Monthly Digital Challenge

Subject for June: A is For...

Images must be shot on or after the 1st of the month and before midnight of the last day of the month. The competition closes at Midnight on (meaning entries must be submitted before midnight of) the last day of the month.

You can interpret the subject in any way you wish.

The next competition’s subject will be announced on the last Wednesday of the month and will have to be shot in the calendar month that follows. Get your thinking caps on and head out to start making those images. Let the creative juices run wild.

Remember it’s all about being challenged and having fun so go for broke.

Any enquiries you can get in touch with either:
Ferg Campbell
Oswald Mungwazi
or Dave Slaten

MDC Galleries

On behalf of a small team that has been asked to organize an informal monthly activity for all club members, please let me introduce the CPS Monthly Digital Challenge.

The Monthly Digital Challenges will be like miniature set-subject events that happen... well, once a month. They are intended to be encouraging for new members to wade in to the club competitions if they have been hesitant, but they are open to all members who want to try their hand at winning the chocolate fish to be awarded to the winner each month.

By having new topics each month (some requiring a bit of personal interpretation, some related to using specific techniques and some just downright off the wall) we hope to help break any creativity barriers that may be holding people back from getting out with their camera and making more images. But most of all, we just want a FUN opportunity for everyone to share their own work and creativity.

So how is this going to work? It is pretty straight forward on the surface, so here’s the bullet-point summary:

• Near the end of each month, we will announce a topic for the coming calendar month (February through October).
• All CPS members are eligible to submit one image taken after the topic is announced, to be entered by Midnight on the last day of the challenge month.
• Images will be entered like all CPS competitions, via e-mail or CD hand-in, using standard file naming rules.
• The images will be given to a judge or panel of judges who will have a very simple task: choose their top 10 favorites and rank those in order.
• These selected images will be shown in a very short segment on a club night with the winner getting a chocolate fish for their efforts.
• All entries will be displayed anonymously on the website so everyone can see the creative interpretations of each topic.
• This routine will be repeated 9 times throughout the year at which point we shall recognize an overall winner with some equally trivial reward.
• We reserve the right (and are already planning) to throw in a few fun surprises along the way!

I know some of you are already wanting more information than that bullet-list gives, so here is our first crack at answering what we expect to be the early round of frequently asked questions:

How will the topics be announced?

We will announce new topics at a club meeting near the end of each month and send out a membership-wide email on the same day.

Who chooses the topics?

We’ve come up with a dozen or so topics from a variety of sources. If you have suggestions please just have a chat with one of us since we will certainly be looking to improve on what we have now. We plan to pull the next topic out of a hat with all the viable options so that even the organizers don’t know what is coming up next.

Can I enter an image that I took last month or last year?

No. All images must be taken after the topic has been announced. We are doing this to encourage actively making photographs more than just choosing something to win a competition.

Can I use a Monthly Challenge entry in an Open club competition?

Yes. These are informal events that can be used as a testing ground if you wish. There are no restrictions on using these images again in official club competitions.

How will you know when the image was taken?

We will look at the EXIF data on the digital file. Unless you specifically go through the trouble of removing the image capture information, this will mean zero work for the photographer. Note that the event organizers and not the judge will make the date assessment.

What is the e-mail address for submitting the images?

mdc@cpsnz.com (MDC stands for "monthly digital challenge") Note this will not be live until the first topic is announced.

Do I title the images or e-mail in any special way?

Yes. Please use the standard CPS digital entry format (the competition abbreviation is MDC) for titles and e-mail subject lines, e.g. 0123-MDC-Your Image Title

How will the images be judged and what feedback will I get?

There will be no scores and no comments requested from the judge. Just a list of the top 10 in order of the judge’s choosing. You will know if you made the top 10. If the judge or judges want to share any more information, we will make that available to the participants.

Who will do the judging?

We expect to use a combination of well known camera club judges, local photography professionals, established CPS members, non CPS photography enthusiasts, local gallery organizers, local non-photographic artists, camera store owners and maybe the occasional high school photography class... among others. In short, anyone and everyone who may have an eye for visual composition.

Will I know who the judge is before the competition entry is due?

Maybe. Maybe not. It really shouldn’t affect your creative expression, should it?

How will the overall winner be chosen?

We have developed a mathematically proven scoring technique that balances a reward for C and B-graders who consistently participate each month with individual image placements in the top 10.

Do these challenges affect my other CPS competition results?

No. These challenges have no impact on or contribution to any CPS competition points standings, end of year trophies or member grading.

Are these rules set in stone?

No. Since the main idea here is FUN and Creativity, we will happily make changes to achieve those goals. Don’t worry, we’ll probably tell someone if we change the way things work. Then again, we may just wing it.

We think this will a fun activity for everyone who is interested in participating. We may be completely wrong, but let’s give it go and fix the kinks along the way! We look forward to seeing your first entries.

Your Monthly Challenge Organizers,
Ferg Campbell
Oswald Mungwazi
Dave Slaten