For the month of August we will be focusing on taking pictures at specific times of the day. This forces us to stretch our creative muscles and experiment with light we may not normally use. There are no rules other than taking a picture during that specified hour of the day, any genre, any style, any subject, any location, the choice is completely in the hands of the participants.

We started with the 8 a.m. hour, which was received by a lot of grumbling for having to wake up early. Despite these protests, though, everyone managed to create such beautiful images. Take a look at a small sampling of week 32.

xo Angie

We ended our genre sampling month with macro. For some of us, this was a stretch, not having a macro lens and making do with creative techniques such as reverse freelensing or whatever lens we had available. For others, this was their sweet spot.

No matter where the participants landed with this genre, you definitely can't tell because everyone brought their A game!

As everyone was sharing their end-of-the-month collages and reflecting back on the themes, it was nice to hear the feedback that despite their initial hesitation heading into the genre sampling month, they surprised themselves - either by falling in love with a new genre or how they were able to create something they wouldn't have otherwise without the push. If we aren't pushing ourselves, we aren't allowing room for growth.

Before we head into a new month of themes, let's first take a look at the beauties from week 31.

xo Angie

Next up in our month of genre sampling was portraits. Portraits seem like an easy week since isn't that how we all start out in photography - taking pictures of people? Our p52 group is so diverse, though, that a big percentage of us never point our camera at people, instead preferring nature as our subjects. You'll see some kept this theme going and opted to use animals as subjects instead.

Since we are only focusing on the genre for a single week this year, we didn't dive deep into portraits, allowing the participant to choose which style of portraiture they wanted to focus on instead. You'll see a range from traditional to environmental to conceptual and even veering into the scary waters of (gasp) self portraits.

Which style of portraiture is your favorite? Which one do you struggle with the most?

Enjoy the variety of portraits from week 30!

xo Angie

We continued our month of genre sampling last week with the theme of street photography. Some of us questioned the ethical aspect of taking someone's picture without their consent while others wondered if people needed to be included for it to be considered street photography. Since this is just a taste of new genres, we don't get overly technical - although I highly recommend studying the genre in more detail if it's something you're interested in pursuing further.

See for yourself how the participants did tackling a genre they are unfamiliar with. Going out of our comfort zones is so important in growing and developing our own personal style. Plus, you might just discover your next great photography love.

xo Angie

The month of July in our p52 is all about sampling different photography genres. Last week we focused on still life. The general consensus was a mix of dread and apprehension mixed in with questions on whether a particular image qualified as still life.

As always, the participants blew me away! They may have been wary to start, but it definitely doesn't show in the results. Here are a handful of examples of the stunning work they created for week 28 of our project.

xo Angie