From sometime in 2006 to 2008, I participated in a weekly photo challenge site called WeeklyShot. In January 2008, the site closed its doors so its creator Brandon Stone could concentrate on selfish things like spending time with his family and making a living. I know, right!? Sheesh!
Although the site was shut down, the Google Group was left open. Every couple of months someone would pop up and post “are you bringing the site back?”. It started to get a little like Bart and Lisa’s ‘will you take us to Splash Mountain? will you take us to Splash Mountain?”. Brandon’s reply was always along the lines of “it’s not really a priority for me now”, so it was a surprise when he sent a message back in April saying that he was thinking of bringing the site back. I guess nagging really does work.
The response was overwhelmingly “YES”, and after a couple of months work the site relaunched this week with a theme of ‘Hooray!‘.
For many reasons, this is an official Good Thing(TM). Although there are eleventy-thousand different photo challenge websites around, none of them really challenge me to be creative like WeeklyShot did. Others even have a similar weekly theme format, but they’re always more about finding an existing shot in your portfolio that suits the theme. WeeklyShot, on the other hand, encourages you to shoot something specifically for the theme. And it’s damned fun.
I was giggling like a schoolkid the day I went to Bunnings to get the sandpaper to create the following shot for the Pain In The Ass theme.
And no self-respecting 32-year-old man should have as much fun playing with a Barbie Doll as I did when making this, which was shot for the Toys theme. Even if it was a little awkward buying the doll in Target!
Since the site shut down, I’ve really felt the level of creativity in my photography has suffered. I’m looking forward to getting it back.
And now, you can too. I have one membership invite to give away. If you’d like to join, let me know your email address and the invite’s yours.
So is thing for serious photographers only?
Not at all. Members range from “enthusiasts” to pros. Some themes (e.g. ‘long exposure’) might need a certain level of equipment, but generally it’s open to anyone.
Want the invite?
Sorry Heath, I didn’t remember to come back to your site until now. Too late for the invite now?