As a new activity for the year, we had a “portfolio challenge.” The challenge was to get out and shoot every month of the year from January through December. We could shoot anything we wanted, but to have a complete portfolio we had to have one image from every month. While that might not sound like much of a challenge, there are months (like November – February) where I might not shoot at all if I’m not traveling somewhere or, if I do shoot, I might not get anything very good. Since there were “prizes” (certificates and recognition) for the best portfolios, I really made an effort to get something I thought was reasonably good for each month.
To complicate things further, there were also awards for the most diverse portfolio, the best single image, the most creative or unique image, and the most entertaining image.
I actually made a spreadsheet to make sure I was choosing not only good images, but a diverse selection. Even with that, picking what to enter each month was almost as challenging as taking the pictures in the first place!
After I had gone to so much trouble to try to pick my best images from each month (even to the point of going out specifically to shoot more images when I didn’t have anything I liked in December), I was surprised how many people submitted casual shots of their family and pets. Maybe I’m a little too competitive. . .
But my effort paid off, as I had the second place portfolio. (Although it probably was the third-place portfolio since the guy running the challenge exempted his own amazing portfolio from the competition. I suspect he would have scored higher than me.)
I also won the “most entertaining” award for my picture of the two moose.