Photo Assignment Saturday

Good Saturday Morning!

One of our goals for this blog is to provide you with some extra inspiration ... and let me just say that I spend a lot of time looking at your photos, and you have a LOT of inspiration-inspired pieces ... so no slams intended here!

But you know, sometimes I just really WANT to pick up my camera and shoot, but I just am not "feeling" it. Ever been there?

I miss taking photography classes at my local community college because every week I had an assignment ... and come hell or high water, I was picking up that camera, pulling out my hair, and getting that shot.

And sometimes pulling out our hair creates the best moments captured. Don't you think so?

So without further ado, the pressure is officially ON. That's right; Mama is throwing down. Here is your challenge for this week:

I want you to go out and get yourself a Bokeh! I chose this assignment first because I think there is a lovely and wonderful controversy on what exactly defines Bokeh. To some people, "bokeh" is believed to be those tiny points of light (geometrical light shapes) that occur when shooting with a shallow depth of field.



To others, bokeh is the soft background that occurs when shooting with a shallow depth of field.



So for the purpose of this assignment, we are sticking to the TCF Standard for Bokeh, which is:

the "interestingness of the defocused areas of the image"

So what are you waiting for. Charge those batteries or load that film and get out there and SHOOT!

You can start posting your entries in the comment section of this topic. You have until next Saturday to turn in your entries ... so you've got a week. Please feel free to discuss them in your reply, discuss the works of other submissions as well ... use this general forum to get some insight, brag, or offer kudos and congrats to others.

Next Sunday we'll throw all the entries into the Loft for a special challenge ... how's that for cool?

Remember; your shot must be taken between NOW and next Saturday at Midnight. If you don't have your exif data available, then we can't accept this entry. If you shoot film and scan it, you're on the honor system.

Good luck and happy shooting!

Welcome to The Challenge Factory Blog!

Hey kids! How's this for a birthday surprise?!?!

When The Challenge Factory was started just one year ago we had two goals in mind; create a fun environment for us to interact with other photographers, and keep the game moving at a steady pace.

We succeeded so quickly it astounded us all.

And then, just like our own human children, our TCF baby began to grow and develop goals of its own. We had to make adjustments in our parenting philosophies and continue to find ways to meet the needs of this very live entity.

As we approach our one-year anniversary, we recognize that The Challenge Factory is no longer "our baby". It took each and every one of you to make this group what it is, and it belongs to all the members, moderators and administrators that lovingly attend to it on a daily (almost hourly) basis :)

Our goal for this blog is to serve as a companion site to the Flickr challenge group. We will showcase not only photos, but photographers. Each week we will invite one of our members to post a collection of photos and discuss their philosophies, styles, signatures, techniques, etcetera. In addition, we hope to begin offering photography challenges aimed at getting us all to pick up our cameras more often and discover new ways to view the world through our lens.

Please feel free to post comments, suggestions, and kudos as appropriate. Just like TCF, this blog will only succeed with the care and feeding of the village we lovingly call our TCF Family.

With much love and awe,
funkybug