I came across an interesting group on Flickr a few weeks ago called “Get Pushed”. Like many other groups on Flickr, it centers around a photography challenge, but the challenges are a little more personal. The idea is to sign up when you want to take part, and the group admin’s will pair you up with another person who has also signed up. You then take a look at their photostream and challenge them to shoot something outside of their comfort zone (and vice versa).
I decided to take part in Round 6 and was paired with a photographer out of Ohio.
His challenge to me was this:
“What I would like you to do is pick up your camera, and use the lens that you think you use the least. Now this is where the “ten” comes in. After you walk out of your door pick any measurement of ten, ten steps or ten miles or everything in between, and travel that distance. After you have gone your ten cm, ten inches, ten feet, ten steps, ten miles, whatever it is that you chose, after you have gone that distance, stand right where you are and take a picture. :) I hope this will spark some adventure and serendipity in your shot! As for post processing, anything is fine. :) Have fun!”
And this was my response:
“I was camping this weekend so instead of walking out the door of my house this morning, I crawled out the door of my tent, set the timer on my phone to ten minutes and hiked up the valley, following random cow paths into the bush. I ended up deep in a stand of oaks, and although I find walking through the bush beautiful, I wasn’t finding much to focus on. So I decided instead to try and capture some of the energy that I feel when I’m there. I experimented with camera shake and this is what I came up with. Thanks for the push kweese96… it was a fun one.”
My first experience with this Flickr group was fun and inspiring, and I’ll definitely be signing up for another round or two or three.