Clearly, you guys love to post to the Flickr Group. And I love to see your work! But, I am quite behind given the number of photos posted in the last 2 months and a bit of a freak amount of work in my day job in April.

This month, your challenge is… well, no challenge! For May, it’s a free for all! Post up to 3 photos of food shots you want to show. Anything you want!

However, I’m going to skip commenting this month. If you really want me to comment, please tag the photo “STWFeedbackPlease” and I’ll be sure to take a look and give you some feedback.

I’m also asking for help in future months. If you have an idea for a challenge, shoot me a piece of email and let me hear your suggestions! Or post ideas on the Future Theme Ideas thread. If you think you have time to help give feedback, let me know too. Of course everyone is welcome and encouraged to leave feedback on the photos in the group. The more we all get involved, the better.

Alanna, of A Veggie Venture, was nice enough to forward me this link to JPG magazine’s recent Get Cooking challenge. This photo challenge will be open for one week and will close on April 16th. And one lucky photo challenge will be featured on the back page of the next issue of JPG Magazine.

Wow. I am simply blown away by both the overall quantity and quality of the photos for March. You guys really have outdone yourself… and out done me, as I am very, very behind on my comments on all the wonderful shots submitted. On the positive side, I’ve carved out some time this weekend that I will sit and make sure I get through them all… some 248 of them! And then I will be one tired bunny!

While I work on that… I hope you guys will get as excited about this month’s challenge… Food Travel. One of my favorite parts of traveling is seeing what all the special food stuffs are wherever I go. If you happen to be traveling right now, do share some of your secret finds. If you aren’t traveling… even better! Here’s your chance to think like a pro photographer and shoot your own town as a traveler’s destination. This is the kind of assignment I get all the time and it happens to be one of my favorites because I learn more about my own city and feel like I’ve been adventuring without all the $$. The key to this challenge is shooting on location where lighting is probably mostly out of your control. You’ll want to think about your destination and what kind of light it has and when the best time to shoot will be. Think about the types of shots you might see in Australian Gourmet Traveller or Travel & Leisure… the shots that are often the most intriguing bring a sense of the culture into them. Markets, restaurants, bars are all wonderful places to take photos. Feel free to combine two images to build the picture. Think about the color. Bring in some life. Explore somewhere new or share some of your favorite places. Most of all, have fun!

The usual rules and are up on the Flickr group… the things like be constructive, take the photos during the month if possible, 3 photos per person and the last day will be around April 30th give or take a few days.

It sounds all so simple doesn’t it… March’s theme of Eggs. Much simpler, I suppose than last month’s self portraits with food. There were some great entries, but I wish that we had seen a bit more of everyone! I know there are times when I have to be my own model, so being able to nail focus while you work with a remote or a timer is a great skill to develop! Even if you didn’t submit anything, I encourage everyone to keep working on it!

Anyway, back to the eggs. I’ve been wanting to do a month focused on eggs for a while, but held off the start of spring which is unbelievably just around the corner. Whole eggs in the shell I think are one of the most gorgeous things to photograph. Out of the shell though, it becomes a whole new ball game… a little air on an egg and it quickly congeals, so you have to shoot fast. It’s up to you how you want to shoot the eggs this month… in the shell or out, cooked or raw, fowl or fish. But try to get creative with it. What can you do that makes your egg shots new and fresh?

The usual rules and are up on the Flickr group… the things like be constructive, take the photos during the month if possible, 3 photos per person and the last day will be around March 31st give or take a few days.

Wow. You guys posted some great beverage photos in January! Cheers to you!

Here were a few of my favorites:

These all felt really personal to me, filled with some story that I wanted to know more about. Which leads me, conveniently of course, to this month’s theme. I want to see you, you story makers. This month, it’s time to move out from behind the camera and try your hand at food-related self portraits. Now, ideally, I’d love to see you faces, eating something. But, I’ll give credit for hands or other g-rated body parts, assuming it’s actually you and there is food (or drink).

Taking self portraits isn’t easy, and it is even harder when you are trying to eat at the same time. It’s definitely time to get familiar with the timer mechanism on your camera if you aren’t using a remote shutter release.

To kick you off, here’s one of me. I took this photo planted on a tiny stool right next to a window on a Seattle cloudy day. There was a bounce sitting on a chair on my other side. The camera was set just above eye height so I had to look up a little.

Feel free to touch-up! I certainly didn’t leave the big tea-sized bags under my eyes. Also, if you liked Mariah Mccormick’s Fresh Actions that I pointed to last time I talked about photographing people, you might try Itty Bitty Actions by the amazing photographer of Jinky Art

The usual rules and are up on the Flickr group… the things like be constructive, take the photos during the month if possible, 3 photos per person and the last day will be around Feb 29th give or take a few days.

Let’s ring in the new year with a challenges on drinks, shall we? Styling and shooting beverages is often even more tricky than shooting food… there is less going on with the subject, and when something does happen, it doesn’t usually happen for very long! Not to mention, we are trained to expect a glass to have a perfect layer of condensation or a cup to have spiraling swirls of steam.

This month, please post your drink shots… they can be cocktails, wine, milk, pop, coffee, tea or water… just make sure the beverage is the main subject, and not just hanging out in the background. In addition, please use the description to explain what you did with the shots, particularly for lighting or styling, so we can all learn.

I’ll also start up a discussion for tips and tricks for styling beverages… things like canned air is great at reviving the head on a beer.

The usual rules and are up on the Flickr group… the things like be constructive, take the photos during the month if possible, 3 photos per person and the last day will be around January 31st give or take a few days.

I do love a good double meaning. So, for this month’s challenge, the theme is Reflection. Initially, I wanted this to encourage you to think back over the past year and think about what you’ve learned, and show it in your photos. But, as I started typing the title, it occurred to me that reflections in photography are a wonderfully challenging topic on their own. So, take your pick & reflect!

The usual rules and are up on the Flickr group… the things like be constructive, take the photos during the month if possible, 3 photos per person and the last day will be around December 30th give or take a few days.

OK. Last month’s challenge was hard. Really hard. But, hopefully, we learned a thing or two about plating.

Now, we are onto November, (well into it, actually. Sorry I’m so late with the theme this go around…) and my thoughts are of feasting and sharing meals with family and friends. So this month, let’s see your shots that mean sharing to you. Maybe it’s a whole roasted turkey, that is clearly the centerpiece of a big meal. Maybe it’s people sitting around the table breaking bread together. Maybe it’s a neatly gift-wrapped stack of cookies. Whatever sharing food means to you, let’s see it!

The usual rules and are up on the Flickr group… the things like be constructive, take the photos during the month if possible, 3 photos per person and the last day will be around November 30th give or take a few days.

I had two different ideas for this month’s challenge. But an article on plating in today’s Seattle Times pre-empted them both, and inspired me to create this month’s Plate it Up! theme. The article is about transforming a boring plating into something that has more appeal. Despite the title of the piece, which implies that it will be mainly about garnishing, the tips include do’s and don’ts about how to layout the food, how to think about color, and (a little) on saucing. It’s a short read, but a good one to kick off the challenge. Go read it now, so the rest of this post makes sense.

Back so soon? Did you read it? Good.

First off, I’m curious as to what you thought of the example photo. Did the after photo look better to you? And if so, how much better?

Secondly, here’s where you really come in… what would you do to the plate to make it even more appealing? Show us with this month’s post. No, you don’t have to plate the same dishes… but do try to combine different dishes onto one plate, and make the most of them. This is something I tend to avoid doing… and one of the things I’ve noticed about most cooking magazines and cookbooks… the photo shows just one cooked item, not an item, plated, as you probably would if you were actually serving at home or in a restaurant. I know one reason that they do this is that if they don’t give the recipes for everything on the plate, they get letters asking about it (even if it’s just a salad!) Another reason? It’s hard to make it look good.

But, that’s what you are going to do this month. Plate up multiple (at least 2, but 3 is better) dishes onto a plate. Think about avoiding monotony… but also keeping it simple. Like hairstyles, a little flare is good, a bouffant isn’t.

The usual rules and are up on the Flickr group… the things like be constructive, take the photos during the month if possible, 3 photos per person and the last day will be around October 31st, give or take a few days.

Technorati Tags: Food, Food Styling, Meme, Photography

With my recent move, it’s not surprising that I’ve been thinking about spaces to shoot almost nonstop over the past few weeks. I have a new small studio dedicated to my photography, as well as a small area off the kitchen with lovely morning light. Both are going to be great… once I get used them and learn their unique lighting ins and outs. Right now, I’m kind of pulling my hair out trying to relearn how to shoot after a few weeks “off”, finding out if I can live with the wall colors or need to repaint, and coming up with a new natural light diffusion system.

So, in the spirit of celebrating the places that you shoot, let’s back up and get some context. Your shots should still be food still lifes, but back up a bit and incorporate some of the more interesting characteristics of where you shoot. Maybe the edge of a window, or the kitchen sink. Give your food some room!

The usual rules and are up on the Flickr group… the things like be constructive, take the photos during the month if possible, 3 photos per person and the last day will be around September 30th, give or take a few days.

Technorati Tags: Food, Food Styling, Meme, Photography, prop styling