Back for 2019: Pictacule Themes

"#pictacule_themes" was an Instagram experiment of mine from January 2017, in which I endeavoured to post photographs complying with various themes, as a kind of ongoing challenge. It more or less fizzled out in May 2017, due to my running out of actual themes to use. To revive this challenge at the beginning of a new year I've come up with some rather more solid requirements, which I hope will lessen the likelihood of the whole thing ending prematurely. First, I have a list of 36 themes to cover the whole of 2019, on the basis of three themes per month (see below).

Second, I'm making it a rule that all photographs must be shot during the current month, with at least three posted per week. Each of the three themes per month must yield at least three photographs.

Third, in the interests of self-motivation I'm making the requirements public (that's what this blogpost is for). Of course making the requirements public means anyone else can join in if they wish, and if they do so using the hashtags listed below it will be a simple matter to follow all participation.

The themes fall into several categories, such as particular subjects, particular styles of photography, or particular techniques or approaches to making photographs. In general I've tried to mix these up for each month, to give me (and any other participants) greater scope in the photographs produced in any one month. It's highly possible that some photographs will fit more than one of the three themes for any one month, but I'm making it a rule that any such multi-theme photographs should be in addition to the minimum three photographs per week.

The Themes:

 January

• #frame
• #action
• #depth_of_field

February

• #seascape
• #monochrome
• #rule_of_thirds

March

• #silhouette
• #perspective
• #still_life

April

• #portrait
• #reflect
• #layers

May

• #macro
• #interior
• #minimal

June

• #contrast
• #text
• #low_key

July

• #close_up
• #engineering
• #negative_space

August

• #defocussed
• #wet
• #viewpoint

September

• #high_key
• #motion
• #implied_line

October

• #shadow
• #long_exposure
• #leading_line

November

• #pano
• #street_portrait
• #symmetry

December

• #pattern
• #selfie
• #story

In addition to the individual theme hashtags listed above, posts will also be identified with the #pictacule_themes hashtag, to allow all posts to be easily found. A fairly broad interpretation of each theme is likely, even desirable — after all, this whole exercise is intended as a series of inspiration triggers.

On completion at the end of December 2019, depending on the results, I'd like to make something more permanent than a series of Instagram posts. A photo-book seems most appropriate right now, which would likely contain upwards of 150 photographs.

Here are some example images from 2017:

(A brief recap for anyone who wants to participate: each week post at least three photographs on your Instagram feed, with each photograph complying in some way with one of the three themes for the current month as listed above. Each post should contain the hashtag for the theme, plus the hashtag #pictacule_themes. In any one month post at least three photographs for each theme. That's it.)