Challenge #12: This must be the place

So here it goes: Usually words are not all that important when it comes to photography. I set out to change that with our latest challenge. Because "This must be the place" by the Talking Heads is not only one of my favourite songs but also a song with colourful and varied lyrics, I chose it as our new theme. The challenge was to somehow incorporate words from the song into a picture, be it manually or with photoshop. As always the results are as varied as we are.

Simone

Anna's winning picture...

Challenge #11: New Beginnings

Seeing as all three of us are facing changes in our personal lives at the moment, the idea of "New Beginnings" features prominently in all our minds - which is why I chose it. A new beginning can be something beautiful, but it can also be scary. It can be the beginning of a voyage, of a new chapter of one's life, of a friendship or of a whole new being. Beginnings are everywhere and often in close proximity to endings. Seeing as with our personal new beginnings we've all had to face an ending of some sort, I thought it would be best to look out for the new, the beautiful and the as of yet unknown.

Simone

The Winning Picture by Simone

Challenge #10: Behind the Fence

It's been so long, that I've forgotten what impulse led me to choose this topic. If I try and think about it now, behind the fence might be this magical space you can only see parts of. Which makes it even more interesting if you can't cross the fence and usually heartily disappointing if you do manage to enter the other side. Behind fences lie private mysteries not important enough to lock away in dark cellars...or nothing at all. Depends which side you're standing on.

Anna

The Winning Picture by Simone

 

Challenge #9: The Power of Three

Our lives are riddled with numbers, so much so that scientists, artists and other such scoundrels have always suspected that there must be an underlying rule to the numerics of reality. Among the most meaningful numbers that are said to be secretly ruling our lives is the number three. It is everywhere, no matter where you turn you will find it. Three bears, three stooges, three musketeers, three friendly foto challengers, the rule of thirds (for all you photographers out there), three little pigs, three times a lady... The list goes on and on. And because the number three is so very important - and maybe because nobody came up with a better idea - we chose it as the theme for our latest competition.

Simone

The Winning Picture: Anna

Challenge #8: Photograph a Stranger

The challenge, Photograph a Stranger, is exactly what it says it is. The one rule is that you must ask the person if you can take their picture, you cannot be sneaky and take it whilst they are unaware. So this actually means talking to people. Real living people. And going outside...

This week EVERYONE is a winner...basically we all got one vote...WINNERS

Challenge #7: Morning, Afternoon, and Evening; Your Day in a Triptych

Challenge #7: Morning, Afternoon, and Evening; Your Day in a Triptych. The idea behind the challenge was to see a snapshot of the person, who is usually on the other side of the lens, and not seen, day. What constitutes your morning, afternoon and evening? What are the usual things you do, or what is the unexpected thing that happens?

Tommy

The Winning Picture

Challenge #6: The Absent Mind

The Absent Mind is the name of a group on flickr, it's also a pretty nice topic for a photo challenge. One can interpret it in very different ways and let the mind wander so to speak. I chose the topic whilst sitting on a train, looking out of the window and thinking 'damn, you still haven't posted the new topic, come on, think'. The landscape kept on flying by (well, relatively quickly moving by would be more accurate as it was regional transport), my mind wandered somewhere in the distance, came back and somehow happened upon those few words describing it's current state. Before it could wander off again I quickly shared the topic.

Anna

The Winning Photograph

Challenge #5: Over and Out

My grandfather died. Just 'death' would have been too obvious and narrow a topic. Can't expect everybody to have a dead relative at hand to photograph. Although I did, so there you go.

Anna

Winning Photograph

Challenge #4: Symmetry

Symmetry has two meanings. The first is a vague sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. The second is an exact mathematical "patterned self-similarity" that can be demonstrated with the rules of a formal system, such as geometry or physics. Why choose it for this challenge? The order, the form and the repetition.

Tommy

Winner

Challenge #3: Edward Hopper

Edward Hopper is my favourite painter. His barren cityscapes, his lonely people in a seemingly empty world, his vibrant colours and mastery of light: I had all these elements in mind when I made Hopper the theme of our weekly contest. As you can see, each entry deals with these elements in a very different way.

Simone

Winner

Challenge #2: Edwin Smith

Edwin Smith was a British photographer best known for pictures that supposedly helped define what we imagine as 'Britishness'. He captured English gardens, landscapes and architecture with "a remarkable, almost sensuous feeling for surfaces and textures". I chose him as the FFC topic so we would look at other photographers' works and could try and discover our surroundings in a similar way; in black and white that is, with strong contrasts, yet mellow and poetic. Never mind the Britishness...

Anna

Winner

Challenge #1: Burn With Me

It was a beautiful almost-summer day and I was at home, visiting my family, when a mixture of inspiration, beer and yearning for a cup of tea with my far away friends struck me. "Why not start a Foto Contest with them? What a great way to keep in contact after I moved away! What a great idea!" And a great idea it was, so great that it allowed for no delay. I decided to start immediately, without any preparation and thus ended up taking a crappy picture with my phone.

The only interesting thing nearby was the bonfire in our garden, which is why "fire" ended up being our first contest theme. That's the banal, boring explanation. The more interesting one is that I chose fire because what's forged in fire is made to last (everybody knows that). Or because of this song that's played in a scene from Hot Fuzz that we often quote. Or because I wanted my friends to "burn with me", as The Doctor did. In any case: fire is a good way to start.

Simone

Winner