Show The Digital Age Jeremy West Contributing Writer Weekly Digital Photography Challenges Stimulate Creativity The Digital Revolution is upon the nation Digital camera sales soared this past year Millions of people have them Hundreds of artistic individuals have found a ahome ahome ahome home at Digital Photo C h a l l e n g e where weekly challenges challenges chal chal- lenges enges stimulate ity I encourage anyone who is into digital digital photography photography photography pho pho- to look at for a new and exciting way to look at the world around you with a completely completely com com- new perspective perspective perspective tive user Matthew Dykman said Two college friends created in January 2002 Drew U and Langdon Oliver love photography Their original idea for the site was to create a place for the two of them and a couple friends to give each other a challenge each week Their simple idea of teaching each other to be better photographers grew into an online community of over users Each week two challenges challenges chal chal- lenges enges are available for photographers Topics range from landscapes and wildlife to more challenging ing topics such as money but the catch is- is no money in the photo road signs and painting with light During the week photographers photographers r raphers upload hundreds of photos to the At Atthe Atthe Atthe the end of the challenge voting begins and a new photo challenge opens for forthe forthe forthe the following week Users vote on a scale of one to 10 for the entries of the previous weeks week's chal chal- lenge Scores are then averaged and the displays the top three pho- pho i 1 t f 54 a 1 on the homepage for seven days The learning and development development development devel devel- parts of both competitions competitions competitions com com- petitions come into play during the voting As users vote on each of the photos in the challenge most will comment and critique the photographs to tell the photographer pho- pho photographer pho pho- photographer what they liked and disliked about the pic pic- pic- pic ture The challenges offer a unique way of creating a medium to learn Dykman said You receive so many comments from photographers who give you tips and pointers on how the shot could be improved The people here are very involved with the site and are extremely frie friendly and nice The forums also 1 a. a i t rYa JI kt tv It jm U offer r fw an ani education network Users have a place to ask questions questions questions ques ques- about photographic skills hardware and web web- site comments Hundreds of friendly photographers gather together and rarely leave questions unanswered Members also post howd they that and tutorial articles for peo people le to read and ancl dis- dis cuss 3 underwent a huge o o change adding d d many new and exciting features g 3 One of the additions additions addi- addi 3 was a sister 3 site for printing g N Users can now a c upload images into g 8 their personal B o portfolios They Ji 8 can buy prints of ofa a their images as aswell aswell aswell well as set prices to tr tn sell c ll t r and n art art- or rL v OWA A I Vi un U tU I work When a a photograph is sold a certain percentage is kicked back to the user Members love the exposure exposure exposure expo expo- sure and ease of having their photographs marketed and sold I stumbled across in June 2002 user Fritz Byle Bye explained about his search for online digital photo contest sites to help improve his photographic skill My photography has improved remarkably in the thelast thelast thelast last 20 months he said continues to grow in popularity Users need only have a love of photography and a digital digital digital digi digi- tal camera Visit to find out about this weeks week's challenge |