# Submit Photo Contest Ideas & Themes Here



## RustyBrown

Thought we'd get a head start on the poll. Let's hear what's on your mind. :headknock


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## MsAddicted

I always wanted to do a "back to nature" theme. For example, several years ago I came across this old shed or maybe it was a milk house straddling a stream in a woodsy area of colorado. It was falling apart and nearly invisible. I was fascinated with the idea of things returning to the ground and wished I had gotten a better photo. I thought that would be a good idea for a photo contest.


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## richg99

For one month...any "action" shots...rich


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## Charles Helm

Some I have mentioned in the past:

1. Family portraits -- not studio formal but not candids, just pictures of some one or ones in your family. Perhaps that would be a topic that a lot of people would be interested in. It could even be portraits generally but the family aspect usually gets a lot of interest from people.

2. Pets -- people always seem to enjoy posting pictures of their pets. I suppose we could expand it to all animals but that might encroach on the "Wild Beauty" topic. Of course it could be someone else's pet as well.

3. Landscapes -- we sort of did this on the Vacation topic although we made it a bit more open there.

4. Plants -- flowers, trees, etc. Not sure how popular this would be but it might be something different.

5. "Why Did You Do That" - If we wanted a more difficult technical one, I think it would be interesting to have a "Why Did You Do That" thread. Everyone posts a picture and EXIF data and explains why they set up the shot and took it the way they did -- composition, shutter speed, aperture, even post-processing. Even more challenging would be to require it to be a new image.

Topic threads I have posted before that could be used (some of these may be duplicative of 2006 contest topics):

Light on the Water

Sharp Things (wasn't too popular)

Suspended Animation

Ship Ahoy!

Caution: Live Animals!

It's Just an Expression

Rocks in My Head

Trees

Birds


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## Shed Hunter

*Colors*

How about any one color? Black, red, blue, etc.


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## mastercylinder60

since it's been so unusually cold, how about a "winter in texas" theme?


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## Koru

some thoughts from me...

Black and White (B&W photos, and not necessarily limiting the colour option so long as black and white is within a colour photo).

Close Up

From a Distance

Night



(I think we're going to be set for themes for the next ten years or so.  )


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## chicapesca

Good idea Rusty!

Here are a few suggestions:

Rural Decay
Nautical Decay
Boats
Ports & Harbors
Macro
Aquatic Birds
Fish
Beach Nature
Rusty Things


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## Pocketfisherman

My Suggestions:

Food and Life - A Fresh vegetable, raw ingredients, a full meal layed out on the table, the grill, Someone enjoying/eating a food item, whatever....

Sports Action Shot, maybe two contests, one for outdoor, and one for indoor which is really challenging from a technical perspective.

Best Performance - Concert, Play, Kids Choir, Clown, etc....

Best Night Shot 

Transportation - Planes, Trains, Automobiles, Cycles, etc..

Best Candid Shot

Your Best Portrait - A non-candid posed shot where the subject knew they were getting photographed

Maximum Effort - Show someone really putting out some major effort and exertion. Could be a Sports Event like cycling, weightliftin, or a marathon runner. Or, maybe a blue collar worker like construction, or maybe even your kid at play or your wife sweating in the kitchen or over the grill.

Maximum Emotion - A shot showing sadness, joy, anger, etc...

Best Party Shot - A picture you took at a party that captures the essence of that party.

It Depends on your perspective - A shot of something from a perspective you don't normally see that makes the viewer go "Hmmmmmmmmm?!?!?"

Dressed for Success - A shot of someone outfitted with all the gear, bells, and whistles for a particular task at hand. Could be a soldier, a Flyfisherman, a Women in a business suit, or maybe a kid in a swimsuit, sunglasses, and with sand bucket and shovel in hand.


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## galbayfisher

1) insects
2) night sky
3) black and white only
4) depth of focus/field
5) cemetaries
6) churches
7) bluebonnett pics
8) texas fall colors
9) Downtown Texas ( any town in Texas, country or city)
10) Rivers and creeks
11) what is it?
12) before and after, pic of same spot at least 5 years apart
13) amusement parks
14) Fauna, Texas (mushrooms to trees to Cactus) 
15) Festival Texas ( Strawberry to Mosquito to Watermelon thump, etc)
16) Football, Texas ( action shots to include pics of mascots)
17) roses
18) timepieces ( watches, clocks, city hall)
19) rodeo
20) fireworks
21) storms and lightening
22) city after dark
23) parks
24) statues
25) traffic


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## MT Stringer

I'm betting we will see some bluebonnet pics in a few months.
Lots of good suggestions mentioned in the posts above.
Mike


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## Koru

Wow, lots of great ideas in here.

Please continue to add your thoughts, if any other ideas spring to mind. They can always be included in future month's contests. 

Please also keep in mind that some photographers that would like to enter the monthly contest, do not live in Texas and do not have the ability to get to Texas to take Texas specific photographs.

Thanks for the ideas so far!

 THE POLL is now open for voting for February and March themes.


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## Guest

Here is a thought: What about having a two tiered contest?

There is no way I will ever take a photograph (except be sheer luck) that could compete with something shot by Rusty and a few others. But I don't want Rusty or any of our other really good photogs to hog the contests or feel that they should not enter because doing so will keep others from entering.

So how about this: Anyone who has 'won' in the past year is entered into a special category where they compete with each other only. There will be a winner there, as well as a winner in the 'open' category. The 'open' winner will be added to the 'winners' group and the winner of 12 months ago let back into the general contest (Possible exception if s/he has won in the winner's contest?) ~ Just a thought. Any comments?



:rybka:


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## Koru

thoughts...

Not a bad idea with plenty of merit. Shouldn't be too difficult to search back through the archives to find the last 12 winners. It _could_ begin in February as January is nearly complete.

It could be done without any rancour, because we're all a great bunch in here. There would be good and even competition for both groups.

There would be extra work getting the photos compiled, perhaps one person could run one, and another could run the other (to help with sharing the workload).

The chosen themes could stay the same for both contests.

It's just the cost in time and bandwidth etc.

Anyone else got thoughts?


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## galbayfisher

Every now and then the Lord puts you in the right place at the right time to take that ONE GREAT PIC. If so, and you think it's got a shot, let that person enter his photo in the upper tier irregardless of whether he has won before or not.

Question is...would you let participants submit the same photo to one or both tiers?

I would vote 1 and roll the dice.

my 2 cents.


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## Guest

galbayfisher said:


> Every now and then the Lord puts you in the right place at the right time to take that ONE GREAT PIC. If so, and you think it's got a shot, let that person enter his photo in the upper tier irregardless of whether he has won before or not.
> 
> Question is...would you let participants submit the same photo to one or both tiers?
> 
> I would vote 1 and roll the dice.
> 
> my 2 cents.


 My first thought is that any submitter who has not won in the last year wins both if s/he has the highest raw vote count of both groups. (I was not suggesting that the groups be separated during the voting, just during the results.)

:rybka:


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## RustyBrown

*A few more...*

Self Portraits

Signs of Spring

The tree

Sports

Slow shutter


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## Koru

a couple from me...


The Barn


Wildlife


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## Gator_Nutz

Industrial

Urban sprawl

signs

city at night

B&W

Color


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## Koru

Here's the topic list that's going out to the Panel for the April, May and June contests...

*Nature:*
back to nature
Landscapes
Trees
Birds
Aquatic Birds
Fish
Beach Nature
Insects
night sky
bluebonnett pics
texas fall colors
Rivers and creeks
Fauna, Texas (mushrooms to trees to Cactus) 
roses
Plants
Storms and lightening
Pets
Signs of Spring
The Tree
Wildlife

*Places:*
Parks
Winter in Texas, or Winter in&#8230;
Ports and Harbours
Cemeteries
Churches
Texas fall colours
Downtown Texas (any town in Texas, country or city)
Before and After (pic of same spot at least 5 years apart)
Amusement Parks
Festival Texas (strawberry to Mosquito to Watermelon thump etc)
Rodeo
Fireworks
City after dark
The barn
Industrial
Urban sprawl
_Along the Coast - January 2007_

*People:
*Self Portraits
Family portraits
Why did you do that?
Sports Action
Best Performance
Your Best Portrait
Dressed for Success
Sports

*Action:*
Action
Sports action
Football, Texas

*Other:*
_ Light on the Water - March 2007_
Sharp Things
Suspended Animation
Ship Ahoy!
Caution: Live Animals!
It's Just an Expression
Rocks in My Head
One colour (i.e. black, blue, red)
Black and White
Close Up
From a Distance
Night
Rural Decay
_ Nautical Decay - February 2007_
Boats
Macro
Rusty Things
Food and Life
Transportation
Maximum Effort
Maximum Emotion
Best Party Shot
It depends on your perspective
Depth of focus/field
What is it?
Timepieces
Statues
Traffic
Best Candid Shot
Slow Shutter
Signs
Colour

Please continue to add more in here and I'll add them onto the next update.


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## dixie lee

how about "our future" anything that has to do with the future,growing up, our life tommorrow... i think that would be a great photo shoot!

love-dixie lee 


ps:

or maybe beautiful animations we drew like ones that show strong emotion...
just another idea!


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## Terry G.

how about "common things around your house photographed in uncommon ways".


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## Koru

excellent ideas to add Dixie Lee and Terry, thank you, they'll be added in to our next poll. 


meanwhile, the poll for April, May and June contest themes is closed and the winners are:

April = Signs of Spring
May = It Depends on Your Perspective
June = Churches.


all the unused titles will be put back in the pot and any new suggestions will be added in for July, August and September voting.


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## Dances With Fish

How about just a plain ol' cool pic you took..That doesnt have any relevancy to anything....Any decay, any sunset, any portrait, if its cool and composed well youll have my vote........RYAN


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## Koru

just bumping this thread for everyone who has more ideas to post them up now. i'll give it a week and then add them to the existing list that will go out to the next panel. all we ask is that you keep in mind not limiting the contest to people who cannot get to photograph your suggestions. thanks in advance!

rosesm


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## grayfish

Rocks


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## galbayfisher

How about pictures that remind us of Houston's history? Pics of the Heights, Princes, La Carafe, etc.


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## Pocketfisherman

galbayfisher said:


> How about pictures that remind us of Houston's history? Pics of the Heights, Princes, La Carafe, etc.


 There's folks on this board who aren't from Houston though. Make it broader, like TX history.

My suggestions:

1) "Trains Planes and Automobiles"

2) "Curves" - Could be a landscape, a highway, a fender of a classic car, a boat,....anything with beautiful lines

3) "Classics" - Anything built before 1960, a car, old tractor, an old brand of product of any kind, old radio, even an old person

4) "Wind" - Again, leave it broad and subject to the photog's interpretation. Might be a sailboat, windmill, waves on the water, wind patterns on a field of tall grain, whatever.

5) "Non-Professional Sports" - Little league, swimming, soccer, etc.

6) " That's gonna leave a mark" - A shot of somebody or something about to fall, crash, collide, etc.


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## Hooked Up

I'm thinking of a category called "In the moment". You know, the kind of shot where both the camera and subject are very focused but the subject is not aware of the camera. I love those moments! Tight lines, Guy


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## Koru

thanks for your input. this is what we have now:

*Nature:*
back to nature
Landscapes
_ Trees - July 2007_
Birds 
Aquatic Birds
Fish
Beach Nature 
Insects
night sky
bluebonnett pics
texas fall colors
Rivers and creeks
Fauna, Texas (mushrooms to trees to cactus) 
roses
Plants
Storms and lightening
Pets
_Signs of Spring - April_
The Tree
Wildlife
Rocks
Wind

*Places:*
Parks
Winter in Texas, or Winter in&#8230;
Ports and Harbours
Cemeteries
_Churches - June 2007_
Texas fall colours
Downtown Texas (any town in Texas, country or city)
Before and After (pic of same spot at least 5 years apart)
Amusement Parks
Festival Texas (strawberry to Mosquito to Watermelon thump etc)
Rodeo
Fireworks
City after dark
The barn
Industrial
Urban sprawl
_Along the Coast - January 2007_
Home: common things around your house photographed in uncommon ways
History

*People:
*Self Portraits
Family portraits
Why did you do that?
Sports Action
Best Performance
Your Best Portrait
Dressed for Success
Sports
Non-Professional Sports

*Action:*
Action
Sports action
Football, Texas
In the moment

*Other:*
_ Light on the Water - March 2007_
Sharp Things
Suspended Animation
_ Ship Ahoy! - August 2007_
Caution: Live Animals!
It's Just an Expression
Rocks in My Head
One colour (i.e. black, blue, red)
Black and White
Close Up
From a Distance
Night
Rural Decay
_ Nautical Decay - February 2007_
Boats
Macro
Rusty Things
Food and Life
Transportation
Maximum Effort
Maximum Emotion
Best Party Shot
_It depends on your perspective - May 2007_
Depth of focus/field
What is it?
Timepieces
Statues
Traffic
Best Candid Shot
Slow Shutter 
Signs
Colour
Our Future
Animation
Plain 'ol cool pic
Trains Planes and Automobiles
Curves
Classics (pre 1960)
That's gonna leave a mark

rosesm


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## Gator_Nutz

I think just to make it fair we should have one on New Zealand Landscapes Thanks Karen for doing this for us.


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## PincheGringo

Maybe every month pick a diffrent theme, wildlife,sports,family,pets, as well as black and white etc. I have lots of pics just stoping the boat in the bay great sunsets and so on.


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