Looking for a photo challenge community

June 1, 2011 12:24 PM

I'd like to have some photo assignments / challenges given to me at regular intervals (ideally once a week), then post my submission and see other people's work. Does anyone know of an active community like this?

I'm just starting to try and properly learn photography and have been carrying my camera (an Olympus E-P2) around with me everywhere to grab as many learning opportunities as possible. I'm running out of ideas, and thought a little structure might serve me well to broaden my horizons. I'd love to find a community that did the following:

• Assigns regular challenges (ideally weekly)
• Runs all year long
• Lets you upload your submissions and see other people's
• Lets you talk to other people and learn with them
• Is friendly to newbies

Does anyone know of such a site / community? It looks like photochallenge.org was pretty much what i wanted, but that site is now inactive. I don't mind paying if it's more of a "class" type website, but I'd probably like to pay less than $100/year.

Thank you!

posted by ukdanae to Media & Arts (19 answers total)

Photo Friday. I haven't participated in a zillion years, but I think the site first emerged around the time the first consumer digital cameras came out.
posted by Lyn Never at 12:28 PM on June 1, 2011

fredmiranda.com has a weekly and monthly challenge that's quite active.
posted by devbrain at 12:29 PM on June 1, 2011

http://behind-the-lens.livejournal.com/ is a community on LiveJournal that has a photo challenge every month. Well, it looks like it concluded last month due to dwindling interest. :(
posted by jillithd at 12:30 PM on June 1, 2011

Lens Day has a small community for this.
posted by kindall at 12:49 PM on June 1, 2011

You could give Worth1000 a try - if you really get into the contests, you will get a photo-workout!
posted by Lynsey at 12:50 PM on June 1, 2011

You might check caedes.net , they run photo contests often.
posted by machinecraig at 12:53 PM on June 1, 2011

Gizmodo has a shooting challenge contest that runs weekly, I believe.
posted by royalsong at 1:01 PM on June 1, 2011

Leo LaPorte's TWiT network does a show called "Mostly Photo" (now renamed "TWiT Photo") and they do a weekly photo assignment with a contest.

Check out www.mostlyphotoadventures.com for more info.
posted by karizma at 1:05 PM on June 1, 2011

Farktography is a nice change of pace from the rest of Fark.com.
posted by infinitewindow at 1:06 PM on June 1, 2011

JPG Magazine has been resurrected from the grave and has regular challenges and open submission themes.
posted by backseatpilot at 1:07 PM on June 1, 2011

My mom is very active in Utata and has really enjoyed it. She's a decent photographer but enjoys helping newer photographers and also getting advice from people who are better photographers. They have challenges, discussion areas and real life meetups. Requires Flickr membership where a lot of the action takes place. Don't know if that's a dealbreaker for you or not.
posted by jessamyn at 1:12 PM on June 1, 2011

2nding fredmiranda's monthly and weekly assignments (though it looks like you might have to sign up and be logged into see the current ones).
posted by Godbert at 1:45 PM on June 1, 2011

Metafilter sister community Metachat runs an informal themed Photo Friday thread with advance warning every week. Last Friday was "Curves", and the advance thread for this week, "Light," just went up.
posted by Rhaomi at 2:01 PM on June 1, 2011

Digital Photography School is another place with weekly assignments.
posted by Quonab at 2:05 PM on June 1, 2011

The Toronto Star's Camera Club may fit your bill.
posted by sardonyx at 2:35 PM on June 1, 2011

Response by poster: You guys are awesome! I have so many options to go through now - i won't mark a best answer since I'd have to mark them all! If anyone else has any other suggestions please keep adding them, and otherwise thanks so much!
posted by ukdanae at 3:48 PM on June 1, 2011

Another one: The Daily Shoot, a new assignment every day.
posted by robt at 5:12 PM on June 1, 2011

Digital Photography Review
posted by urban greeting at 2:23 AM on June 2, 2011

Response by poster: Just to follow up for anyone interested, i've settled on the 365 Project website (my page), which encourages you to upload a daily photo, but also has weekly challenges on their blog. I found the site through a link on one of the many sites recommended above!

I've found the 365 community to be very welcoming, which sold it for me. I also dip into Digital Photography School and Digital Photography Review for more technical discussions. Thank you all again so much for pointing me in the right direction!
posted by ukdanae at 4:14 PM on June 7, 2011