An idea : The alphabet

oeb

Just had a random idea here. A little game for the photographers here on boards.ie. The aim of the game is to collect a photo for every letter on the alphabet (either on flickr or pix, in it's own set). The idea is to show creativeness in interpreting set goals. Obviously the skill level on this group varies majorly from person to person, some of us are just starting out, where others have been at this for years and have been published etc. While ability, and equipment (studio set up etc) may play an important part in this, creativity is the main target.

For example, A:
Photographer 1 may put together an extremly artistic shot involving an apple, great background textures, they may leave the apple age a couple of days.
Photographer 2 might present a landscape shot taken in Adare
Photographer 3 might give us a shot that represents Apathy.

This would allow us to expolore our ability as photographers, try something new that is open to interpritation, maybe even give eachother some ideas.

What do ye think?

irishcrazyhorse

That is a great idea mate,Im in for sure, help me get the creative juices going again.

Ballyman

I'd love to give this a go as well

oeb

If we decide to give this a go I'm going to invite the guys from boards.ie too. The more the merrier I think.

Covey

oeb wrote: »

If we decide to give this a go I'm going to invite the guys from boards.ie too. The more the merrier I think.

Wha ??

oeb

Err, I ment Photography Ireland I was just thinking of posting this over there too, and I got confusted

Tactical

What a brilliant idea!

oeb

Tactical wrote: »

What a brilliant idea!

Thank you.

Another thing that someone might try is to fit the lot in with a specific theme. For example someone who is really into interprative stuff might choose the theme 'Emotion'. Awe, Boredom, Confusion etc. Or someone into landscapes could do something similar (Even with local towns), or Cars. (Although a specific theme like this would require some letters to be left out in all liklyhood). Something like this may be particularly useful for someone with alot of experience looking for a bit more of a challenge.

I think to give this a fair go though, people would have to submit only new photos. Obviously this is just for fun, so if you have something old that you want to use then that's no biggie, but the whole purpose of this is that it is treated like an assignment.

Tactical

Can I ask if participants can vary the theme while following the idea?

E.g. for A use a fruit (apple) and for B use a boat, for C use a pair of curtains.

Or had you in mind picking and sticking with a particular theme?

Either way I don't mind.

How long would you see a particular letter staying open for? A week, two weeks?

oeb

Of course, I probably wont use any theme at all. It's all about exploring with your camera. If you want a theme use it, if you don't ... don't.

I think it might be best just to leave the entire thing open for maybe 2 or 3 months. Leave people work away at their own pace, in whatever order they want. They might get two photos done one day, then nothing for the next two weeks. No rush.

(3 months means an average of two photos a week. Is that too much? Would six months be better?

Ricky91t

Rules would have to be very strict this has allready been discussed somewhere in the forum and this is much more popular ,
You'll have to list the really and make people stick to them,a big problem could be if we are just given a letter and had to think of something.

I do like the chosen subject idea beforehand, The next subject could also be picked by the winner

oeb

It's not about competition, it's not about who is best and who wins. It's about challenging yourself and trying to do something different. It's all about the creativity. It's about what you, the person who enters takes away from this. It's an exercise for your mind.

The only rules are one image per letter, and use new images. But to be honest, if you feel that it's better for you if you break them .... then go right ahead.

John

This is a brilliant idea. Where do I sign up

(incidently, this reminds me of Karel Teige's ABECEDA, a multimedia project from 1926 in collaboration with the poet Nezva. Together they came up with poetry, typography and images for every letter of the alphabet. All the photos were of a woman interpreting each letter, L being particularly impressive with her diving into a pool, making the shape of the letter during her descent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAj0Ui6Ta-U

It was recently updated by the Italian band Larsen with singer David Tibet as a CD/DVD set, highly recommended.)

oeb

I'm gonna get the details together, announce it to to the lads over in PI to see if they want to take part, and then I'll start up a flickr group or something where we can display all our entries.


Thanks for your support guys.

oeb

Hey guys, a set up a group where anyone that wants to play can join.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/alphabetchallenge/

Anyone have any ideas about what they are going to do?

ellokittee

Count me in, just joined the group! Need something to get those gears running again, that's for sure.