Weekly photo challenge ideas

What makes a weekly challenge stick?

Three things: a theme that fits in one sentence, a number of pictures you can keep up with, and a moment when you see the result. Most challenges fail on the last one. People shoot all week and never look at the pile.

Pick a day, put it in the calendar and treat it as an appointment. The sheet is the reward.

Twelve themes to start with

• Light: where does the best light fall in your home or on your commute?
• Hands: what do your hands or other people's hands do during the week?
• Blue: only things that are blue.
• Corners: the corner of a room, a street or a table.
• Food, but only the second bite or the empty plate.
• Reflections: windows, puddles, spoons, screens.
• Signs: written things you pass.
• Small and far: one close detail and one distant view each day.
• Shadows: whatever the sun draws on a wall or a sidewalk.
• People you love, shot from behind.
• Everything on the same route, shot at the same spot each day.
• Free week: no theme, just what catches your eye.

How does a Proofsheet week roll work?

A week roll holds 24 frames and develops on the day you pick. You choose a film look and a day when you load it, then shoot through the week. On that day the app sends a local notification, you open the darkroom, rock the phone and the sheet comes up. It is free, and it is part of the week roll feature.

The sheet has day markers from Monday to Sunday, so you can see which days you shot and which you skipped. Proofsheet is not on the App Store yet.

What should a Sunday review look like?

1. Open the sheet and look at the whole page once, without stopping.
2. Circle the three frames you like best with Grease pencil.
3. Cross out any that miss, and leave the rest.
4. Share the sheet as 9:16 for a story or keep it in the Binder.
5. Load the next roll and choose a new theme.

What if I forget to shoot?

Then the roll develops with whatever you shot, and the unshot frames are lost. That sounds harsh, but it is also the point: the week has a shape and a limit. An optional mid-week nudge can remind you if nothing has been shot since Monday. It is off by default and can be switched on in notification settings.

Can a challenge be shared?

Yes. For a group, use a crew roll with one theme and one develop time, for example a Friday night, and have everyone send frames to the host. A weekly challenge with friends works best when the theme is announced in one message with the develop time in the first line. See crew rolls for how frames are collected.

How do I keep it going for a month?

Change the theme each week but keep the day. Keep the same film look for the whole month so the sheets sit next to each other like a set. Look back at the Binder on the last Sunday of the month and compare the four sheets. The frames you circle early often look different from the ones you circle later, and that gap is the most interesting thing the exercise tells you.

What are examples of a theme in practice?

Take the theme Corners. On Monday you might shoot where two walls meet in your hallway, then the corner of a street, a table corner with a cup on it, a folded corner of a page. By Wednesday you start noticing corners in places you passed for years.

The theme works because it trains your eye in one direction for seven days. By the end of the week you see differently, and that is the real result. The sheet is a record of the change.

How do I avoid giving up in the second week?

• Put the camera tab on the first screen of your phone.
• Shoot one frame in the morning, every morning, before the day gets busy.
• Tell one friend your theme and the day you will share the sheet.
• Lower the bar. A weak frame still counts, because the roll is a record.
• Treat a missed day as part of the sheet, not as failure.

A small checklist for your first week

• Pick a theme and write it on a note.
• Load a 24-frame week roll and choose Sunday evening as the day.
• Plan a few frames for the weekend.
• Share the sheet on Sunday and start again on Monday.