa (369)
• Kansas (18)
• Kentucky (2)
• Maryland (1)
• Missouri (3)
• Minnesota (4)
• Nebraska (14)
• Nevada (1)
• New Jersey (2)
• New York (1)
• Ohio (1)
• Oklahoma (2)
• Pennsylvania (8)
• Tennessee (2)
• Texas (23)
• Washington D.C. (2)
• Wisconsin (2)
• Argentina (4)
• Chile (5)

The big milestone reached this week was Joe joining the 3 Year Streak Club! WooHoo! WooHoo! WooHoo! But it wasn’t all good times. Sara’s streak came crashing to the ground at 4 weeks. Suzie’s streak is no more at 7 weeks!

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:

COMMERCIAL (SUGGESTED BY ANGIE DEWAARD)

COMMERCIAL! What a great theme for Year 12 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

What this means, is take a picture, not necessarily of an advertisement, but a picture that could be used to advertise a product.

I look forward to seeing your interpretation!

PHOTOGRAPHY TIP OF THE WEEK

Last week we discussed the holy trinity of lenses. The first 3 lenses a beginning photographer purchase. But the discussion left the question, what does it mean to be a 70mm lens or a 24mm lens? Where do these numbers come from?

They come from math silly. The mm on a lens refers to its focal length. Now if you know a little bit about photography, you are thinking that the focal length is the reach of a lens. A 300mm lens gets you closer to your subject than a 24mm lens. Which is true, but that isn’t how it is calculated. Focal length is the distance in millimeters between the lens’s optical center to the camera’s sensor… when the lens is focused to infinity. Simple.

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will see your idea of COMMERCIAL in this place that never sells out next Monday!