A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

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PBC (November 2014): Where the streets have no name

Who comes up with these themes?

Oh… right.

Well, I had grand thoughts for this theme myself. And in the end, I failed miserably. So much so that I had to scramble on Thanksgiving Day to finish up some photos. You see, the thoughts I had were fine… but with a packed month and me losing my mind.

Where the streets have no name. Really? What was I thinking?

Still, I actually like what I came up with. I went on a walk with my niece and we came up with some ideas together and i like the direction this all went. That being said, I’d rather not wait until the last second again!

Needless to say, another month is down and I am truly excited to see what people had to come up with for this one. December’s theme will be much easier, I assure you. And I’ve heard from several people who seem like they are ready to join up, so that’s a good thing.

I’m also going to do my best to reach out to some who have participated in the past and see if they might want to join in this month. That theme will be unveiled Monday, so make sure you come back and see. Or watch the Facebook group and I’ll try and remember to update that on time!

Anyway, enough rambling. It’s time for me to share my five images. Let’s see if I can do anything with this one a last-second rush!

1. Snowy Street 

Thought the street may have a name, when it’s snowy and such, sometimes it’s easy to miss names with the peacefulness this brings.

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2. Traveling along

The lines of major roads can quickly make you forget the road on which you are traveling.

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3. Stop. Continue.

One way. Or stop? Or both.

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4. Named

The street has a name… but if you aren’t paying attention, you might miss where you need to go with the snow.

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5. Follow the street

You may not know the street you are on, but know a curve is coming.

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That’s my five for the month. And, now it’s your turn.

If you took part this month, make sure you link up below. And for those who participated, make sure you try and get to other people’s blogs and comment and visit so we can continue to grow this challenge. Don’t forget, too, to come back and visit on Monday, December 1 and see the theme for December!

NOTE: I set up a Facebook group for those who participate in the challenge and are interested. I’ll post any announcements there and hopefully it can be a place where things are discussed and some interaction etc. You can access it here.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Photo Blogging Challenge: November 2014’s theme is…

november2014

Time for another month.

But before I get rolling with this post, let me send out a plea. When I started this challenge, my idea was to have a fun monthly photo challenge with a community of people who came back each month and participated.

Whether it be the images, the comments, whatever, I had visions of a good cast of characters going forward. But it’s so up and down. Maybe it’s the themes. Maybe it’s people just not enjoying challenges. Maybe it’s because it’s only monthly and people forget. But one thing is for sure, there’s not as many people participating.

So I look to others for ideas. What can we do to make it better? I still have dreams of getting like 20-25 people per month who participate, visit, comment, enjoy and help with the success of the challenge. So if you have ideas, let me know. Or tell your fellow bloggers. One doesn’t need $2,000 worth of equipment to participate. Just the ability to interpret a theme, take photos and post once a month (and come link up)!

Anyway…

We’ve hit November. The weather in the Northeast seems to be turning as it’s definitely chillier (despite the 70+ we had in my area the other day). The time is going to be falling back and getting darker earlier.

The theme this month is a little different. I hope people look at it and come up with some fun interpretations as I think it has the possibilities of being a cool theme.

Before we get to the actual theme…

As a reminder of a few things, let me copy and paste this from last month:

  • I set up a Facebook group for those who are interested. Reminders and maybe some discussions or other things can be done there.
  • If you haven’t already, attempt to check out everybody’s posts and consider commenting. These challenges are great for personal growth, but it’s also nice to be interactive with all the others in the challenge! That’s one of the best parts of this challenge — interacting and seeing other people’s work!

Before we hit up this month’s theme, for new people, allow me to refresh the rules a bit.

Here’s how it will work.

  • On the first of each month (or close to it), I’ll have a blog post here with the theme for the month.
  • Over the course of the month, participants will take photos with their interpretation of the theme. On the last day of the month (or close to it), participants should  publish their blog post, which will include five photos from the month. (please don’t recycle photos from the past … the idea is to hopefully challenge you to go out and take new photos each month to interpret the theme). And please only use photos you took.
  • I’ll have a link-up thing at the end of my post so people can come and post the links to their posts so, hopefully, everybody can go go check out and comment on other posts.

There is no rule on equipment or anything. Use a cell phone. Use film. Use a point-and-shoot. Use a DSLR. It doesn’t matter. Just make sure you publish your blog post on the last day of each month, come here and link up.

It’s simple!

Your blog posts can be as simple or as in-depth as you want. I’ll likely talk a little about each photo. But if all you want to do is post photos, feel free. The idea of this is to give a small challenge and give everybody a chance to express themselves with photography, participate in a challenge and have something to blog about.

That’s it. Easy, right? So join in! Help us continue to grow this challenge by telling fellow bloggers/photographers about the challenge and hopefully it can become a great monthly thing!

For those still with me, this month’s theme is: Where the streets have no name. Ohhh… what to make of this one? I hope all of you find some fun in this and interpret it in different ways!

Let’s see what you have for this one! And let’s see if we can get some others interested in joining us!

Please make sure your blog post publishes Friday, November 28 (the day after Thanksgiving, if you are in the States).

If you think you are going to take part in this, drop a comment below so we can see who all might be trying to tackle this challenge!

History of the challenge (past month’s themes – links to see everybody else’s posts are at the end of the linked post):

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

PBC (October 2014): Photographer’s choice

It’s already the end of October.

Where did the month go? Heck, where did the year go?

Baseball season is now officially over and the fall seems to be truly showing its colors – that is in regard to the weather, not just the color on the trees (for those who still have leaves on said trees). High school football in this area is winding down and many schools are already starting to peer toward winter sports.

And here we are with another month of photos in the challenge.

This month’s challenge was photographer’s choice, which I hope means a very cool selection of images and maybe a few extra people joining us for this challenge.

For me, I actually took some photos with my real DSLR this month. But, in the end, I’ve decided to go with five images taken with my iPhone.

And why is that, you may ask?

It’s simple. I just don’t use my DSLR as much as I used to. I use a true camera for work quite often (and those photos won’t show up here), so I use the iPhone to chronicle my life, whether it be uploading photos to Instagram or Facebook or something else. It’s a way to still take pretty good photos without having to lug equipment around.

So this month, my choices are ones I took via the iPhone and all have a story to share.

Without further ado, allow me to share my five for the month of October.

1. Say cheese!

This was one cool spot for a photo booth … kind of. This is a wash area, in between the male and female bathrooms, at a eatery in New York City. Yeah, I’m totally serious, too. We waited somebody using it when we arrived, and then we took ours. Five minutes of processing and we got our photos. The kicker was, so many people went by but didn’t even seem to bat an eye. I have a feeling this happens often enough here.

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2. Happy Cam!

Of course he’s happy! He’s a little ham for the camera! All dressed up at a soccer game for the cool weather. And look at those teeth coming in!

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3. Molson

This is one of the last shots I took of my cat, Molson. This was after she came home from the vet and seemed like she might have been getting slightly better. She was napping and eyeballing me, much like she always did when I was around her with a camera. We lost her a few days later, unfortunately, and she’ll be highly missed.

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4. The Ocean

I had the chance this month to take my yearly trip to the Jersey Shore. It was a nice trip, though I had a lot on my mind that weekend. One day was really nice weather, so it was nice to just stand on the beach and let my feet sink in the sand and have the water come around my ankles.

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5. Guinness

I think this photo speaks for itself…

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That’s my five for the month. And, now it’s your turn.

If you took part this month, make sure you link up below. And for those who participated, make sure you try and get to other people’s blogs and comment and visit so we can continue to grow this challenge. Don’t forget, too, to come back tomorrow, Friday, October 31 and see the theme for November! NOTE: I set up a Facebook group for those who participate in the challenge and are interested. I’ll post any announcements there and hopefully it can be a place where things are discussed and some interaction etc. You can access it here.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Photo Blogging Challenge: October 2014’s theme is…

october2014

The start of October isn’t feeling like fall around me.

In fact, it’s been nearing or in the 80s a bit lately. In the Northeast. What gives?

We didn’t have this in the summer … and now have it in the fall? Come on!

Still, it’s better than snow.

This month is one I am dubbing recruitment month. For the past two months, I’ve had themes where I thought we’d draw a bunch of people and didn’t. So I am hoping this is a month where we get a good turnout. Hopefully you are with me here and would like to see this challenge and group grow a bit.

So tell your friends and fellow bloggers. Point them to this page. Or to the Facebook group. Let’s get some more people into this challenge! The theme, which is below, really lends itself to bringing people into the fold, so pass it along and let’s grow the challenge!

It is, after all, October (can you believe it?) so let’s push along!

As a reminder of a few things, let me copy and paste this from last month:

  • I have an e-mail reminder list set up (which I haven’t used lately because nobody seemed to want it. I’d like to start it again, so please let me know if you want in on it. If I don’t get any real responses for this, I will be deleting this part of the rules!). Basically, I’ll e-mail the group with about 10 days left in the month to remind you. When I remember, I’ll also shoot one out the day before the end of the month, as a reminder to post the following day. I can’t always guarantee that one though! If you are not on the list, let me know in the comments below that you would like to be on it. Note: I was bad on this … please join the Facebook group if you can. I update there more often!
  • Second, I set up a Facebook group for those who are interested. Reminders and maybe some discussions or other things can be done there.
  • If you haven’t already, attempt to check out everybody’s posts and consider commenting. These challenges are great for personal growth, but it’s also nice to be interactive with all the others in the challenge! That’s one of the best parts of this challenge — interacting and seeing other people’s work!

Before we hit up this month’s theme, for new people, allow me to refresh the rules a bit.

Here’s how it will work.

  • On the first of each month (or close to it), I’ll have a blog post here with the theme for the month.
  • Over the course of the month, participants will take photos with their interpretation of the theme. On the last day of the month (or close to it), participants should  publish their blog post, which will include five photos from the month. (please don’t recycle photos from the past … the idea is to hopefully challenge you to go out and take new photos each month to interpret the theme). And please only use photos you took.
  • I’ll have a link-up thing at the end of my post so people can come and post the links to their posts so, hopefully, everybody can go go check out and comment on other posts.

There is no rule on equipment or anything. Use a cell phone. Use film. Use a point-and-shoot. Use a DSLR. It doesn’t matter. Just make sure you publish your blog post on the last day of each month, come here and link up.

It’s simple!

Your blog posts can be as simple or as in-depth as you want. I’ll likely talk a little about each photo. But if all you want to do is post photos, feel free. The idea of this is to give a small challenge and give everybody a chance to express themselves with photography, participate in a challenge and have something to blog about.

That’s it. Easy, right? So join in! Help us continue to grow this challenge by telling fellow bloggers/photographers about the challenge and hopefully it can become a great monthly thing!

For those still with me, this month’s theme is: Photographer’s Choice. Basically, you choose whatever you like. Hopefully it will be themed yourself, somehow. But… interpret away!

I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with here. There are so many ways to do this and I think there will be some great stuff. I can’t wait to see. And, after last months “Colorful” theme, this should be fun.

Please make sure your blog post publishes Thursday, October 30 (I am avoiding Halloween, figuring some people will publish other things that day). 

If you think you are going to take part in this, drop a comment below so we can see who all might be trying to tackle this challenge!

History of the challenge (past month’s themes – links to see everybody else’s posts are at the end of the linked post):

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!