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!
What a fantastic idea! Can’t wait to start looking for things to capture…without my flash!
Ooh yea!!! I LOVE me some photography challenges! Especially since I just got a new camera
Thanks Beth! I have followed your blog for a year now and finally decided to start my own! I look forward to participating in your photography challenge. I have been taking pictures here in our hometown for a year now and am always looking for new ways to better my skills. I hope to do photography as my full time job once all my kids are in school.
Thanks for stopping by my site!
Love this! Especially since BlissDom I’ve been inspired to pick up my camera again. Although, when you said shoot something you love — immediately 5 things came to mind. So maybe I’ll have to experiment with all of them and see which picture comes out best to share
I am totally into photography lately. I am so doing this. Now I have to figure out how to take the flash off my camera.
Oooh, awesome. Especially since I am in a state I love. I will take one tomorrow!
I’m so excited for this! This is just the motivation I need to learn how to use my camera on something other than full auto!
I guess this mean I have to figure out how to turn the flash off and not shoot on auto. This is going to be fun!
This is a great idea! I can’t wait to my homework assignment!
I am totally in.
Love this! What a cool, interactive, creative idea!!! I am laughing thinking about what you’re thinking of my photography follow through skills right now! :@) hugs to you…jh
I’m so in. Guess I’m not the only person who has to learn how to turn off my flash and not use auto, but I’m going to do it. This should be fun!! Thanks.
Count me in, too!
This should be a lot of fun.
So excited! I am so big into Photography… I am always looking for fun things to shoot! Count me in! Thanks for a great idea!
I’m giddy. seriously.
And I’d rather slam my finger in the car door than use a flash.
Okay, maybe that’s a bit much, but it takes a crazy combo of bad circumstances for me to use a flash, and even then, it must be bounced.
YAY! Thank you so much for starting this, Beth. You have no idea my excitement!
Love this, Beth, and I can’t wait to play!
Fun! Maybe I’ll even jump in!
O.K. I’m psyched.
i LOVE this! i am super duper duper doo excited.
this may sound kinda silly but thanks for including the non-bloggers. i love commenting on people’s blogs and when i get cool, i’ll get a blog
but for now, i just have the flickr thing going on and so many times, i don’t get to really participate in much because i don’t have an actual blog so thank you…this totally made me smile.
did i tell you how excited i was yet?
woohoo!
What a great idea! Count me in…
[...] This week’s task is to take a picture of something I love…but take the picture without a flash. I already know what I’m going to capture… [...]
LOVE it! And since I just commented on MckMama about this, I’ll share it with you too. For some inspiration (for you as the “assigner” and your readers…as your “assignees??”), dpreview.com has this really cool thing now called Challenges:
http://www.dpreview.com/challenges/
Check it out!
I’m in like flynn, and so very excited!!!!
This sounds like a lot of fun! I want to start taking more pictures, of different things, so I’m looking forward to this! Thanks!
How much fun!! I can’t wait. I will be spending the weekend with the camera for sure!
Thanks Beth!
great idea…can’t wait until next Wednesday!
Great idea! I’m excited about it!
This is an AWESOME idea, because it’ll force me to use our Nikon D70 that I just *had* to have.
awesome. I’m in.
Thank you for the info!! This is awesome!
What a cool idea for a carnival!!! I’m going to try my best to make my pregnant-addled brain remember to participate!!!!
I am already collecting iphone pictures
Yay! I’m so excited! One question…and I think I already know the answer…I recently took a picture that meets the theme and challenge. Can I use that picture or do I need to take a picture once the challenge has been presented?
Thanks!
sunny
Oh YESSSSS YESSSS YESSSSS!!!!!
Thanks, Beth…you totally rock! Can’t wait!!!
This sounds like SO much fun! Count me in!
Erm … how does one take a picture without a flash? Can you tell if someone used one?
What a great idea!! I am in and just am waiting for that code to try and upload on my site.
I’m so in on this; what a great idea!
(And maybe my contributions will be slightly more interesting than my comments.)
[...] go back to the sisterhood soon, don’t you think? _____ Don’t forget – the first week of You Capture is tomorrow! For more info, click here and if you want to post the button on your sidebar, here is [...]
[...] I am so excited to see what you all have come up with this week. Remember the challenge? Take a picture of something you love…without the flash. Did you find success? I know I [...]
[...] [...]
[...] ever 4 years old. Then Beth decided that she was going to create a weekly photo challenge called You Capture. I’m not usually one to participate in such things, but this gives me the opportunity to [...]
This sounds like a lot of fun– I came from Mom 24
[...] so many pictures. I upload pictures to Flickr quite often. On Thursday I host a carnival called You Capture. If you enjoy taking pictures, you should join us, it’s [...]
Great idea. I’m in.
I am really excited about this. Great idea
I am absolutely, deliriously, in love with this idea. This is better than any camera class I have taken. I need inspiration. How do you thank someone for bliss?
lisa
This is awesome:) I take a picture a day..and have a blog for it anyway, but this will help when I run out of ideas! Feel free to check out my blog:)
I’m in! Here is my post: http://www.greenmamma.org/blog/2009/06/25/filled-was-the-air-with-a-dreamy-and-magical-light/
Please let me know whether this is the right place to enter/participate in this carnival,
Can’t wait! Great idea!!