New Challenge

Is this a good idea?

  • YES

    Votes: 1 11.1%

  • NO

    Votes: 5 55.6%

  • Don't know

    Votes: 3 33.3%
  • Total voters
    9
  • Poll closed .
Barney

Barney

Suspended / Banned
Messages
3,043
Name
Wayne
Edit My Images
No
There are digital challenges all over the place yet few in the film section. Why is that?

I will propose a remedy, A friendly monthly challenge to be shot on film either colour or Black and white. The purpose is to allow new film photographers, like myself, to pick up valuable tips and inspiration from the many far more experienced people who frequent the F&C section. Being new I need easy subjects where the skills of the better more experienced people will have an opportunity to both shine, and inevitably show us newbies how to do it.

Subject each month will be be a traditional Native British flower, which can be photographed in either its natural environment, in a potted form or cut for arrangement. The flower itself is the subject, effectively a portrait style shot, rather than a field of tulips in Amsterdam or a cheesy carpet of Bluebell in a woodland scene.
 
Last edited:
Well IIRC some where on the forum you can post a film shot and ask for criticism, anyway for a newbie learn the basic rules of photography and one that comes to mind is..."choose your subject and exclude anything nor related to it or anything you don't want related to it" and get your own experience also looking at VG shots on the net and try to copy if you can't think of your own ideas, and you will find whether you would ever be a gifted photographer or just be a competent one.
For me, years ago, realised I'll only be a competent photographer but I'm happy with my shots which is most important.
 
Barney said:
Subject each month will be be a traditional Native British flower, which can be photographed in either its natural environment, in a potted form or cut for arrangement. The flower itself is the subject, effectively a portrait style shot, rather than a field of tulips in Amsterdam or a cheesy carpet of Bluebell in a woodland scene.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure whether you intend that the photographer picks the variety of flower each month or there are fixed subjects. If you intend to specify the flower as the organiser then the difficulty is to predict what will be in bloom naturally or available in the shops each month.

Whilst there are, presumably, thousands of species, there aren't that many different species that are actually available to purchase in the shops.

Also, what you class as a "native" British flower depends upon how far back in time you go since many of the flowers now growing in Britain originate from varieties imported by Victorian plant hunters.
 
Kevin Allan said:
I'm not sure whether you intend that the photographer picks the variety of flower each month or there are fixed subjects. If you intend to specify the flower as the organiser then the difficulty is to predict what will be in bloom naturally or available in the shops each month.

Whilst there are, presumably, thousands of species, there aren't that many different species that are actually available to purchase in the shops.

Also, what you class as a "native" British flower depends upon how far back in time you go since many of the flowers now growing in Britain originate from varieties imported by Victorian plant hunters.
Click to expand...
Yes Kevin, pick your own flower, not strict rules, just trying to getting us all playing along and a participation thing, the British flower is theme, or a flower grown in Britain even a flower from a tray at a garden center etc, I would not expect us all to become botanists and research the origins of plants we come across.

Idea being that us beginners can find a subject more or less anywhere and photograph wherever we want outside, inside etc.

The challenge is to get us film photographers sparing one or two shots a month from the many rolls we shoot.

I enjoy seeing other photographers brilliant work!
 
Would it be easier to have a monthly/bi-monthly theme that isn't FPOTY. Most likes picks the next theme. Something more light than FPOTY.

There’s also the photos from film section that is rather slow and could do with a boost.
 
So like the New Old Film except not old, ie not from the archives?
However how is this different from the FPOTY really?
Absolutely nothing against more challenges being started, especially if there's a willing volunteer to run one. It would just be good to clarify how it's differentiated from other challenges. Maybe more like the 52 except making it a 12, with a randomly chosen subject each month? Someone did once, I believe, try to do the 52 on film but that's only really practical if you shoot MF or LF and do your own processing and scanning. Easier to make it a 12 really.
@sirch is more the lead on F&C stuff by the way, so linking him into the discussion
 
I can't say I have much of a view on the OP, would a personal project with and invitation to comment be an alternative approach to a challenge?
 
Well I must say, I must have the wrong idea of what a challenge is. :)

It has nothing to do with Film Photographer of the year, NOTHING.

It's a suggestion to try and encourage folk to post a shot of an easy subject which most of us, unless housebound, see every single day.

A flower FFS.

Not climb to the top of the highest mountain within fifty mile at 3am to take a landscape sunrise on 8x10.

IS actually taking a picture of something too much of a challenge?
 
FPOTY is just such a challenge, not a competition, it's just that the themes for the year ahead are published before the start of the year and people get to vote as well as feed back.. New Old Film is still running: https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/new-old-film-challenge-discussion-thread.698995/page-25 and runs on a similar basis.

However, we are always willing to see new challenges started - Gav started the Alphabet Challenge, Nifty Fifty, and Seasons challenges last year. So by all means @Barney flesh out your plan a bit more and, I suggest, invite sign-ups or run a poll to assess interest; if not enough, then as Chris suggested, do it as a personal challenge instead.
 
Barney said:
Well I must say, I must have the wrong idea of what a challenge is. :)

It has nothing to do with Film Photographer of the year, NOTHING.

It's a suggestion to try and encourage folk to post a shot of an easy subject which most of us, unless housebound, see every single day.

A flower FFS.

Not climb to the top of the highest mountain within fifty mile at 3am to take a landscape sunrise on 8x10.

IS actually taking a picture of something too much of a challenge?
Click to expand...
Just post an open ‘flowers’ thread in the from film section. That way all who wish can add a photo. Doesn’t have to be flowers and you can add multiple open to all threads for various themes.
 
FPOTY is a competition,
There are votes each month
points are awarded
monthly tables are published
cumulative totals are issued
there is a winner at the end of the year
there is a prize for the winner

The above fills virtually every requirement for a competition

My suggestion could not be easier, or so I thought :) ,

Each month take a seasonal film foto of a flower.

No points no prizes just an opportunity to showcase the fabulous talent on TP and beginners, like me, to find an easy subject.
 
PeterSpencer said:
Is the new/old film thing dead? I enjoyed it while it lasted.
Click to expand...
I don't think so. I suspect whoever won the last one has either been busy and/or forgotten. Was the last one the "Shops" one? If so I think it was Nick @RaglanSurf who won that one. There might have been one later than that though.
 
Barney said:
FPOTY is a competition,
There are votes each month
points are awarded
monthly tables are published
cumulative totals are issued
there is a winner at the end of the year
there is a prize for the winner

The above fills virtually every requirement for a competition

My suggestion could not be easier, or so I thought :) ,

Each month take a seasonal film foto of a flower.

No points no prizes just an opportunity to showcase the fabulous talent on TP and beginners, like me, to find an easy subject.
Click to expand...
I'm not going to argue @Barney regarding FPOTY. 2025 is the first year of it where a prize has been offered, it has always been run as a challenge with votes to reflect people's favourite submission. No-one has ever chosen to treat it as a competition, but equally it's nice to get votes similarly to getting Likes, and feedback, and sometimes it is helpful to compare your work with someone else's interpretation of a theme. OK maybe it stretches the idea of a challenge, so fair enough, but it's not intended that way.

As has been said, if you want to run something like you've described, go for it, either called a challenge or a monthly open thread. Whatever suits. Rather like Garry's lighting challenges I guess.
 
lindsay said:
I'm not going to argue @Barney regarding FPOTY. 2025 is the first year of it where a prize has been offered, it has always been run as a challenge with votes to reflect people's favourite submission. No-one has ever chosen to treat it as a competition, but equally it's nice to get votes similarly to getting Likes, and feedback, and sometimes it is helpful to compare your work with someone else's interpretation of a theme. OK maybe it stretches the idea of a challenge, so fair enough, but it's not intended that way.

As has been said, if you want to run something like you've described, go for it, either called a challenge or a monthly open thread. Whoever suits. Rather like Garry's lighting challenges I guess.
Click to expand...
Neither I am Lindsay,

I will go and sit in a corner and read a book.
 
Barney said:
Well I must say, I must have the wrong idea of what a challenge is. :)

It has nothing to do with Film Photographer of the year, NOTHING.

It's a suggestion to try and encourage folk to post a shot of an easy subject which most of us, unless housebound, see every single day.

A flower FFS.

Not climb to the top of the highest mountain within fifty mile at 3am to take a landscape sunrise on 8x10.

IS actually taking a picture of something too much of a challenge?
Click to expand...
erm well I have many shots of flowers in colour but I can't see that anybody would learn from it as they are just record shots, but what I found is a single flower is a lot easier than a bouquet or a shrub in flower and have given up on my shrub Wisteria in full bloom and even tried different lenses, views etc and the results are pretty but boring. Another difficult shot for a result in colour is an open..... deep red or maroon rose esp to see the detail of the petals.
I could post a few e.gs and the only thing a person would learn is to use a close up lens?
 
Last edited:
excalibur2 said:
erm well I have many shots of flowers in colour but I can't see that anybody would learn from it as they are just record shots, but what I found is a single flower is a lot easier than a bouquet or a shrub in flower and have given up on my shrub Wisteria in full bloom and even tried different lenses, views etc and the results are pretty but boring. Another difficult shot for a result in colour is an open..... deep red or maroon rose esp to see the detail of the petals.
I could post a few e.gs and the only thing a person would learn is to use a close up lens?
Click to expand...
Thanks for your positive input Brian,

I am having a ride out to RHS garden later today and hopefully snap a few seasonal flowers. I will post a thread up over the weekend and then folk can contribute. I hope to improve over the year and feel that although a flower is a relatively simple concept the complex nature of the light and shadows will have a positive effect on other aspects of my photography.
 
Thank You to ALL for your comments and advice
 
Barney said:
Thanks for your positive input Brian,

I am having a ride out to RHS garden later today and hopefully snap a few seasonal flowers. I will post a thread up over the weekend and then folk can contribute. I hope to improve over the year and feel that although a flower is a relatively simple concept the complex nature of the light and shadows will have a positive effect on other aspects of my photography.
Click to expand...
Just keep the thread open in perpetuity so they can keep being added to over time. You could do the same for other subjects too. Most (if not all) of the posts in the from film forum section are just members posting their own images with no other contributions. Just a collection of ‘flowers’, architectural or any other things of interest will all grow eventually. No need for voting etc. (y)
 
My two-penneth.

It seems incredibly niche. And I'd fear that restricting it before it's even started - especially in the film section where participation in even the loosest categories is hard to gain support - would mean it wouldn't get much traction.

Maybe it's just me, but I have zero interest in 12-months of shooting flowers.
 
Last edited:
How about having no theme, just post your favourite film photograph each month?
 
This used to be a regular feature in F&C and it was felt that it could be made a little more structured and it morphed into the FPotY competition.

Theres nothing to stop anyone suggesting a theme and encouraging others to take part.

We've had all sorts of challenges and themes in the past, including 1 year/1 camera/1 film, travelling cameras, P&S camera challenges, postcard shares.

So the world is your lobster, post a challenge up and herd up your participants with a fully charged cattle prod (y)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top