I have made a decision to change a few things for myself and for the way I communicate with you, the great community which I am part of. My blog and Facebook page will target way beyond stock photography in 2016. Since my personal photographic voyage is taking me to new insights, I want to share all the things I learned on the way, learn from the experiences others are making and help others with whatever I can.

However, my main job will still be stock photography, and I assume a large part of my readers are interested in this area as well. So it will stay a major part of what I do, what I write about and what I want you to discuss with me. To make things a bit more interesting, I have decided to start a new form of exchange in 2016: The Weekly Stock Photo Challenge.

Weekly Themes – Discuss, Exchange, Learn

Starting on Monday, Januar 4, 2016, I will publish a theme, an idea, a concept each and every week. I challenge you to pick up that topic and come up with images to it.

The goal of this idea is to never let a “lack of inspiration” be a valid excuse for not shooting new images anymore. And I’m not only talking about YOU, I admit I have come up with this idea to challenge myself first and foremost. I once have learned it is much more likely to make any goals when you announce them publicly. And what would be a better way to not only announce a goal but make a promise to announce 52 new goals next year and then publish all the results you get out of it? 🙂

Obviously there is no obligation to take part in each and any of the topics. You can join and follow my ideas and keep them in the back of your head for future shoots. Or you can be part of the challenge one week and take off next week. But if you want to make progress in shooting (and your earnings), doing it regularly is an important part of the process. So why not use this chance to force yourself to do at least something once a week?

Not shooting for stock? Shoot for fun and creativity!

Since I noticed that a growing number of my readers are not necessarily stock photographers: While the Challenge has the word “Stock” in it, it obviously doesn’t mean your results have to end up on stock agencies. If you are looking for a regular creative challenge and those “photo a day” projects are a bit too much for you (like they are for me), join the challenge anyway. As mentioned, there is no obligation for anyone in this.

How to join?

For the weekly challenge and the posts around it, I wanted a more interactive environment than this blog or my Facebook page. So I created a Facebook Group where you will find the weekly theme every Monday starting on January 4, 2016. You can also share the images you shot for the given weekly topic, ask for support or critique if you need it. Just request membership in the group. Feel free to invite your friends if you think they are interested.