A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

blogging challenge

Photo Blogging Challenge: August 2013’s theme is…

OK, despite a small snafu, another month is in the books.

And another month is coming at you!

First, a job well done to those who participated last month. For those who did and haven’t posted, you still have some time to do so! So go get it done!

I have liked how people have interpreted the themes so far, too. It’s nice to see some outside-the-box thinking. I need to do that a bit more, too.

Finally, I apologize for not sending last month’s reminder. With work, battling a nasty cold and the end of softball season… well, it slipped my mind. Hopefully I remember this month.

If you know some people who might enjoy doing this, please pass it along!

As a reminder of a few things, let me copy and paste this from last month:

  • I have an e-mail reminder list set up. Basically, I’ll e-mail the group with about 10 days left in the month to remind you. When I remember, I’ll also shoot one out the day before the end of the month, as a reminder to post the following day. I can’t always guarantee that one though! If you are not on the list, let me know in the comments below that you would like to be on it.
  • Second, I set up a Facebook group for those who are interested. Reminders and maybe some discussions or other things can be done there.
  • If you haven’t already, attempt to check out everybody’s posts and consider commenting. These challenges are great for personal growth, but it’s also nice to be interactive with all the others in the challenge!

If you have done Julys post but haven’t linked up yet, it’s up for another day or so.

Before we hit up this month’s theme, for new people, allow me to refresh the rules a bit.

Here’s how it will work.

  • On the first of each month, I’ll have a blog post here with the theme for the month.
  • Over the course of the month, participants will take photos with their interpretation of the theme. On the last day of the month, participants should  publish their blog post, which will include five photos from the month. (please don’t recycle photos from the past … the idea is to hopefully challenge you to go out and take new photos each month to interpret the theme). And please only use photos you took.
  • I’ll have a link-up thing at the end of my post so people can come and post the links to their posts so, hopefully, everybody can go go check out and comment on other posts.

There is no rule on equipment or anything. Use a cell phone. Use film. Use a point-and-shoot. Use a DSLR. It doesn’t matter. Just make sure you publish your blog post on the last day of each month, come here and link up.

It’s simple!

Your blog posts can be as simple or as in-depth as you want. I’ll likely talk a little about each photo. But if all you want to do is post photos, feel free. The idea of this is to give a small challenge and give everybody a chance to express themselves with photography, participate in a challenge and have something to blog about.

That’s it. Easy, right? So join in! Help us continue to grow this challenge by telling fellow bloggers/photographers about the challenge and hopefully it can become a great monthly thing!

For those still with me, this month’s theme is: Summer.

I’m pretty sure most people who have participated are in the summer months — and if you’re not, well, insert your season here!

Please make sure your blog post publishes Friday, August 30 (Yes, I know there are 31 days in August… but Saturdays on my blog are booked and I’d rather have these post on a Friday than a Sunday!)

If you think you are going to take part in this, drop a comment below so we can see who all might be trying to tackle this challenge!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Photo Blogging Challenge (July 2013): Signs

Yes, I give myself a fail.

Big time.

See, I was cruising along this month decently. Then some crap happened. What, you may ask?

  • My main walk around lens (17-40) is still shot. I can’t afford to have it fixed… yet. That greatly hampered things. Still, I have an iPhone and a point and shoot and other lenses…
  • The last week or so, I’ve been sick as can be. That’s made things quite awful as I’ve barely been near a computer.

So, here I am now. A day late and trying to catch up to make this a wonderful experience, still. And it will be. Oh yes, it will be.

Anyway, this month’s fantastic theme was signs. This could be interpreted in many ways, but as a fan of actual signs, I went forth with the plan where I’d be using those…

… and of course I can’t find a couple shots I took.

No worries. On a weekend trip to Massachusetts for a geocaching event, I got some interesting signs. It seems, however, that I was mixing last month’s theme (bridges) with this month’s theme as I visited eight covered bridges on this trip and they often have some really interesting signs.

So, without anymore blabbing… here’s my five for July.

1. Uneven Deck

I loved this sign as I’d never seen it before. I had it without the bridge, but thought the bridge gave it a bit better context. In Vermont.

Uneven deck.

2. Notice

The funny part about this sign is, of the four New York covered bridges we saw that day, three of them had people jumping off them. Look for a future blog post covering this.

Notice

3. Parking area

This sign is at a local pulloff parking area. I love the age and weathered look.

Parking rules.

4. Welcome!

On our way to the big geocaching event… this is Tavis as we found a cache entering Vermont.

Green Mountain State!

5. Anglers

You can park here… but where to fish?

Park here.

And that’s my five for the month of July. I hope you enjoyed the series.

If you took part this month, make sure you link up below. And for those who participated, make sure you try and get to other people’s blogs and comment and visit so we can continue to grow this challenge.

Don’t forget, too, to come back Friday and see the theme for August!

NOTE: I also set up a Facebook group for those who participate in the challenge and are interested. I’ll post any announcements there and hopefully it can be a place where things are discussed and some interaction etc. You can access it here.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Photo Blogging Challenge (July 2013): Announcement

Hey all.

If you’ve already done and posted your post for this month, awesome. If not, no worries.

I’m postponing the posting for one day. The deadline is now August 1, instead of July 31. I’m doing it only because I’ve been battling a bad summer cold and haven’t had the time to process everything and get the linky all set up.

I’ll have it done in time for Aug. 1, though.

Please accept my apologies for the delay and look for the linky early in the AM on August 1.

Thanks and I look forward to seeing everybody’s photos!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Photo Blogging Challenge: July 2013’s theme is…

For those who have been participating in this challenge, I hope you’ve liked it so far. I thought last month would be an easier theme, but it seems there were some liberties taken…

That being said, it’s nice to see the challenge getting some traction. I’d like to see if we could get 20 participants this month, so tell fellow bloggers and let’s see if we can get it to grow a little!

As a reminder of a few things, let me copy and paste this from last month:

  • I have an e-mail reminder list set up. Basically, I’ll e-mail the group with about 10 days left in the month to remind you. When I remember, I’ll also shoot one out the day before the end of the month, as a reminder to post the following day. I can’t always guarantee that one though! If you are not on the list, let me know in the comments below that you would like to be on it.
  • Second, I set up a Facebook group for those who are interested. Reminders and maybe some discussions or other things can be done there.
  • If you haven’t already, attempt to check out everybody’s posts and consider commenting. These challenges are great for personal growth, but it’s also nice to be interactive with all the others in the challenge!

If you have done June’s post but haven’t linked up yet, it’s up for another day or so.

Before we hit up this month’s theme, for new people, allow me to refresh the rules a bit.

Here’s how it will work.

  • On the first of each month, I’ll have a blog post here with the theme for the month.
  • Over the course of the month, participants will take photos with their interpretation of the theme. On the last day of the month, participants should  publish their blog post, which will include five photos from the month. (please don’t recycle photos from the past … the idea is to hopefully challenge you to go out and take new photos each month to interpret the theme). And please only use photos you took.
  • I’ll have a link-up thing at the end of my post so people can come and post the links to their posts so, hopefully, everybody can go go check out and comment on other posts.

There is no rule on equipment or anything. Use a cell phone. Use film. Use a point-and-shoot. Use a DSLR. It doesn’t matter. Just make sure you publish your blog post on the last day of each month, come here and link up.

It’s simple!

Your blog posts can be as simple or as in-depth as you want. I’ll likely talk a little about each photo. But if all you want to do is post photos, feel free. The idea of this is to give a small challenge and give everybody a chance to express themselves with photography, participate in a challenge and have something to blog about.

That’s it. Easy, right? So join in! Help us continue to grow this challenge by telling fellow bloggers/photographers about the challenge and hopefully it can become a great monthly thing!

For those still with me, this month’s theme is: Signs.

This could be fun as it could be a literal interpretation or something completely different. Have fun with it and I hope this turns out to be a fun theme!

Please make sure your blog post publishes Wednesday, July 31.

If you think you are going to take part in this, drop a comment below so we can see who all might be trying to tackle this challenge!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Photo Blogging Challenge (June 2013): Bridges

OK, so being the procrastinator, I waited until the end of the month to actually take my photos. That being said, I knew from the beginning what I was going to do … I just needed to decide how to do it.

A quick side note — when I finally got to doing this, something is wrong with my 17-40 mm lens. It won’t focus — even manually. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do this with a zoom lens, so I decided to get a bit artsy and use my Diana lens for all of these shots, which is why you’ll see that “dreamy” look to all of them — the older, plastic lens sort of idea. I like how they came out, too, so it made this even more fun.

Anyway, back to scheduled programming…

I’m a covered bridge nut.

For those of you who don’t live around or haven’t seen covered bridges, I feel for you. After all, these are some amazing structures. If you get the chance to see them one day — especially older historical ones — they are worth checking out and exploring a little.

I am lucky enough to have several in my area, all of which are historical. There are three within 30 minutes of me, with a fourth about 60 minutes or so. There are more than 20 historical covered bridges in New York, but I’m not sure of the exact number at this time. A couple of years ago, there were 24, but when Irene came through, it took out at least Blenheim, and there’s a chance one other was taken, too. That one is on private property, however, so I’m not sure.

These bridges are a throwback to yesteryear. The basis behind the covered bridges is they lasted longer because the roof protects the wooden bridge. There’s an old tale that it also helped farmers as having cows cross bridges with tops was easier. I’ve not seen that printed too much, so that might just be something that used to be said.

Anyway, these bridges are pretty amazing. The way they are built and how they stand are pretty amazing.

What I decided to do was deal with just one of the local bridges and take images from different angles, in and out. This is Fitch’s Bridge, which spans the West Branch of the Delaware River on the outskirts of Delhi. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999, the bridge was built in 1870 and moved to its current location in 1885. In 2001, the bridge received a massive restoration and it still stands strong today.

Without further adieu, here are my five photos for June.

1. One Lane Bridge

I love this view of Fitch’s Bridge, though it’s better other times of the year. I took one during the winter a few years ago and it’s still one of my favorite images of this bridge.

One lane.

2. Five Dollars Fine

I love these old signs on the covered bridges. And I always like trying to catch when people walk through the bridge as the silhouette is a cool piece to a photo like this.

Five Dollar Fine.

3. Looking upstream 

This is a view through one of the windows on Fitch’s Bridge, looking up the West Branch of the Delaware River.

Fantastic view.

4. Fitch’s Bridge

A view of the bridge from Back River Road.

Fitch’s Bridge.

5. Magnificent structure

Of all the covered bridges I’ve seen, Fitch’s Bridge is still my favorite.

Still the best.

And that’s my five for the month of June. I hope you enjoyed the series.

If you took part this month, make sure you link up below. And for those who participated, make sure you try and get to other people’s blogs and comment and visit so we can continue to grow this challenge.

Don’t forget, too, to come back Monday and see the theme for July!

NOTE: I also set up a Facebook group for those who participate in the challenge and are interested. I’ll post any announcements there and hopefully it can be a place where things are discussed and some interaction etc. You can access it here.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!