52-week Photography Challenge

***UPDATE*** you can now go to Flickr and see the 52 images at https://www.flickr.com/photos/140273864@N03/ if you so desire.  I am always looking to get better at my photography. In 2015, I did the 365 Challenge, a photo a day. That one was a bit tough so in 2016, I opted to do a 52-week photography challenge that forced me to complete regular assignments throughout the whole year.

It is proven that photography “students” grow the fastest while repeating a weekly assignment around three categories.” The three categories are: portrait, landscape, and artistic impression (expressing yourself in your own creative way). With these categories in mind, there was a 52-week list of assignments. Unlike most photography challenges which are just a simple list of ideas, I chose a 52-week challenge that was designed to push my photography to the next level. This list was challenging to complete, but sticking with it to the end, I have become a better photographer for it.

The Challenge List

Week 1	Portrait: Self Portrait	Start things off right with a “selfie!” Explore the self-timer setting on your camera.
Week 2	Landscape: Traditional Landscape	Shoot a beautiful landscape and share it with the world. Find a nice foreground and don't forget the sky.
Week 3	Artistic: Red	Shoot whatever inspires you. Red should be the focus of the image. Don't be afraid to be creative.
Week 4	Portrait: Headshot	You shot a selfie, now shoot a "selfie" of someone else!
Week 5	Landscape: Black and White	Look for a scene with great contrast that will make a great black and white.
Week 6	Artistic: Candy	Your artistic interpretation this week should be inspired by something sweet. A great chance to play with macro photography.
Week 7	Portrait: Faceless	Tell someone's story without showing their face.
Week 8	Landscape: Wide Angle/Panorama	This is a great opportunity to explore panorama stitching and create a wide sweeping landscape.
Week 9	Artistic: Shadows	The opposite of light is dark, the absence of light is shadow. Interpret this into a masterpiece.
Week 10	Portrait: Environmental	Show a subject in their natural habitat. Their place of work or hobby is a great start. Tell their story with the environment
Week 11	Landscape: Reflection	Find a way to show your landscape/natural beauty in reflection. The mirror world revealed.
Week 12	Artistic: Transportation	Our world is one defined by how we get around. Literal or interpretative, find inspiration in transportation.
Week 13	Portrait: High Key	Expose to the right and create a light, airy high key portrait.
Week 14	Landscape: Zoomed in	Most landscapes are wide sweeping images. Try an alternative and zoom in instead.
Week 15	Artistic: Metal	Cold, hard steel, shiny aluminum or even rusted and broken down. Find your inspiration in metal this week.
Week 16	Portrait: Movement	Most portraits are stationary, so this week explore adding some movement; dancing, twirling, or even hair flips.
Week 17	Landscape: Urbanscape	Most landscapes are wide open spaces of natural beauty... this week find the beauty of the urbanscape/cityscape.
Week 18	Artistic: Texture	The artistic inspiration this week is texture. You should almost be able to feel the image.
Week 19	Portrait: Messy	Take an amazing portrait of someone, make a mess while you are doing it.
Week 20	Landscape: Nightowl	A tripod is going to be handy this week... time to shoot a night landscape. Look for some light for the scene! Car lights, city lights, or maybe just moonlight.
Week 21	Artistic: Fantasy	Is this real life, or is this just fantasy... Your artistic inspiration this week is fantasy.
Week 22	Portrait: Hands	Usually the face is the strongest element in the frame; with the hands being second. Make the hands the most important element in your image this week.
Week 23	Landscape: Weather	This week should be as unpredictable as the weather! Feature the weather in this week's landscape.
Week 24	Artistic: Sparkle!	Shoot what inspires you this week, just make sure it sparkles.
Week 25	Portrait: Silhouette	Expose for the background and let your subject fall into shadow. Shape is important this week.
Week 26	Landscape: Simplify	Simplify the scene to make your primary subject stand out.
Week 27	Artistic: Blue	You were inspired by the fiery red earlier, now be inspired by calming blue.
Week 28	Portrait: Family	Whether it's the family you are born with or the one you choose, show the world what family is to you.
Week 29	Landscape: Waterscape	Ocean, lake, river, pond, or puddle. Make water the primary subject of this landscape.
Week 30	Artistic: Patterns	Get inspired by the rhythm that patterns bring to your images.
Week 31	Portrait: Street Candid	Candids on the street, show us life in your town through the lens.
Week 32	Landscape: Colorful	Shoot a landscape that packs as much color as you can find into the scene.
Week 33	Artistic: Collaboration	Doesn't matter what you shoot, just do with another artist. Share vision and ideas. Collaborate.
Week 34	Portrait: Child	Candid or posed, capture an image of a child. Try getting down on their level for a unique perspective.
Week 35	Landscape: Nature up Close	Get up close and personal with nature in this natural beauty shot. Flowers, bees, bugs and spiders might all make great shots
Week 36	Artistic: Food	Take your food photography to the next level. It's not lunch, it's art.
Week 37	Portrait: Fashion	Avant-garde to commercial to traditional, and everything in between. The focus is the clothes this week.
Week 38	Landscape: Get Low	Time to look at the world from a different angle. Shoot a landscape from a low point of view.
Week 39	Art: Handmade	Your artistic interpretation should be inspired by another artisan's handmade work. Literal or interpreted.
Week 40	Portrait: Sitting in a Chair	Either a formal sitting portrait or a re-interpretation of this classic. Photograph your subject sitting in a chair.
Week 41	Landscape: Get High	Everything looks different when you are high. Find a high perspective to shoot this landscape.
Week 42	Artistic: Minimalist	Isolate your subject using the minimalist approach. Inspire someone with your art.
Week 43	Portrait: The Elderly	Tell the story of an elderly person through the power of your camera. Capture the lines of their life.
Week 44	Landscape: A Tree	Some of the most famous landscapes in the world feature a tree. Time to see what you can do.
Week 45	Artistic: Nostalgic	Use nostalgia as your inspiration this week. Long for the moments we want to recapture. The good times.
Week 46	Portrait: Backlit	The sun makes a great back light, as well as a flash. Don't forget the fill light. A flash or reflector can be used to fill in the subject.
Week 47	Landscape: Abandoned	Capture an image of that which others have forgotten. It may be the last image before it's gone from us forever.
Week 48	Artistic: Bokeh	A shallow depth of field is often used to isolate the subject. Create an artistic interpretation using shallow depth of field.
Week 49	Portrait: Dancing	Whether it's a professional dancer or just some kids in the street. Try experimenting with slow and fast shutter speed to both blur and freeze the subject.
Week 50	Landscape: Symmetrical	Often considered one of the hardest compositions to pull off, symmetry. Challenge yourself this week by shooting a symmetrical landscape/urbanscape.
Week 51	Artistic: Art	It is time to really challenge yourself. Your artistic interpretation should be art, about art.
Week 52	Portrait: Another Self Portrait	For your final challenge, we end where we started. Take one last self-portrait, and be amazed at how far you have come in a year.

I will not bore you with all 52 photos, but here are just a few of my favs: