You Capture.

I had this idea so long ago.  To encourage those of you interested to pick up your cameras and try something new or just pick them up at all and snap a shot here or there. And not only that, but to see what others were doing with their camera and gaining inspiration from them.

I’m so frustrated that I didn’t follow my gut and do this when I first thought of it, but that’s okay, the time is now.

I hope you are as excited as I am.

I’m pleased to invite to participate in “you capture.”  My weekly photo challenge.

I created a FAQ to help answer your questions as to exactly how this is going to work and yes, if you don’t have a blog, you can participate, you’ll see how below.  Also, each week will be a specific challenge, so read through to the bottom to check out this week’s “assignment.”

What kind of photographer do I need to be? You can be a complete novice or a professional, it does not matter.  The purpose of this feature is to encourage you to pick up your camera and look at things differently.  If you are a novice and you want to get better, there is only one way to do that, by taking more pictures.

What kind of camera should I have in order to participate? Any camera.  Shoot, even an iPhone camera works for me.

Do I need to have a blog? Um, no.  But why wouldn’t you want a blog?  (they’re free!  www.blogger.com)  But okay, I guess not everyone is interested in having a blog and that’s okay, so, if you don’t have a blog but want to participate, you can do so by opening up a Flickr account.  It’s free (for a basic package) and easy to use.  (Flickr pro is $25 a year and I totally recommend it.)   I’ve been using Flickr for years now and I love it.  (btw, feel free to become my contact, okay?)  Each week you can easily link to that specific picture on Flickr to the challenge.

How does this work? Every Wednesday, there will be a post on I Should Be Folding Laundry called You Capture and I’ll have my picture that I took for this week’s assignment (assignment sounds so stiff, but I can’t think of another word, sorry, friends.)  on a post.  Below the picture,  I will have Mr. Linky in the post.  Then YOU will post on your blog (or your flickr page) your picture and information about this challenge.  Then you’ll fill out Mr. Linky with your name and your link to this week’s picture.  (in blog world, this is considered a carnival, click here for more information on carnivals.)

Who in the hell is Mr. Linky? Mr. Linky is a link hosting program for websites.  Essentially, it allows me to host all of the links to the individuals participating in the challenge, it’s up to the participants to come to my site and put their links into the required fields.  (so easy)  To see a Mr. Linky in action, click here.

I know most of you know how this works, but I know some of you may not, so I’m trying to expain with as much detail as possible.

Am I required to participate every single week? No.

Should I edit my photo? If you want to, yes.  I always edit mine.  If you are looking for a good photo editing/storage answer, I definitely recommend Picasa.  Hey, it’s free, too!  I’m all about the free, aren’t I?

Can I link to you? Why, yes.  That would be great and very much appreciated.  If you are planning to participate in You Capture, I’d love for you to help me get the word out, the best way to do this is by placing the button in your sidebars or blogging about it directly.  The more people that know about this, the bigger the community and the more fun this will be.  I am so excited that you’ll be here during the infancy of You Capture, I can’t wait to see where it goes!

Here is the code to add the button to your blog:

(okay, so the code isn’t working right now, hopefully tomorrow…)

(just copy and paste this code into your sidebars, under widgets and html code – if you need help adding the button to your site, let me know.  You can also get help here.)

I am certain I did not answer all of the questions that are out there, so feel free to ask in the comments or send me an email directly and I’ll get those questions answered.

Now onto the good stuff:

Here is your challenge for next week. Since it’s the first week, it’s going to be very, very simple.  All I want you to do is pick up your camera and take a picture of something that you love.  It can be a rock or your kitchen sink or your child’s toes, just capture it.  Oh and since it’s supposed to be a challenge, try to do it WITHOUT your flash…

See you then!