black and white photo challenge

Going in the opposite direction of last month, we take the color away.

I’ve always been a fan of black and white photography. I used to have a darkroom and, when I started in newspapers, I worked in a darkroom. It was cool. Seeing images show up under the red light was way too cool.

Now, it’s digital.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the instant gratification. But there was something about the smell of the darkroom chemicals and having the control you had when processing images.

So this month we go back to the roots.

For that, I have three from my main camera (before it bit the dust… need to have fixed!) and a couple from my iPhone.

I am definitely interested in what others came up with for this theme.

And, as a reminder, we’re a fun little challenge community. So come back in a day or two and check everybody who linked up and drop a comment on each other’s posts… it makes it more fun. I’ll be making my rounds at the end of the weekend! Oh. and don’t forget to come back tomorrow (Oct. 1) to see the theme for October!

1. Cameron

There’s a good bet I’ll always find a way to get him into my photo blogging challenge, if I can make it fit the theme. And here is is… again!

 2. Nicole

On the opposite end of things, my niece is a senior in high school and in her final soccer season at her school. This was done during her senior night.

 3. Baseball

I had a great Summer of Baseball (still catching up on all those posts), bit hit one last game. I went by myself on a crisp night to watch Game 3 of the New York-Penn League championship.

4. Biff!

On my birthday, I went to a 2CW card and Biff Busick was there. He’s an excellent entertainer and I’ve enjoyed his work. Biff Rules!

5. Quiet spot

Went geocaching at the end of the month and one was in a cemetery. This one was sitting away from many other spots, in a peaceful area.

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, Wednesday, Oct. 1 and see the theme for October! 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!

I can’t believe the summer is gone.

OK, I know technically, it’s not. But when August ends … it starts feeling like it as there are colleges back in session, kids go back to school and everything else as, at least in the Northeast, everything seems to shift to fall mode.

But it was a good summer, albeit a fast one.

I had my Summer of Baseball Tour (which I’ll have in blog posts for the next month!), as well as softball and work and … yeah. I even, for the first time in months, got a round of disc golf in. Add all that up, however, and the summer months zipped by. It was a fun one and one I’ll remember … but, all good things come to an end.

So we move on with photos.

Now, here we are in September and the Photo Blogging Challenge chugs along. I hope you’ll get involved with us this month … and tell your other blogging friends as we’d love to see it grow!

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: Black and White.

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 Tuesday, September 30. 

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):

• March 2013: My World
• April 2013: Transportation
• May 2013: Night
• June 2013: Bridges
• July 2013: Signs
• August 2013: Summer 
• September 2013: Outdoors
• October 2013: Fall
• November 2013: People
• December 2013: Festive
• January 2014: New
• February 2014: Red
• March 2014: One
• April 2014: Smile
• May 2014: Fun
• June 2014: Vehicles
• July 2014: Baseball
• August 2014: Colorful
• September 2014: Black and White
• October 2014: TBA
• November 2014: TBA
• December 2014: TBA

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