September 2022

Make it a September to Remember

As photographers we embrace all of the months of the year, but September always feels a bit more special. Perhaps it has something to do with the equinox and the change of seasons but for whatever reason, September always seems to rejuvenate the soul. Whether you are in the northern hemisphere or down under, the ninth month just seems exceptional.

How do you incorporate the uniqueness of September into your photographs? Just think of the things unique to the month and how they could fit into your artistic compositions:

September is spelled with the most letters of any month.
It has nine letters and it is the ninth month and no other month has the same number of letters as their number in the calendar year....mind blowing!
In the northern hemisphere the first day of fall is on September 22/23. This is when the daylight hours shrink to be equal to the nighttime hours, or in the southern hemisphere it's the first day of spring and the daylight hours grow to match nighttime hours.
The word September is mentioned in the title of pop and classical songs more often than any other month.
Famous people born in September include Bruce Springsteen, Confucius, Queen Elizabeth, Queen's Freddie Mercury and Sophia Loren.
The birthstone for September is the sapphire.

September marks our ninth month of taking a picture a day! That means we are 75% of the way to taking a picture a day for one full year. That is a remarkable achievement for which we should be very proud. We have watched our photography grow and witnessed the growth in our fellow 365'ers artistic and technical skills. Let's show off what we have achieved and make it a September to Remember.

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Each month is broken into 4 weekly themes: Picture You, Picture More, Picture Color and Picture Style. These are meant to fuel your imagination, keep you engaged, and challenge your creativity. They give you the opportunity to see the same things in different ways.

PICTURE YOU

Possibly the biggest challenge, but it allows you to chronicle your life and to be included in photos for loved ones who want to have photos of you, even if you don’t like how you look that day. You don’t HAVE to be in the picture every day, but we would love to see you.

During Picture You week you will notice some sub-challenges:

Sunday Selfie
Sunday of Picture You week you’re encouraged to take a selfie, nothing fancy, just your wonderful face.

Picture My Hands
What are you doing today? Show us what you’re doing or holding from your point of view and be sure to include your hands.

Picture the Alphabet
Have you seen the letter “E” in a fence or “O” in a ferris wheel? Find letters in your world, or, if you can’t find them, make them even with just a piece of paper and a marker. Let the letter stand out! You will see two letters for the prompt. We want two photos in a collage for your daily photo. By the end of the year you will have 26 letter photos to make words.

Picture My World
This is a quarterly challenge. We are hoping you can return to the same spot 4 times on these days to document the changing seasons in your world or in your life.

PICTURE MORE

Let’s get technical! This will challenge your creativity with a technical agenda. In these weeks of your year you will look at repetition, triangles, diagonals, textures, centred photos (to name a few!). Don’t be shy to ask for clarification, camera settings or any tips and tricks. We aren’t magicians here, we share our secrets!

PICTURE COLOR

We will focus on a specific color chosen by the Creative Team for these weeks. You can include a little of the color, go completely monochrome or anything in between. You will likely find that this is one of your favourite weeks.

PICTURE STYLE

Landscape, food, golden hour, still life, street, minimalist are just some of the styles you will be encouraged to play around with to try out something new. Some of these might be a little out of your comfort zone. Our hope is that by the end of the week you may have discovered something you love. You might find style in your original photo or add some style in post-processing.

EXTRA CHALLENGES

Along the way you’ll notice a few added monthly challenges sprinkled in to give you extra inspiration.

Macro Monday
For this prompt we encourage you to get in close. Grab your macro lens, macro filters or just crop your photo in post-processing. This is where we can focus on the little details.

Scavenger Hunt
A quarterly challenge where instead of one prompt, you have 9. Take the 9 photos and make a collage. If a scavenger hunt is a bit beyond you that day, see if you can challenge yourself to fit 3 prompts in three different photos, or all nine in one. Make it work for you and your day.

Picture Recreate
In this challenge, all we want you to do is recreate an existing photo, whether that’s a Pinterest photo you’ve been wanting to try, a photo from a fellow 365er you loved, or a photo of you and your siblings in the bathtub when you were 5. As always, you can be as creative or literal as you want.