52-Week Photo Challenge

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Ariel
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Hello, just saw this and wanted to share it here:

https://petapixel.com/2018/12/29/shoot-this-52-week-photo-challenge-to-improve-your-skills-in-2019/

It was designed for digital but can be applied to film photo too.

And also could provide some ideas for the "New Old Film Challenge" :)

52weekchallengess.jpg
 
Umm... That looks really hard! I'd want a flippin' diploma or City & Guilds qualification or something I could put in a frame or on my CV after doing that lot! A medal at the very least...
 
Umm... That looks really hard! I'd want a flippin' diploma or City & Guilds qualification or something I could put in a frame or on my CV after doing that lot! A medal at the very least...

Yes, it is a little too much, but some ideas could be extracted from there.
 
Yes, that looks a bit more like a set of course exercises! My niece was telling me yesterday that at her school, in her Photography A level course, they are required to shoot 50 (fifty!) photos a week with different subjects/topics each week, as a 52 challenge, to include selection, editing and darkroom work where they've done it with film. That is a lot of photography. After just 3 months, she was able to demonstrate good understanding of exposure and lighting (inc indoor portrait lighting). Also she is shooting fully manual, and manual focusing, by preference, even though she is using both film and digital cameras that can automate part or all of an exposure. I'm quietly rather proud of her (and I did tell her that).
 
Yes, that looks a bit more like a set of course exercises! My niece was telling me yesterday that at her school, in her Photography A level course, they are required to shoot 50 (fifty!) photos a week with different subjects/topics each week, as a 52 challenge, to include selection, editing and darkroom work where they've done it with film. That is a lot of photography. After just 3 months, she was able to demonstrate good understanding of exposure and lighting (inc indoor portrait lighting). Also she is shooting fully manual, and manual focusing, by preference, even though she is using both film and digital cameras that can automate part or all of an exposure. I'm quietly rather proud of her (and I did tell her that).

I too would be very proud of her.

Nonetheless I feel that sometimes the school / college courses do demand too much ( not just photography) …...I personally would not be able ( or have been able as a young man) to keep up with it, or if I attempted, it would possibly take away any of the real enjoyment of the topic that I was persuing ( photography in the case of your Neice)
That would naurally defeat the whole point of taking the course in the first place imo

it is a little too much, but some ideas could be extracted from there.

:agree:
 
I'm sorry I seem to be hijacking the thread.
I agree about my niece's course. Actually she decided (with parents' agreement) to give up the academic/exam course for A level and just do the practical work with continued darkroom access, because the course is too much about Art and she just wants to do photography. I know this argument has been discussed before on TP, but it seems the Art side was very much about artistic styles, and history, and she liked trying to take photos "in the style of" but not writing essays about them. So again whilst I'm sad she will not be getting the A level in due course and the LRPS exemption that goes with it, I'm pleased that her motivation is valid and shows integrity.
 
At her age and in that position, assuming it was feasible for me, I'd have done the same. If I was in that position at my present age, with subsequent experience behind me, I'd have continued (although I'd find the practical arduous - far more so than the A levels I took which were maths physics and chemistry with the exams in 1967). I found out long afterwards that taking photos is easy; taking meaningful photos rather more difficult, and understanding what makes a photograph succeed when a small change produces a fail very complex without a knowledge of art, art history and some of the psychology underpinning the whole edifice.

Edited to add a post script. I'll freely admit that my subjects were chosen mainly because I enjoyed them, and not with any consideration whatsoever as to what I'd use them for. The same with my degree. So I can understand the motivation perfectly.
 
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Stephen, I tend to agree for myself - nut likewise in 1973 I chose to drop French, my best O level, in favour of Economics because it sounded interesting (and ended up my best A level grade) whilst continuing English and German that I really enjoyed also. All turned out to be useful in the long run though it took some years to realise that - exactly as you describe.
 
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