[jheu02]

I kind of had my own idea for a theme with my partner so I guess I personally prefer that instead of the other one. But again, it is what the group as a whole decides.

I might also point out it is all well and good with all these ideas floating around, but it is 6 days until we have to do this so I think we should come up with a concrete idea/format/guideline ASAP. I for one am quite confused as to what we are actually doing at this point???????
Personally I am with samski's original idea...seems the least complicated and easiest to pull off.

Is this the idea you were talking about?:

samski wrote:

"This looks as though it is starting to get a bit complex. My original idea was for one partner to pick a theme (e.g landscape or still life) for the other partner to shoot to for the whole month with maybe a limit of 10-15 pictures to be uploaded over that time. That way I, for instance, maybe shooting abstract for the month which I have never done much of before (in fact I would have to research the definition of abstract first) and will hopefully improve my skills in this area. "

If so, may I condense CIO into the following:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pairs chosen randomly

Each photog in a pair will choose 1 theme for their partner to work on the entire month

Each photog chooses whichever lens/lenses in their arsenal that they feel will help them meet the challenge.

Each photog of the pair will submit 10 photos over the course of the month in an album titled "Coupled in October" with their theme listed in the Info Section of the Album.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If I understand that correctly, I guess I don't see what benefit there is to being partnered with someone. All "Coupled in October" would be is a cutsie name and someone telling you what to shoot...no teamwork. That could be done simply with a random theme assignment for each participant. That sounds kind of harsh, and I don't mean it to be, but that's all the partner would do really. There's also lots of mini challenges already out there for individuals to work on different themes.

It seems to me that, to create more comraderie/closer friendships within the pair and this group (SiS continuers) as a whole, the pair should be working toward a common goal. That's why I suggested some "team photo" submission. If the partners worked early enough in the "week" each could offer thoughts on how to reprocess or retake the shot (or leave it just as is)...to get their team's submission for that week's challenge.

As to psychdoc's concern about a photo swap, seems that, since the photos are digital once they're online, a common file hosting site (or individual ones) where a full res, edited .jpg could be downloaded could accomodate, or just email or pm the file to your partner for their own printing. It wouldn't be "signed" unless you watermarked the jpg, but it would address online anonymity.

[Duh_Vinci]

It seems to me that, to create more comraderie/closer friendships within the pair and this group (SiS continuers) as a whole, the pair should be working toward a common goal.

John - I can certainly see your point, and if that is the direction we want to go, maybe an option of a theme/s will be assigned to the team (randomly selected by others - pulled from the hat, whatever...), possibly 4 themes total (one per week), and both partners will be working on achieving the same goal - create photographs that represent a theme chosen for them? Just thinking out loud...

Regards,
D

[casil403]

I'm okay with the team idea incorporated here...my point was let's get one thing down concretely by say Monday so that we have a firm and set goal for the month to work towards.

Can I make a suggestion that we get a volunteer or two to organize this between themselves and get something firmed up and posted by Monday? I am doing the draw this week for partners so I am going to un-volunteer myself for this part....I hope that is okay.

I am happy to go with whatever gets decided...but let's get a set of guidelines/rules/objectives in place so we can have the rest of the week to ponder our ideas for the month. Maybe I will do the draw for partners on Tuesday September 28 at 7pm PDST so teams can pm each other with strategies etc.

Does that sound okay?

[jheu02]

Yes, we do need to get this firmed up. I don't mean to muddy the waters further here but I just had another idea which could be quicker to implement than team photo submission. What about a "world through your eyes" or "your own, personal, tourguide" type theme (to borrow loosely from Depeche Mode)?

I've really enjoyed seeing some of each other's surroundings and that could be expanded on with the partners also. Since we can't visit each other personally in most cases, where would you take your partner if they did visit? What's your area famous for, or not so famous for? Favorite watering holes, eateries, museums, flora, fauna... Be a personal tour guide for your partner thru photos.

I think the only caveat to the partner picking would be that if you're assigned someone from your same general local (i.e. you could actually visit fairly easily), those names get redrawn or a trade could be allowed.

That would potentially give another month to come up with a team contest (though with 5 weekends in October, it seems ideal for teams to be pitted against each other in a weekly theme...).

[samski_1]

This is getting very messy. May I suggest that some one lists all the options discussed in one post and all participants vote on it via a poll or similar. I would set it up myself but won't have time before Monday at this stage. I am happy with any of the suggestions but will struggle to commit much time to extra 'teamwork' during October (busy month).

Sam

[psychdoc]

October Challenge

It seems to be that there are 2 aspects that must be considered for the October challenge.
1. Maintaining contact with the full group
2. Working with the partner
3. Alternative if partner is late/busy/drops out

With this in mind this is one way to do it. [I have tried to incorporate some of the ideas previously mentioned].
-Post at least 1 picture in each category listed below per week in the Coupled in October album.
-Cannot use a lens if you purchased it after Sep 1 2010!!!!!!

Week of Friday Oct 1st – Sunday October 10th
1. Group Challenge: Long Exposure Challenge: longer than 15seconds
2. Partner Challenge: Subject and lens TBD by partner
Alternate challenge if partner missing: Moon: shoot a picture to include the moon.

Week of Monday Oct 11th –Sunday October 17th
1. Group Challenge: Interpret the title ‘The Road Less Travelled’
2. Partner Challenge: Subject and lens TBD by partner
Alternate challenge if partner missing: Bokeh: make your best bokeh

Week of Monday Oct 18th - Sunday October 24th
1. Group Challenge: Freeze Action: take a sharp picture of fast moving subject
2. Partner Challenge: Subject and lens TBD by partner
Alternate challenge if partner missing: F22 take a picture at f22 or higher

Week of Monday Oct 25th- Saturday October 30th
1. Group Challenge: Interpret the title: ‘Rhythm of my heart’
2. Partner Challenge: Subject and lens TBD by partner
Alternate challenge if partner missing: Curves

When naming pictures include the challenge so that people know what category a picture is in. Eg: Long exposure, Moon, Bokeh etc.

Sunday October 31st :
Discuss challenge.

My final recommendation is this. Since we don’t have much time and there is no easy way to get a consensus, we should let Axl make the final decision, since he started the post in CiO. Sorry Axl!

[samski_1]

October Challenge

It seems to be that there are 2 aspects that must be considered for the October challenge.
1. Maintaining contact with the full group
2. Working with the partner
3. Alternative if partner is late/busy/drops out

With this in mind this is one way to do it. [I have tried to incorporate some of the ideas previously mentioned].
-Post at least 1 picture in each category listed below per week in the Coupled in October album.
-Cannot use a lens if you purchased it after Sep 1 2010!!!!!!

Week of Friday Oct 1st – Sunday October 10th
1. Group Challenge: Long Exposure Challenge: longer than 15seconds
2. Partner Challenge: Subject and lens TBD by partner
Alternate challenge if partner missing: Moon: shoot a picture to include the moon.

Week of Monday Oct 11th –Sunday October 17th
1. Group Challenge: Interpret the title ‘The Road Less Travelled’
2. Partner Challenge: Subject and lens TBD by partner
Alternate challenge if partner missing: Bokeh: make your best bokeh

Week of Monday Oct 18th - Sunday October 24th
1. Group Challenge: Freeze Action: take a sharp picture of fast moving subject
2. Partner Challenge: Subject and lens TBD by partner
Alternate challenge if partner missing: F22 take a picture at f22 or higher

Week of Monday Oct 25th- Saturday October 30th
1. Group Challenge: Interpret the title: ‘Rhythm of my heart’
2. Partner Challenge: Subject and lens TBD by partner
Alternate challenge if partner missing: Curves

When naming pictures include the challenge so that people know what category a picture is in. Eg: Long exposure, Moon, Bokeh etc.

Sunday October 31st :
Discuss challenge.

My final recommendation is this. Since we don’t have much time and there is no easy way to get a consensus, we should let Axl make the final decision, since he started the post in CiO. Sorry Axl!

Well done psychdoc! That is an excellent format.

I'm in on this one.

[axl]

wohaha... me and final decision? Hmmm I just started this thread because the ideas floating around the SiS were getting too messy....
Generally I'm happy with psychdoc's format...but: Personally I don't really do action stuff...
I have some other reservations but those should be overcomable...I'll just have to push my envelope a bit.... But if we could choose something else instead of action I'd be more than pleased

Regards

[samski_1]

I think you guys are missing the point a bit, the whole idea of a challenge is to do something you are not comfortable with. So if there is an element of the challenge you don't normally do I would see it as a positive.

[Jimbow007]

I think you guys are missing the point a bit, the whole idea of a challenge is to do something you are not comfortable with. So if there is an element of the challenge you don't normally do I would see it as a positive.

I agree with samski. Lets push ourselfs. I like the challenges and themes pyschdoc has put together. I think it will push me to challenge myself.

[Duh_Vinci]

Stopping the action - yeah... My weakest point...

Some years, I've taken a simple online class with some friends, since I was new to DSLR, and this was one of the assignments. I must say, it was the hardest for me, but I'm willing to try (I think)...

Regards,
D

[jheu02]

It seems to be that there are 2 aspects that must be considered for the October challenge. 1. Maintaining contact with the full group 2. Working with the partner 3. Alternative if partner is late/busy/drops out

Wouldn't that be three aspects? Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[uccemebug]

I agree with samski. Lets push ourselfs. I like the challenges and themes pyschdoc has put together. I think it will push me to challenge myself.

I'm coming late to the party and bringing nothing as usual but I agree with this direction. Go (anonymous) Psychdoc . Which reminds me: NaCl(welcome)H20 and other newcomers!

[NaClH2O]

Not to be argumentative, what do you find problematic about the list of themes?...restrictive of creativity? or something else? A possible problem I see with it is city dwellers vs "country" not being able to get a great scenery shot or architecture for instance.

I don't necessarily like the partner picking the lens as it may not match up with theme (i.e. super zoom for a land scape, wide angle for wildlife), but maybe there's a way to do one or both in some combination. Some thoughts:

1. Expand the list of themes and have the partner pick the 10 but the shooter gets to pick his/her lens of choice for that challenge from whatever he/she has?

2. Everyone give a list of 5-10 lenses (or whatever you have) of varying focal lengths (brand matters not) and we get a roughly equivalent list of lenes that everyone gets to use: i.e. a list of 5 lenses might include a 28, 50, 70, 135, 200. The shooter could use a zoom to cover the specific focal length if need be, but the partner picks which one or two lenses for a specific week and the shooter picks whatever topic he/she wants.

3. Idea 2 modified so that each participant is using the same lens for the week, but the theme is picked by the partner from the list of 10 or expanded list.

4. Partners don't pick anything. This may be tougher to implement and may require Adam's help, but if all the teams shot either the same focal length or subject matter for a given week, the team could then submit whichever photo they thought best out of theirs to be pitted against the other teams' shots of that subject/focal length, and at either the end of the month or throughout the month a voting poll would enable everyone to vote which team's entry they liked best.

If done in a running manner it would be like a leader board with points awarded to the teams for 1st 2nd and 3rd based on number of votes received(5,3,1). This could lend itself to only 5 topics for the entire month, but may be kinda fun. Might be best to have the teams paired with one each Northern and Southern Hemispheres due to seasonal restrictions with shooting various topics and/or the desire to get out to shoot on a bleary vs sunny day...

I'd like to lean towards a common lens list or common topics list so we're comparing apples to apples, but I think what we've seen in SiS is that we all go through some dry spells idea wise, health-wsie, or time-wise, and so we should relieve a bit of the pressure for the daily shot, but if, as a team, we're submitting a "team shot" for judging, it will provide the little kick we all need from time to time to shoot, yet not just submit our "this is all I had time for today" shots. We'd all get a chance to really take our time, yet still have a little "weekly pressure."

October has 5 full weekends (even 5 3-day weekends if Fridays are counted), so if the teams are picked on the 30th, and a final "rules" set is in place, we could get started Friday the 1st, with a team photo submitted by Tues/Wed for voting by Wed/Thur, and a "leader board" posting to the common thread on Friday to start the next topic/lens/challenge.

This was just a bit of brainstorming, but any ideas of merit?

Of all these I liked 1) Expand the list of themes and have the partner pick the 10 but the shooter gets to pick his/her lens of choice for that challenge from whatever he/she has? the best.
Get together a list of 15-20 themes (or more) and have the partner pick 10 of them. But you decide how to execute the photo, including lens choice.

NaCl(similar to a "mystery basket" cooking competition)H2O

[psychdoc]

Wouldn't that be three aspects? Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Yup. I saw the typo after I posted it and was too lazy to go back and change it.

ucemeebug: thanks for pulling my leg about the anonymous part...