The Height of Worpress Photo Challenges
I started off my photo challenge participation and hosting here on WordPress with Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, and beginning to host the One Word Photo Challenge, back in 2012. I then started my Color your World Challenge, Weekly Weather Challenge, Halloween Challenge, Winter Challenge, and the participation in a variety of others from time to time.
7+ years back now through about 2017 (when WordPress stopped posting their Daily Prompt and Discover challenges), blog challenges were a big deal here on WordPress. WordPress themselves had a published list of all active challenges. I even published a planner back in 2016 with 40 challenges listed so that people could plan their week around them.
The Decline
But since then, photo challenges have declined. There seems to have been a move away, in online spaces, from community, to self promotion only, or maybe just burnout or loss of interest. I’m not trying to make a statement, and I am partially at fault in this space as well. Largely, while I did decide to figure out more how to focus my blog, I’ve also have had a variety of health issues since those years that have forced me to focus my energy in more narrow ways.
Not to say that I now have the energy again, but I do have the drive again to try to jump back into community here and on instagram, so we’ll see how that goes.
Finding the Active Challenges on WordPress
Thanks to Cee’s listing and the one I compiled in 2016, I’ve gathered some links on a google calendar I’ve embedded here. Keeping track like this will help me in my contibutions and I hope it will help you as well.
I may not be jumping all in, but I’ll have this list available to me when I’m ready.
I went through all of the links that were part of the planner I published in 2016. 10 challenges were still active. That was 5 years ago though, so new ones may have popped up that I’m not aware of (there are 16 on the list below after all).
If you know of one that’s not on this list, comment below to let me know.
- Flower of the Day
- Squares
- Photographing Public Art Challenge
- Monday Window
- Water Water Everywhere
- Pic and a Word Challenge
- Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge
- Color your World
- Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge
- Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge
- Thursday Trios
- Thursday Doors
- Which Way Photo Challenge
- Tourmaline .’s Halloween Challenge
- Topic Generator
- Blogging from A to Z
- A Photo a Week
I do a couple of photo challenges every week including most of Cee’s Challenges. I didn’t see “A Photo A Week” in your list which I occasionally do. I think that WordPress does focus on attracting more on bloggers who want to make money from their blogs and that may be part of the change we are seeing. Many of us who have been around for several years are perhaps blogging less often due to burnout, health and other real-life issues including the fact that we don’t travel or go to events as much as we used to. I do find it frustrating that I can’t get out to take new photos as often as I’d like to. I believe that the understanding and encouragement from fellow bloggers is what keeps many of us going even if it is intermittent at times. WordPress no longer seems interested in hobby bloggers.
The understanding and encouragement is absolutely the key and there’s definitely not as much opportunity to get out for photos like you’ve mentioned. Thank you for the heads up on A Photo A Week, I’ll go find it and add it!
Hey, I didn’t realize, are you the host of the challenge? Tell me about it – what’s the best link to direct people to, what day does it post?
Hi, no I’m not the host. It’s Nancy Merrill Photography. Here is a link. https://nadiamerrillphotography.wordpress.com/photo-a-week-challenge/
Ah! Thank you!!