52 Week Photography Challenge for 2016

Unlike most photography challenges which are just a simple list of ideas, this 52 week challenge is designed to
push your photography to the next level. This list is going to be more challenging to complete than a simple 52
week photography challenge list. But stick with it to the end and I guarantee you will be a better photographer
for it. There is no specific start date for this challenge. Each photographer is on their own journey, and only
competing with themselves from week to week. If you wish to form a challenge group and compete with each
other based on this list you are welcome to do so! If you form a challenge group drop me an invite I would
love to watch the progress.

Weekly Challenge Categories:

Each week, the weekly assignment will be in one of 3 categories:

 Portrait: Portrait photography is really about capturing the essence of a person in an image. A portrait
image can range from a classic portrait to candid, or from street photography to a selfie. Each time this
category comes up we will dive into a different area of portrait photography. The main focus should
always be a person/persons (or maybe a pet).
 Landscape: In the context of the #dogwood52 photography challenge, this category is pretty broad
covering both traditional landscapes, and some non-traditional areas such as urbanscapes. Don’t be
afraid to really explore your surroundings in this category. If the focus is the environment you are in, it
will qualify as Landscape in this category.
 Artistic Impression: When this category comes up, you really have room to express yourself. You can
interpret the assignment literally or figuratively. Unlike the other two categories that are more focused,
the main focus of this category is to let your creativity shine.

How to share your images

I highly encourage sharing your work each week. I know it’s hard to put yourself out there, but it is an
important part of growing as a photographer. If you want to share your images with the rest of the people
who are taking part in the challenge I recommend the following hashtags: #dogwood52 and
#dogwoodweek[NUMBER] (ex: #dogwoodweek1, #dogwoodweek2).

If you run into others who are also participating and sharing, be sure and comment on their image!

Some places to share your work:

 Join the Facebook Group Dogwood 52 to share your work

at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dogwood.52
 Join the Flickr Group Dogwood 52 Challenge to share your work
at: https://www.flickr.com/groups/dogwood52challenge/
 Share your work on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or other hashtag friendly social media site
with the hashtags listed above.
 Share your work in your favorite photography forum… and even encourage others to participate.
 Share your work via websites dedicated to photographers like Flickr.com or 500Pix.com.
The Challenge List
Week 1 Portrait: Self Portrait Start things off right with a "selfie"! Explore the self timer setting on
your camera.
Week 2 Landscape: Traditional Shoot a beautiful landscape and share it with the world. Find a nice
Landscape foreground and don't forget the sky.
Week 3 Artistic: Red Shoot whatever inspires you. Red should be the focus of the image.
Don't be afraid to be creative.
Week 4 Portrait: Headshot You shot a selfie, now shoot a "selfie" of someone else!
Week 5 Landscape: Black and White Look for a scene with great contrast that will make a great black and
white.
Week 6 Artistic: Candy Your artistic interpretation this week should be inspired by something
sweet. A great chance to play with macro photography.
Week 7 Portrait: Faceless Tell someone's story without showing their face.
Week 8 Landscape: Wide This is a great opportunity to explore panorama stitching and create a
Angle/Panorama wide sweeping landscape.
Week 9 Artistic: Shadows The opposite of light is dark, the absence of light is shadow. Interpret
this into a masterpiece.
Week 10 Portrait: Environmental Show a subject in their natural habitat. Their place of work or hobby is
a great start. Tell their story with the environment
Week 11 Landscape: Reflection Find a way to show your landscape/natural beauty in reflection. The
mirror world revealed.
Week 12 Artistic: Transportation Our world is one defined by how we get around. Literal or
interpretative, find inspiration in transportation.
Week 13 Portrait: High Key Expose to the right and create a light, airy high key portrait.
Week 14 Landscape: Zoomed in Most landscapes are wide sweeping images. Try an alternative and
zoom in instead.
Week 15 Artistic: Metal Cold, hard steel. Shiny Aluminum. Or even rusted and broken down.
Find your inspiration in metal this week.
Week 16 Portrait: Movement Most portraits are stationary, so this week explore adding some
movement. Dancing, twirling, or even hair flips.
Week 17 Landscape: Urbanscape Most Landscapes are wide open spaces of natural beauty... this week
find the beauty of the urbanscape/cityscape.
Week 18 Artistic: Texture The artistic inspiration this week is texture. You should almost be able
to feel the image.
Week 19 Portrait: Messy Take an amazing portrait of someone, make a mess while you are
doing it.
Week 20 Landscape: Nightowl A tripod is going to be handy this week... time to shoot a night
landscape. Look for some light for the scene! Car lights, city lights, or
maybe just moonlight.
Week 21 Artistic: Fantasy Is this real life, or is this just fantasy... Your artistic inspiration this
week is fantasy.
Week 22 Portrait: Hands Usually the face is the strongest element in the frame; with the hands
being second. Make the hands the most important element in your
image this week.
Week 23 Landscape: Weather
Week 24 Artistic: Sparkle!
Week 25 Portrait: Silhouette
Week 26 Landscape: Simplify
Week 27 Artistic: Blue
Week 28 Portrait: Family
Week 29 Landscape: Waterscape
Week 30 Artistic: Patterns
Week 31 Portrait: Street Candid
Week 32 Landscape: Colorful
Week 33 Artistic: Collaboration
Week 34 Portrait: Child
Week 35 Landscape: Nature up Close
Week 36 Artistic: Food
Week 37 Portrait: Fashion
Week 38 Landscape: Get Low
Week 39 Art: Handmade
Week 40 Portrait: Sitting in a Chair
Week 41 Landscape: Get High
Week 42 Artistic: Minimalist
Week 43 Portrait: The Elderly
Week 44 Landscape: A Tree
Week 45 Artistic: Nostalgic
Week 46 Portrait: Backlit
Week 47 Landscape: Abandoned
This week should be as unpredictable as the weather! Feature the
weather in this week's landscape.
Shoot what inspires you this week, just make sure it sparkles.
Expose for the background and let your subject fall into shadow.
Shape is important this week.
Simply the scene to make your primary subject stand out.
You were inspired by the fiery red earlier, now be inspired by calming
blue.
Whether it's the family you are born with or the one you choose, show
the world what family is to you.
Ocean, lake, river, pond, or puddle. Make water the primary subject of
this landscape.
Get inspired by the rhythm that patterns bring to your images.
Candids on the street, show us life in your town through the lens.
Shoot a landscape that packs as much color as you can find into the
scene.
Doesn't matter what you shoot, just do with another artist. Share
vision and ideas. Collaborate.
Candid or posed, capture an image of a child. Try getting down on
their level for a unique perspective.
Get up close and personal with nature in this natural beauty shot.
Flowers, bees, bugs and spiders might all make great shots
Take your food photography to the next level. Its not lunch, its art.
Avant-garde to commercial to traditional, and everything in between.
The focus is the clothes this week.
Time to look at the world from a different angle. Shoot a landscape
from a low point of view.
Your artistic interpretation should be inspired by another artisan's
handmade work. Literal or interpreted.
Either a formal sitting portrait or a re-interpretation of this classic.
Photography your subject sitting in a chair.
Everything looks different when you are high. Find a high perspective
to shoot this landscape.
Isolate your subject using the minimalist approach. Inspire someone
with your art.
Tell the story of an elderly person through the power of your camera.
Capture the lines of their life.
Some of the most famous landscapes in the world feature a tree. Time
to see what you can do.
Use nostalgic as your inspiration this week. Long for the moments we
want recapture. The good times.
The sun makes a great back light, as well as a flash. Don't forget the fill
light. A flash or reflector can be used to fill in the subject.
Capture an image of that which others have forgotten. It may be the
last image before its gone from us forever.
Week 48 Artistic: Bokeh A shallow depth of field is often used to isolate the subject. Create an
artistic interpretation using shallow depth of field.
Week 49 Portrait: Dancing Whether it's a professional dancer, or just some kids in the street. Try
experimenting with slow and fast shutter speed to both blur and
freeze the subject.
Week 50 Landscape: Symmetrical Often considered one of the hardest compositions to pull off,
Symmetry. Challenge yourself this week by shooting a symmetrical
landscape/urbanscape.
Week 51 Artistic: Art It is time to really challenge yourself. Your artistic interpretation
should be art, about art. So meta.
Week 52 Portrait: Another Self Portrait For your final challenge, we end where we started. Take one last self-
portrait, and be amazed at how far you have come in a year.
52 Week Photography Challenge for 2017
The original Dogwood Photography 52 Week Challenge was a huge success, with tens of thousands of
photographers participating from around the world. In celebration of those who have completed the first
challenge, a new challenge is now here! The challenge for 2017 has a higher difficulty level than the original
challenge. While this challenge is a follow on to the original challenge here, it is also suitable to be completed
as a stand alone challenge. There is no specific start date for this challenge. Each photographer is on their own
journey, and only competing with themselves from week to week. If you wish to form a challenge group and
compete with each other based on this list you are welcome to do so! If you form a challenge group drop me
an invite I would love to watch the progress.

Weekly Challenge Categories:

Each week, the weekly assignment will be in one of 3 categories:

 Story Telling: Good photographers can take beautiful images of something. Great photographers can
take an image that tells its story. This category makes use of compositional rules and directed prompts
to push you towards not just looking at the beauty of something, but to find a way to tell that
something’s story.
 Technical: Technical Aptitude is just as important as creative inspiration in photography. With that in
mind this category is a mix of in camera and post processing techniques designed to expose you to new
technical skills and techniques.
 Artistic Impression: When this category comes up, you really have room to express yourself. You can
interpret the assignment literally or figuratively. Unlike the other two categories that are more
focused, the idea of this category is to let your creativity shine.

How to share your images

I highly encourage sharing your work each week. I know it’s hard to put yourself out there, but it is an
important part of growing as a photographer. If you want to share your images with the rest of the people
who are taking part in the challenge I recommend the following hashtags: #dogwood52, #dogwood2017, and
#dogwoodweek[NUMBER] (ex: #dogwoodweek1, #dogwoodweek2).

If you run into others who are also participating and sharing, be sure and comment on their image!

Some places to share your work:

 Join the Facebook Group Official Dogwood Photography

Challenge at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dogwood.52.challenge/
 Share your work on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or other hashtag friendly social media site
with the hashtags listed above.
 Share your work in your favorite photography forum… and even encourage others to participate.
 Share your work via websites dedicated to photographers like Flickr.com or 500Pix.com.
The Challenge List
Week 1 Story: Rule of Thirds The rule of thirds is the first compositional rule most photographers learn;
but most don't know why they learn it. The rule of thirds is amazing for
telling a story. Tell a story using rule of thirds.
Week 2 Technical: SOOC Straight out of the Camera. No Photoshop. Shoot a compelling image and
post it without edits. No cheating! (Be sure and save the image file for the
end of the challenge!)
Week 3 Artistic: Land Your inspiration this week is land. This could be a landscape, or an image
inspired by the land in some way.
Week 4 Story: Mirror Tell a story using a mirror.
Week 5 Technical: Ten Shots Shoot 10 shots of the same subject. Each shot should be from a different
angle, distance, and focal length. Share your favorite image from the set.
Week 6 Artistic: Candy A throwback to one of the favorite weeks of the original challenge. Your
artistic inspiration this week is candy. Since this is the advanced challenge...
you can't actually use candy in the scene.
Week 7 Story: Forgotten Abandoned was a very popular week in the original challenge. For the
advanced challenge tell the story of something forgotten.
Week 8 Technical: One Shot Imagine that it is the last frame on a roll of film, and you have to nail it. For
this challenge only take one shot. No deleting, no 2nd shot. The honor
system is in play.
Week 9 Artistic: Still Life Your inspiration this week is Still Life. A couple of pieces of fruit on a table
won't impress in the advanced challenge though... so really be creative.
Week 10 Story: Perspective Perspective for the purpose of this challenge is the relationship of objects in
the scene. If you really want a challenge this is a good chance to use forced
perspective.
Week 11 Technical: Split Tone Split Tone is an editing technique where the shadows are toned one color,
and the highlights a second color. Split toning is often used with color
grading in the media to give a scene a desired look and feel.
Week 12 Artistic: Orange Your inspiration this week is orange. Either the color orange or an actual
orange. Or both.
Week 13 Story: Golden Hour The golden hour is the hour before sunset or after sunrise when the sun
casts amazing golden tones. Find a way to use the golden hour to tell a story.
Week 14 Technical: Panning Use the technique of panning to capture a subject in movement. Panning is
using a slower shutter speed while following the subject with the camera to
create the sense of movement in an image.
Week 15 Artistic: Hard Your artistic inspiration this week is hard. Hard is both an adjective and an
adverb. Interpret this how you wish.
Week 16 Story: leading Lines Leading Lines are a very important compositional element that every
photographer needs to master. Use leading lines to tell a story. No train
tracks.
Week 17 Technical: Loop Loop lighting is one of the most used portrait lighting techniques. Shoot a
Lighting portrait using loop lighting. If you don't have an off camera flash setup, get
creative with how you light your subject.
Week 18 Artistic: Purple
Week 19 Story: Back Yard
Week 20 Technical: Sky Overlay Sometimes the sky just doesn't cooperate. This week replace the sky in your
Week 21 Artistic: Soft
Week 22 Story: Geometric
Shapes
Week 23 Technical: F/8 Portrait Shoot a portrait using an aperture setting of F/8. Since this is the advanced
Week 24 Artistic: Green
Week 25 Story: Toy Story
Week 26 Technical: Light
Painting
Week 27 Artistic:
Communication
Week 28 Story: Portrait as
Landscape
Week 29 Technical: Water Drop Photographing a water drop is a mix of lighting, macro, and patience. There
Week 30 Artistic: Family
Week 31 Story: Frame Within a Another classic compositional tool is to frame the subject within the frame
Frame
Week 32 Technical: HDR
Week 33 Artistic: High Key
Week 34 Story: Stranger
Week 35 Technical: Stitched
Panorama
Week 36 Artistic: Low Key
Your inspiration this week is purple. Purple is the color of royalty, magic, and
mystery.
Tell the story of your immediate surroundings. Give us a glimpse into your
daily life.
image. If you need a sky to use in the replacement, search flickr.com for an
image to use under Creative Commons Licensing.
Your artistic inspiration this week is soft. Just like hard earlier in the
challenge, soft is both and adjective and an adverb. Interpret this how you
will.
Triangles, squares, and circles. They are all very strong compositional
elements in an image. Find a way to use geometric shapes in your
storytelling.
challenge, be sure to find a way to isolate your subject other than shallow
depth of field.
Your inspiration this week is green. Green is the color of life, nature, and
hope.
Not the movie! Tell a story with toys or about toys. (Kind of like the movie...)
Put your camera on a tripod at night, open the shutter for 30 seconds, and
paint your subject with light. Flashlights, LED strips, and even laser pointers
work great.
Your inspiration this week is communication. We live in the age of endless
communication, so there is inspiration everywhere.
Shoot a portrait that is posing as a landscape. Tell a story of the subject using
the landscape around them. Fool the viewer.
are plenty of ways to pull this off, enjoy figuring it out!
In the last challenge you shot a family portrait. This time use family as your
inspiration. Since this is the advanced challenge no people can be in the
image.
of the image. Use this technique this week to tell your story.
HDR is the technique of combining several photos of the same scene but
shot at different exposures to create an image with a High Dynamic Range.
High Key was one of the most interesting during the last challenge. Last time
it was a portrait; this time it is back as inspiration.
Tell the story of a stranger. Try using their environment to really inform the
viewer of their story.
A stitched panorama is an image made up of several smaller images stitched
together during editing. For an added challenge try using the Brenizer
Method.
Low Key is the opposite of High Key. Shoot an image where most of the tonal
range is on left side of the histogram.
Week 37 Story: Balance
Week 38 Technical: 50mm
Week 39 Art: Water
Week 40 Story: Colorful B & W
Week 41 Technical: Levitation
Week 42 Artistic: Music
Week 43 Story: Movement
Week 44 Technical: Magic ND
Filter
Week 45 Artistic: Cold
Week 46 Story: Landscape
Foreground
Week 47 Technical: Shaped
Bokeh
Week 48 Artistic: Bodyscape
Week 49 Story:Blue Hour
Week 50 Technical: Full Edit
Week 51 Artistic: Fear
Week 52 Story: Your Story
Balance is the compositional technique of giving each area in a scene equal
visual weight. You can achieve balance using color, tone, or juxtaposed
subjects.
Learn to sneaker zoom! Shoot an image using only the 50mm Focal Length.
Either use a fixed 50mm lens or set your zoom lens to 50mm. Since this is
the advanced challenge make sure the image is compelling.
Your inspiration this week is water. Interpret this how you will.
Tell the story of a colorful scene. Because this is the advanced challenge, no
flowers. Do it in Black and White.
Levitation is part camera trick and part photoshop. Create an interesting
levitation image this week.
Your inspiration this week is music. This is wide open so have fun with it.
Capturing and creating movement in a still photo is a challenge for every
photographer. Use movement this week to tell a story.
Use an ND filter combined with a shutter speed of 30 seconds or even longer
to create your image. Try a waterscape or even a busy landmark to see the
magic happen.
Your inspiration this week is cold. Interpret this how you want.
Many stories are based around portraits, but landscapes can have stories
also. Tell the story of a landscape by using the foreground as the subject and
the background as the scene.
Bokeh was one of people's favorite weeks. This year take it a step further
and create a scene using shaped bokeh.
The human form has been the study of art since art was first inspired. Your
inspiration this week is the human body.
The Blue Hour is the hour after sunset or the hour before sunrise when the
sky is dominated by amazing blue and purple hues. Use this to tell your story
this week.
Use the SOOC shot from the beginning of the challenge and re-edit it to it's
full glory. If that shot isn't available feel free to re-edit any of your past work.
Fear is your inspiration this week. Find a way to show fear in a way that your
viewer feels it.
Tell your story.
52 Week Photography Challenge for 2018
This challenge has been created by photographers who participated in past year’s challenges to push
themselves, and you, even further in your photographic journey. The Community Challenge is a great follow
on to the other two challenges, but is also suitable to be completed as a stand-alone challenge. There is no
specific start date for this challenge. Each photographer is on their own journey, and only competing with
themselves from week to week. If you wish to form a challenge group and compete with others based on this
list you are welcome to do so! If you form a challenge group drop me an invite I would love to watch the
progress.

Weekly Challenge Categories:

Each week, the weekly assignment will be in one of 5 categories:

 Vision: This category is designed to push you to go beyond sight, to insight; to take inspiration and
make it a reality. Vision exists in your imagination and is revealed your photographs; expressing
something otherwise invisible. Developing a Vision for your work is showing to others what you see in
your mind’s eye.
 Composition: Composition refers to the way the various elements in a scene are arranged within the
frame. Challenges will focus on setting up the shot and developing our personal composition styles;
styles which can become our trademark. Developing your Compostion will allow you to set the stage to
generate a reaction from your audience.
 Technical: Technical Aptitude is just as important as creative inspiration in photography. This year's
technical category is primarily focused on in camera processes, however, there will be some post
processing techniques included.
 Creative: When this category comes up, you really have room to express yourself. You can interpret
the assignment literally or figuratively. Unlike the other categories, the idea of this category is to let
your artistic impression shine.
 Wild Card: Consider this a Show-and-Tell for grown-ups. You have freedom do shoot what and how
you wish. Let us know if you're trying a new technique, composition, style, subject, working on a
specific project, or just exercising your freedom. Have fun!

How to share your images

I highly encourage sharing your work each week. I know it’s hard to put yourself out there, but it is an
important part of growing as a photographer. If you want to share your images with the rest of the people
who are taking part in the challenge I recommend the following hashtags: #dogwood52, #dogwood2018, and
#dogwoodweek[NUMBER] (ex: #dogwoodweek1, #dogwoodweek2).

If you run into others who are also participating and sharing, be sure and comment on their image!

Some places to share your work:

 Put together a gallery show of your favorite images from the challenge! Select 12-20 of your favorite
images to have printed and framed; and then arrange a photography exhibit. The show could be as
simple as a dinner party at your house. You could also reach out to local coffee shops and community
galleries to see if space would be available. There may be some incidental costs for showing your work,
so you may want to contact early so that you can plan accordingly. Consider selling a few of your
framed prints to help offset the cost.
The Challenge List
Week 1 Vision: Look Ahead New year. New beginnings. New you. Look ahead. Interpret as you wish.
Week 2 Composition: Color Get out your color wheel. Do opposites attract? Can there be harmony with
Harmony opposite colors? Does the Hulk wear purple pants? Mix warm and cool colors.
Week 3 Technical: Full While the camera often determines shutter speed and aperture for the
Manual photographer, it doesn't know your creative intent. This week, challenge your
self to assume creative control over the camera by using full manual mode.
Select a subject where varying the aperture and / or shutter speed helps
enhance the composition and visual qualities of the image.
Week 4 Creative: Quiet Peace. Serenity. Tranquility. Convey a quiet moment.
Moment
Week 5 Wildcard: Capture an image on your terms; who, what, where, when, why, how … it's all
Photographer's up to you. Caveat: You must tell us your intent.
Choice
Week 6 Vision: Alternating Alternate patterns of light to bring depth and rhythm to the photograph.
Rhythm
Week 7 Composition: Fill the Fill the frame with your subject, no background. You will need to get up close
Frame and personal, or use a good zoom lens.
Week 8 Technical: Zoom By changing the focal length during long exposure you can add movement to
Burst your frame, producing leading lines within your frame.
Week 9 Creative: Forsaken Abandoned and Forgotten were favorites in the past. Let's revisit the idea the
idea this year with forsaken.
Week 10 Vision: Selective I know, I know. Yuck. Selective color can be cringeworthy, however, when done
Color right, it brings compelling focus to the subject.
Week 11 Composition: Minimize the composition to isolate your subject. The composition should be
Negative Space simple, thereby drawing your viewer to the subject.
Week 12 Technical: Macro Life is in the details. Get in close and show us the details we usually miss. You
don't need a macro lens to shoot a macro shot.
Week 13 Creative: Leading Back by popular demand, use lines to lead the viewer to your subject.
Lines
Week 14 Vision: Diptych or Connect 2 or 3 images together, creating one image, to provoke a thought or tell
Triptych a story.
Week 15 Composition: Rule of Your subject should be facing the frame, walking into the frame, this keeps your
Space subject "in" the frame and engaging with it. Give your subject room to move.
Week 16 Technical: Portrait Whether Butterfly, Rembrandt, Split, or Loop Lighting, choose the technique
Lighting which best flatters your subject.
Week 17 Creative: Humor Laughter is the best medicine. Make us laugh.
Week 18 Wildcard: Capture an image on your terms; who, what, where, when, why, how … it's all
Photographer's up to you. Caveat: You must tell us your intent.
Choice
Week 19 Vision: Edge Cut Sun Having an edge cut through the sun looks nice, or having the sun rising over a
line or diagonal within the photo. Stop down the aperture to create a starburst.
Week 20 Composition: From Get down low; below 2 feet, and change your perspective. Look out or look up.
Below
Week 21 Technical: Product Imagine your image in a catalog or a magazine. It's not as easy as it sounds.
Week 22 Creative: Door A symbol of transition, a door or a gate provide a passage way.
Week 23 Vision: No Peeking Shoot as if you were using a film camera. That means that you will not look at
the photographs you've taken until they are downloaded on your computer.
Week 24 Composition: An easy way to make a photo more interesting is to introduce some form of
Contrast stark contrast: liquid/solid, hard/soft, delicate/brash.
Week 25 Technical: Starburst Create a very strong focal point and add an entirely new dimension of interest to
your image using a starburst.
Week 26 Creative: High or Low You don't have to do both this year; choose your favorite and shoot that.
Key
Week 27 Vision: Flattery They say imitation is the highest form; so, past or present; choose your favorite
master photographer and imitate their art or technique.
Week 28 Composition: Left to Compose an image in the way we read; most countries read from left to right.
Right Rule Compose your shot to follow this direction.
Week 29 Technical: Twilight While golden and blue hours bring beautiful lighting, shooting in twilight opens
Zone up a new way of seeing the world. Capture a "scape" that isn't dominated by
darkness. Show the light and textures that can be found under the stars, in city
lights, or a moon filled sky.
Week 30 Creative: Circles The circle is a universal symbol with extensive meaning; it represents the
notions of totality.
Week 31 Wildcard: Capture an image on your terms; who, what, where, when, why, how … it's all
Photographer's up to you. Caveat: You must tell us your intent.
Choice
Week 32 Vision: The Alphabet Alphabet photography involves taking photographs of existing or created objects
to create a word.
Week 33 Composition: Figure If camouflage is designed to make things disappear, Figure to Ground is
to Ground designed to make the subject stand out. Light on dark, dark on light.
Week 34 Technical: The Wild Capturing a captivating wildlife photograph requires knowledge of your camera
Side settings and the behavior of the animal. Capture a compelling wildlife
photograph that has proper subject alignment (e.g., no "bird butts") and
exposure. For an easy introduction, urban critters (e.g., squirrels) are easy
targets. For an advanced challenge, a bird in flight could be considered.
Week 35 Creative: Loneliness One is the loneliest number.
Week 36 Vision: Ordinary Find beauty in the ordinary.
Week 37 Composition: Eye Eyes draw attention to certain parts of the frame, your subject will direct your
Lines audience's eye. Where is your subject looking? What are they seeing or not
seeing?
Week 38 Technical: Focus A technique which combines multiple images taken at different focus distances
Stacking to give a resulting image with a greater depth of field. Especially helpful in
macro.
Week 39 Creative: Abstract Photograph a common object in an abstract manor.
Week 40 Vision: Classic Novel Create an image that identifies a classic novel or story.
Week 41 Composition: Rule of Compose and image highlighting an odd number of subjects; some see this as
Odds natural and more pleasing to the eye.
Week 42 Technical: Shutter Used to balance fill light with ambient light or add motion-blur to images.
Drag
Week 43 Creative: A Song Create a photo from the title of a song.
Week 44 Wildcard: Capture an image on your terms; who, what, where, when, why, how … it's all
Photographer's up to you. Caveat: You must tell us your intent.
Choice
Week 45 Vision: Show Half Tell a complete story by only showing half of it.
Week 46 Composition: Golden A diagonal line divides the frame from corner to corner, two more lines are
Triangles added from the other corners, intersecting the diagonal line.
Week 47 Technical: Step Back Edit your image to where you think it's perfect and let it sit for two days. Then
return to it and see if it works. Print a picture and review it from a different
perspective before finalizing.
Week 48 Creative: Split Tones Another favorite; last year's technical, is this year's creative. Have fun with it.
Week 49 Vision: Look Back We need to look back to see how far we've come. If you were Captain Ahab,
which skill would be your whale? Post a comparison.
Week 50 Composition: Golden Often called Fibonacci, the spiral leads the viewers’ eye to the squares (the
Ratio subject), compose your image using the Golden Ratio.
Week 51 Technical: Exposure While high dynamic range pictures can help capture challenging lighting
Compensation situations, there are times when you need a single frame. Use exposure
compensation mode on your camera to capture backlit or other challenging
lighting situations
Week 52 Creative: Self Portrait Not popular, but it's good for us to get on the other side of the lens. This year it's
in a creative category, so be creative.
52 Week Photography Challenge for 2019
The annual Dogwood 52 Week Photography Challenge has been an amazing success, with tens of thousands of
photographers participating from around the world. Join us in 2019 for year 4 of the challenge!

Each photographer is on their own journey, and only competing with themselves from week to week. If you
wish to form a challenge group and compete with others based on this list, you are welcome to do so! If you
do form a challenge group drop me an invite I would love to watch the progress.

Weekly Challenge Categories:

Each week, the weekly challenge will be in one of 3 categories:

 Story Telling: Good photographers can take beautiful images of something. Great photographers can
tell a story with an image. In this category you will take a prompt and turn it into a photographic story.
 Compositional Eye: In past challenges we have explored the rules of composition. This year we push
the rules even further by using them in specific ways to train your compositional eye.
 Inspiration: In this wide-open category, we start with a simple inspiration. Use this inspiration as
creatively as you can. There are no rules so feel free to think outside of the box.

How to share your images

I highly encourage sharing your work each week. I know it’s hard to put yourself out there, but it is an
important part of growing as a photographer. If you want to share your images with the rest of the
photographers who are taking part in the challenge I recommend the following hashtags: #dogwood52,
#dogwood2019, and #dogwoodweek[NUMBER] (ex: #dogwoodweek1, #dogwoodweek2).

If you run into others who are also participating and sharing, be sure and comment on their image!

The Challenge List

Week 1 Story Telling: Self-Portrait Take a picture that tells us who you are, without actually showing your
face.
Week 2 Composition: Rule of Thirds You already know what the rule of thirds is, now is the time to use it.
Motion Use Rule of Thirds to show motion in your picture.
Week 3 Inspiration: Black and White Your inspiration this week is to simply take an amazing Black and White
photograph of any subject you want.
Week 4 Story Telling: Warmth Tell a story that makes us feel warm inside.
Week 5 Composition: Symmetry Landscape is one of the most practiced type of photography. Use
Landscape Symmetry in a Landscape to create a new viewpoint for this week's
image.
Week 6 Inspiration: #NoFilter No limit on what you shoot this week, as long as the image is pure. No
filters, presets or other edits. Basic exposure corrections only this
week.
Week 7 Story Telling: Love Story Make us feel the love in this week's photo. Tell a love story in one
image.
Week 8 Composition: Leading Lines It is easy to use Leading Lines to show depth in an image or guide the
eye to a specific spot in the image. Instead, this week use leading lines
to show the concept of infinity.
Week 9 Inspiration: Mood Your Artistic Inspiration this week is the mood you are feeling today.
Take that mood and use it to create art.
Week 10 Story Telling: Hometown Tell us the story of your hometown. It could be a famous landmark,
something the town is known for, or even just your favorite place to
relax.
Week 11 Composition: Fill the Frame Using Fill the Frame is a great way to isolate your subject and create
interest in your photo. Can you do it with only one color in the frame?
Fill the Frame with one color.
Week 12 Inspiration: Trash Trash is your inspiration. Tell a story or create something beautiful.
Week 13 Story Telling: New Beginnings Our world is full of circular patterns; as some things end, others begin.
Tell us a story of a New Beginning.
Week 14 Composition: Center Frame Center Framed composition is a great way to isolate your subject. Use
Portrait this knowledge to create a portrait that exhibits loneliness.
Week 15 Inspiration: Anonymous This week's inspiration is Anonymous. Interpret this how you wish.
Week 16 Story Telling: Shadow Tell a story. Make it compelling while only using shadow.
Week 17 Composition: Balance Balanced composition is pretty straightforward, unless you are trying to
shoot in the "Accidental Renaissance" style. So shoot a balanced image
in the Accidental Renaissance style.
Week 18 Inspiration: Weight or Mass Heavy as a stone, light as a feather. Find inspiration and shoot an
amazing photograph.
Week 19 Story Telling: Aging Love it or hate it, aging is something we all experience. So tell us the
story of Aging in a single photograph.
Week 20 Composition: Negative Space Create a powerful landscape using Negative Space.
Week 21 Inspiration: Serenity What does Serenity mean to you?
Week 22 Story Telling: Stranger It is easy to tell the story of someone you know. So for this week's
challenge I want you to tell the story of a stranger.
Week 23 Composition: Leading Lines You have already used leading lines to show Infinity. Now try to use
strong leading lines in food photography.
Week 24 Inspiration: Who inspires you Inspiration comes from many places. Tell us about who inspires you.
Week 25 Story Telling: Freedom Freedom means many things to many people. Tell us a story about
what Freedom means to you.
Week 26 Composition: Geometry We live in a world surrounded by geometry. Use Geometry in your
photo this week.
Week 27 Inspiration: Gratitude What are you grateful for? Show us.
Week 28 Story Telling: Your Culture Photographers participating in the challenge come from nearly every
country and culture. Tell us the story of your culture.
Week 29 Composition: Depth of Field Depth of Field is a great way to isolate your subject. Instead, for the
challenge though I want you to use DoF to make a subject appear part
of something larger.
Week 30 Inspiration: Exit "Every exit is an entry to somewhere else". Be inspired by the Exit this
week.
Week 31 Story Telling: Friends and Telling the story of someone you know well is sometimes the hardest
Family story to tell.
Week 32 Composition: Frame within Using only natural elements, frame your subject. No actual picture
the Frame frames allowed.
Week 33 Inspiration: Tell a Lie It is said that the "Camera Never Lies". Prove it wrong.
Week 34 Story Telling: Color without Tell a colorful story, but do it in black and white.
Color
Week 35 Composition: Symmetry Symmetry is a strong compositional technique most often used in
Portrait landscapes and architecture. So break the mold by using Symmetry in a
portrait.
Week 36 Inspiration: Your Habits Some habits are good, and some are bad. Your inspiration this week is
either.
Week 37 Story Telling: Seasons The weather is changing! Find inspiration in the seasons.
Week 38 Composition: Rule of Odds The rule of odds is easy enough to understand and employ. So use the
rule of odds in an Urbanscape/Architecture photo.
Week 39 Inspiration: The Elements Earth, Fire, Wind, Rain, and Spirit. Find inspiration in the elements of
our world.
Week 40 Story Telling: Modern What modern convenience of 2019 can not you live without? Create an
Convenience image that looks like an advertisement for your favorite Modern
Convenience.
Week 41 Composition: Color Theory Color Theory is a huge part of composition that most photographers
don't explore. So it is time to explore it. Use Color Grading to create an
image that looks like it is a still from a movie.
Week 42 Inspiration: Work Work Work Work, let it inspire you this week.
Week 43 Story Telling: Film Noir Film Noir is a dark and moody type of photography well suited to
storytelling. So tell us a story using Film Noir.
Week 44 Composition: Viewpoint Changing your viewpoint creates a different perspective and is often
used by photographers to create interest. Shoot this week from the
viewpoint of another person.
Week 45 Inspiration: Musical Music is part of the soul, so let it inspire you this week.
Week 46 Story Telling: 7 Deadly Sins The 7 deadly sins are Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed and
Sloth. Tell us a compelling story about one of the 7 deadly sins.
Week 47 Composition: Rule of Thirds The rules of thirds is so popular because it is so versatile. This week use
Emotion the rule of thirds to show emotion.
Week 48 Inspiration: Current Events What is happening in the world today? Be inspired by current events.
Week 49 Story Telling: Storms Storms are a powerful force of nature. Show us weather at its best.
Week 50 Composition: Patterns Patterns/Repetition are another well known compositional rule, but
have you ever tried to use it in Macro Photography? Well now you can!
Week 51 Inspiration: Food Be inspired by Food. Yes, it really is that easy this week. You made it
this far you deserve the break. A sweet, delicious break.
Week 52 Story Telling: Self-Portrait In the first week you took a self portrait and told us who you think you
are. To finish this off take a self portrait that shows us who others think
you are.