JPG: Open Themes

Spell It Out (In Issue 34)

Make a photograph of your least favorite word. When we say "make," we mean: spell it out of ribbon, make it out of food, art direct your pets or friends into the shapes, etc. Bonus points for completely surprising us with your method, or for having a really funny least favorite word.

Starry Nights (In Issue 34)

Find the least light-polluted spot that you can and shoot the starry night. Make sure to include some celestial bodies like the moon and stars.

Ripple Effect (In Issue 34)

The combination of water and light in photographs can oftentimes produce fantastic and jaw-dropping results. So show us your best image of a ripple effect, and let everyone enjoy the magic of this seemingly mundane combination!

Photo Challenge: An EDM Uprising

Skrillex by Bree Kristel Clarke The bass has dropped! This photo challenge is all about the "Electric Youth" and their choice of music....E.D.M(Electronic Dance Music). With EDC(Electric Daisy Carnival) happening during the weekend of June 21, 2013 in Las Vegas and many DJ's spinning across the world in various hot night clubs; it seems the perfect time to get a piece of the action with some great shots! So get your camera ready and your dance shoes on....we want to see the beautiful lights, DJ's spinning and some hands in the air! Closes June 30, 2013

Photo Challenge: Breath of Mountain Air

Crater Lake 12 by Ashley Smith As temperatures rise we can try and escape the city madness by driving to the nearest mountain range. Hiking as high as possible, the mountain air is cool, the flowers have bloomed and the air is clean! For this challenge, lace up your boots and try to get to the top! Closes June 23, 2013

Photo Challenge: Moments Caught

Reunion by Rami Daud For this challenge it is all about "The Moment." A moment of surprise, sadness, the look on someones face at a reunion, all human reactions caught to cherish forever. Closes June 16, 2013

Crowd Mechanics

The Crowd by Darlene Bouchard From the Saturday morning market to the crowded streets of Tokyo -- finding and taking photographs while amongst a large number of people can be extremely difficult. Have you ever said to yourself, "that would be an awesome photo if all those people weren't in it". Here is your chance. Give us your photos that show your crowd.

Azure

az-ure [azh-her] The blue of a clear or unclouded sky. We're working our way around the color wheel featuring photos representing all the colors of the rainbow. For this theme we bring you the color blue. Have fun finding and photographing everything BLUE!

Life In Black and White

I Forgot To Remember To Forget by Camil Seisanu Imagine life in monochrome. There was once a time when black and white photography was the only medium possible. While technology allows today's cameras to take amazing color photos, photographers still treasure the powerful and dramatic effects that black and white photography has to offer. For this theme boast your favorite B&W photo.

Balloon Time

They appear at celebrations, games, even air shows. Kids love 'em, your camera loves 'em even more! You're invited to show us your balloon images!

Community Critique

Do you have a photograph that you want feedback on? Enter it here! Understanding what others think of your work can help you grow as a photographer, so this is a space for people to receive or give constructive criticism. ***Please note: this is meant to be a safe place to give and receive feedback, so please be polite! You may like something or you may not, but you must to be respectful when commenting.

My Favorite Mistake

It’s happened to the best of us: you fire your shutter a millisecond too late, you accidentally hit a button that throws your settings off, or something just goes terribly wrong. But most of us have discovered that these mistakes can also be happy accidents that end up giving you a great image. For this theme show us your favorite image that you initially considered to be a ‘mistake.’

From the Pit

Whether you grabbed a great shot from the crowd or scored a VIP pass, share with JPG the best photo you created at a concert! We want to see the cutting edge musicians of today, whether their songs are overplayed on the radio or they’re still basically unknown. Next time you head out to see your favorite band, bring your camera along! This will be a recurring theme in future issues of JPG Magazine! Please make sure to include with your photograph who you were rocking out to, where you were, and when it was!

Consumerism

As the current recession approaches the holiday season, many people are reconsidering their spending habits. This time of year is also a strong indicator of the economy and consumer confidence. For this theme capture what consumerism is today, and its affects on our culture and lives.

In Uniform

Institutional clothing is all around us... and much of it has become iconic. The school girl, the soldier, the fast food worker, and the flight attendant each wear a distinctive uniform. For this theme, take a unique photograph of a person in uniform.

Create-A-Filter

Get ready JPG - for this theme we are taking you out of your photographic comfort zone!For decades, photographers have altered the light, color, and focus of their photographs by building filters out of different combinations of materials. These days there are so many amazing filter effects in Photoshop that it's easy to forget that we can create innovative new effects ourselves.How, you ask? Take the space between the subject and your camera lens, and make it your own! Do it with a homemade filter! Plastic, films, fabric, gels, nylon stockings, dried milk... there is a world of possible effects you can bring to your image. You can even use floppy disk or slide film to make infrared or color filters. So brainstorm, create a filter, snap some photographs, and submit your favorite filtered shot to this theme! Make sure to write a caption about what you used to build your filter. If you make a number of filters or want to show the effect of a particular filter with a before-and-after sequence, then consider writing a how-to story. Please, please, please no store bought filters for this theme! We're excited to see what you come up without the help of Photoshop or the fancy accessories you can purchase at a camera store!

Cinema Tribute

What is a movie or television show, but a series of photographs? Think of your favorite cinematic moment. It can't be hard; it likely plays over and over in your head, engrained like a love affair on your memory. This challenge exists to re-capture the famous scenes from film. We are looking for the best shout-outs to classic or contemporary cinema. Once you upload your photo, be sure the film reference is made clear by the title or description. Time to submit. "You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

Member-inspired: Shoot Your Pet!

Though pictures of puppy dogs, kitty cats and sunsets tend to overwhelm most social photo sites, we still wanted to give our members an opportunity to submit the most intriguing photos of their beloved pets. So be creative! And show us a fun image of your furry, scaly or feathery best friend.

Day 1/365

We all know photography is an excellent method of documentation. So, imagine documenting a full year of self-portraits -- your year -- in photos. Inspired by Stephen Poff's 365 project, we wanted to have a place for people to share a photo diary of their year in self-portraits. Take a photo each day (or take more, but select your daily favorite), number it (example: 23/365), and add it to your photo stream. The result? A collection of images fully representative of your life. Submit your favorite to this theme, with its accompanying number in the title, and share your year's journey with other JPG members!

Feature: The Ones We Love

Here at JPG, we've come across an amazing photography project called The Ones We Love. For this project, the wonderful Lindley Warren asked photographers to share six photographs of the person most important to them in a natural or outdoor setting. The photos, combined with text describing the person, is so beautiful and inspirational. There were a few JPG members amongst the group, and more of the photographers from that site have started sharing their stories here on JPG. We want to see your take too! For this feature, write a story describing your loved one and include six photos of them. Then, submit one of your favorites from the six to The Ones We Love theme.

Feature: Gadgets Galore

We know all you techie-obsessed photographers are out there. Those of you who shrieked with glee over the GPS enabled bicycle cameras. And cried out over the new Canon 5D Mark II, the highly anticipated camera that shoots HD video. And were awestruck over the Eye-Fi, that amazing memory card that uploads pictures from inside your camera when you're in a Wi-Fi zone. There are loads of new shiny gizmos out there and we want to hear all about them! We prefer the latest in camera technology, but we want to know about any gadgets that are knocking your socks off! For this theme, descriptions are required and we'd love for you to include a short review. If you have a longer review or example photos, please write a My Precious article.

House

For some people, a house is a place to throw their bags. For others, it can be an extension of themselves. Capture a home close to your heart - be it a cabin, apartment, chateau, yurt.... Show us the architectural elements of a special domicile and share what makes the lodgings unique. Both interior and exterior shots are welcome.

Title Me!

Theme suggested by Rob Roy and Joven Delacruz. We all know not to judge a book by its cover, or in JPG world, to judge a photo by its title. However, a title really can say a great deal; in fact, it's the best way to convey what you want your photograph to say. For this theme, we want you JPGers to work together to come up with the best titles for your photos. Here's how it works: upload an untitled photo to the theme. Look through other photos, and suggest what you think would be the perfect title in the comments section. After a week when the theme closes, go through your comments, pick your favorite title, and edit your photo description, adding your shiny new title. We'll pick our favorite image-title combination. Get creative, get collaborative, and get your title-making skills on. This was originally a one week photo challenge that closed on September 4, 2008, but we had so much fun with it that we've reopened it as a theme.

Book Report

We know when you're perusing your friend's book collection or leafing through magazines at the doctor's office you flip straight to the photo sections. And we know you have favorite visually-compelling books in your own libraries. So we want you to hit up your bookshelves and find a book that pleases your photography-loving mind that you think the JPG community should know about! We'd like you to set up a tripod and photograph yourself with a book, likely one that's photography-related, that would be of interest to the JPG community. Then post and add a review--what makes it special? We'll be selecting reviews/images for the next issue! **Note, to submit to this theme, the photo must have a description with your review of the book, and you must also be visible in the frame of the photograph.**

Items We Carry

Photograph the items you carry with you every day - the essentials without which you'd be helpless. So, that means JUST the items in your pockets or purses (no bags otherwise!) shot from above, as specified by Naz Hamid, creator of the Flickr group The Items We Carry. We'll be including this recurring theme in future issues of JPG Magazine. The Items We Carry v2 by Naz Hamid This theme is a continuation of a great photo challenge that ran the week of July 30, 2008. Judged by Naz himself, we saw some amazing photos of JPGers' pockets and purses. Visit the Items We Carry downloads page to see the selections from the photo challenge.

Paradise

Paradise, while centered on one idea, means so many things. It is always bliss, nirvana, perfection. But its realization is different for everyone. Show us your version of euphoria. An ideal day, a secret getaway, a moment with loved ones, a favorite pastime.

Spiral

It's always great seeing creative interpretations of simple concepts. That's why our latest Photo Challenge is Spiral. We're hoping you can hypnotize us with your captured pinwheels, mac & cheese, peppermints, winding staircases; the list just spins into oblivion...

Inspired by a JPG Member

We've noticed a lot of folks shooting images in tribute to another image that they have seen on the site. Have you been inspired by a fellow JPGer's image and shot something similar? Maybe you want to shoot a tribute to one of your friends, or even a complete stranger, because he impressed you so much that you want to give him recognition. Don't forget to add a link to the image that you were inspired by, either in the description or by using the "Add A Link" button in the comments field.

JPG Events and Meet-Ups

Share your photos of meet-ups, events, gallery shows, and other photography-related events that involve JPG members. We'll run this theme in every issue, so don't forget to include a good description if you'd like to be featured! Please note that this theme isn't for recent photos you've taken, but instead just for those great shots that show photo events and occasions! If it's not clear from the photo, please include a description of the event to make sure we don't remove your photo by mistake.

Creatures

Lean towards the exotic in giving us your best shot of creatures.

Prank

Happy April! Seen some great gags? Whether you were the fool, the fooler, or just a bystander, put your best practical joke photo here.

House Hunting

Shoot the exterior of the most interesting house in your neighborhood—one you wish you could live in, or have always admired. Tell us in the description what city and area you are in.

Favorite Outfit

Photograph a good friend or family member in his or her favorite outfit. A few instructions: Make sure the friend is the only person in the photo. Take a new photo—we're not looking for prom or wedding shots. Be unique. Choose a distinctive friend, someone of another culture, a child, an older person, etc.

Shoot a Celebration

At this exciting time of year, many of us are celebrating. Either dig into your photo archives or shoot a new image of a group of people celebrating. We'd love to see a wide array of cultures and celebration types in this challenge theme.

Fanatic

Snake charmers, quilters, Civil War re-enactors, sports fans, motorcycle gangs; you name it, everyone has a thing. It is the unusual obsessions and subcultures that make us all unique. Photos for this theme don't necessarily have to be of a thing you are into, in-fact all-the-better if you go out and acquaint yourself with a new subculture. This theme will be about words and photos so in order to be published each photo will need a description of who this person is and what their obsession is.

Rearview

An old photojournalist trick is to find the thing that everyone else is looking at and then turn around and shoot the opposite direction. There is generally much more information and context in that shot than in whatever everyone is looking at. For this theme go find a crowd or a picturesque spot and turn around and shoot the opposite direction. Make sure to add where you took this shot and what it is in your description.

WTF

Every so often you come across something so weird that you just can't describe it in words. We'll be featuring a WTF image in every issue!

Where I'm At

No one knows the place you're from better than you: the nuances, the beauty, the secrets, the people. Give us your photos and stories that tell us about where you live.

Danger

Danger wet surface! Danger steep decline! Danger hot coffee! The world sometimes seems like a dangerous place. Post a photo that captures life in these dangerous times.

Geometry

Don't worry--geometry doesn't have to mean math. It can mean minimalism, repetition, color; plants, architecture, even people. Focus on composition in your shots of shapes.

9 to 5

Our lives are defined by what we do between 9 and 5 (or whenever you happen to work) so this theme is dedicated to workers and workplaces. Submit your favorite photo of someone on the job. Be sure to include their name and profession in the description. Photos in this theme must include a person at work and their job title!

Seven

The number seven is often thought to be lucky. Will it be for you? Take a photograph that captures the number seven: seven objects in the frame, the number seven on a vintage sign, whatever creative way you can come up with to show this lucky number.

Nice to Meet You

Go meet someone you don't know and ask to take their photo. Be prepared: Have a shot in mind. Their first question will probably be "why?" Be sure to have a good answer. Ask them to tell you a little bit about themselves. Tape record their answer or write it down. To complete this challenge, post the photo, the person's first name, and a sentence or two quote from them about who they are. Remember, this person should be a stranger to you! Use this challenge as an excuse to introduce yourself to that nice guy or girl at the local coffee shop.

Tourist

This theme is about being away, out of your element, and possibly a little homesick. Everything is welcome: from vacation snaps, to hardcore travel photography, to photos that communicate something about what it's like to boldly go where you've never been before. Please note: Don't take JPG Themes too literally! Just because the theme is called "Tourist" doesn't mean the photo has to contain, or be taken by, a tourist. We're looking for interpretations of the theme. What does the word "tourist" evoke in you?