I'm fairly new to photoblogging and I've really been enjoying the several photo contests and their weekly themes. But I wanted to create a photo contest that was more like a game for no better reason than I like games. And I thought it would be fun to make the object of the weekly photo a little harder to make it more challenging. So I combined the more traditional scavenger hunt with photoblogging to create the photo hunt.

Each week, on Saturday around midnight, I'll post a new object to "find" with your camera. You then have one week to find that object and put it on the web, posting the URL and other information here by clicking on the "Submit a Photo" link. Ideally, you should use a new photo taken after the scavenger hunt object has been announced. Obviously, I can't stop you from posting a previously taken and posted photograph from your photoblog, but that is not in keeping with the spirit of the photo scavenger hunt and you will receive one less point. Only one submission per week is permitted. I'll also give the object for the following week, so that you may begin planning for that week's photo. You will still have to wait until the next week to submit that object when I'll also reveal any bonus points available.

Each week five judges will choose the best photos and award first, second and third place and a humor prize. In addition, I will award as many honorable mentions as are deemed worthy, though I'll try to keep the number to around three. But if one week more than three seem worthy of recognition then so be it. You'll receive bonus points toward your overall season standings from your weekly winnings. Also, each week bonus point of increasing difficulty throughout the season will be offered and will afford an opportunity to earn additional bonus points. See Scoring, Judging, Bonus Points, and Participation Points for more details. To be considered for the weekly prize, photos must be submitted prior to midnight each Friday evening before the next contest begins.

Each photo scavenger hunt will last three months, or 13 weeks. Every week you submit a successful photo with the object of that week's scavenger hunt you'll get five (5) points. Weekly contests will have an increasingly more difficult option which will garner you an additional bonus point. As the season progresses, the potential value of bonus points will also rise. We'll keep standings from week to week as the "season" progresses we'll see who comes out on top. Participating every week also greatly increases your chances of rising in the standings because you collect participation points that grow larger with each consecutive week you submit a photo. The other way to increase your odds of winning is by getting bonus points for being a weekly winner, honorable mention or humor prize winner.

Each week, the three winners along with the humor prize winner will be invited to choose their three favorite photos from among the new week's submitted photos. Obviously I can't make anybody be a judge but assuming each judge is willing to choose their favorites, then those choices will be used to award the three prize winners for the week. To encourage judging, judges who fullfill their duties as a judge will receive one (1) additional point as compensation and in appreciation. The idea behind Judging this way is to make the scoring more even and fair and keep me from playing omnipotent.

In addition, I'll be choosing around three photographs, and sometimes more or less as warranted, to be awarded Honorable Mentions from among the submissions that did not receive a first through third place award. The critera used to choose them is solely mine, but will generally be based upon something that catches my eye from some reason.

You collect points as follows:

• Submitting a new photo with the week's object = 5 points


• Submitting an archived photo with the week's object = 4 points


• Submitting a photo with the week's bonus point objective = 1 or more points


• Being a Weekly Winner:
  
  1. 1st Place = 5 points
  2. 2nd Place = 4 points
  3. 3rd Place = 3 points


• Humor Prize = 3 points


• Honorable Mention = 2 points


• Guest Judge = 1 point

An additional three (3) points will be awarded to the photograph that makes me laugh or is in some other way a very clever interpretation of the scavenger hunt object. I won't necessarily give a humor award every week, only the weeks where there is a worthy photograph. The winner of the Humor Prize will be designated with a symbol.

Each week, I'll pick two players who did not win any other prize but for some other reason such as effort, perseverance or just for the hell of it as guest judges and ask them to choose their three favorite photograph. Their top pick that has not won another prize will be awarded an additional bonnus point and so will the participating guest judge.

For each weekly submission that succeeds in capturing the object of the photo hunt, each player will receive five (5) points, unless the submission is older photograph from an archive, in which case that player will receive four (4) points. Each week there will also be offered additional bonus points for finding an object that is more specific with a higher degree of difficulty. As the game progresses there will be more, and more difficult, ways to obtain bonus points

For example, if one week the scavenger hunt object was a tricycle, then you'd get five points for a photo of a tricyle. However, a bonus point might be offered for a red bicycle and if your picture was of a red trike then you'd get six (6) points for that week, exclusive of any other points you collected for winning.

Beginning with the second week in a row that you submit a photo to the scavenger hunt, you'll receive one additional point for participating. The third week in a row, you'll receive two points; the fourth week, three points. Participation points are capped at three, meaning each subsequent week after your fourth consecutive week submitting a photo to the hunt you will receive an another three points toward your total score. If you skip a week, you're back to zero, but your second week back you'll start earning participation points again.

The weekly winners will be judged using the follwing criteria:

1. The photo must, of course, include the weekly scavenger hunt object in it. Any photos not depicting the object will receive zero (0) points.
2. The quality of the photograph as receved by the judges. Admitedly this is a tough one and that's the reason for using five judges each week.
3. Other factors beyond technical expertise which will likely get you noticed are:
   • humor
   • creativity
   • a sense of playfulness

Most likely the week's photo scavenger hunt object will be open to some creative interpretation so that a wide group of people can participate. For example, if one week the object was "a penguin" and you don't live at the South Pole or near a zoo, a stuffed or ceramic penguin would be acceptable. You can stage a photograph, of course, but the spirit of the contest is really in simply finding the object and photographing it in its natural habitat, so to speak.

If a weekly object has to be a particular color but you shoot exclusively in black & white, don't worry, I'll use the honor system. So as long as you warrant it's the color it's supposed to be, I'll believe you. Remember, you're only cheating yourself.

The software I use for the Photo Hunt (PixelPost 1.4) will not correctly display URLs that are longer than seventy (70) characters. It clips off the URL at 70, so it won't load. This seems to affect people using Photobucket and Blogger since their protocols tend to create long addresses. Please consider using TinyURL as a way around this, otherwise I'll try to fix the links I notice aren't working. Thanks.

A Word About Photoshop

The use of Adobe Photoshop or other graphics programs to crop photos or apply photo filters to enhance the overall quality of the picture is acceptable. Using Photoshop to alter the substance of a photo, such as changing the color of an object to make it suitable to match the object called for by a photo hunt is not.

Here are some buttons to use if you'd like to link back to this site. Thanks.

Each week, the players who receive Honorable Mentions will be asked to submit a scavenger hunt object for a future week in the challenge. From among those, I'll choose the next object for the scavenger hunt along with the available bonus points. To encourage sending in a scab=venger hunt choice, players who send one in will receive one (1) additional point as compensation and in appreciation. The players who suggestion is used will receive two (2) additional points

Most of you have likely been doing this far longer than I have. So I'd love to hear any suggestions you might have for improving things here along with any constructive criticsm you might think would be helpful.

Please send your polite e-mail to
j [at] brookston [dot] org

I'm not a company, a professional photographer or even a group of well-funded people. I'm just a stay-at-home father who works part-time as a freelance writer and spends a lot of time on the internet and blogging. I love photography and recently set up my own photoblog. I just thought a photo scavenger hunt might be fun so I set this up as simply as I could.