I’m a bit of a fan of creativity challenges (and yes, I’ve done a few myself) so when I heard that The Pfister Hotel’s current Artist in Residence Shelby Keefe was planning to do 30 painting in 30 days, I was excited to see the outcome. Oh, I should mention, I’m also a big fan of Shelby’s work.

The theme of her 30 paintings is “People in Urban Landscapes” and if you know her work, you should know that’s a perfect theme for her to tackle. Check out the Pfister Blog for more info about the project.

Want to see these painting and other work by Shelby? You’re in luck! Fall Gallery Night is October 21, 2011. Stop by and check it out!

In my years at Z2 Photo I’ve learned that being a photographer means being resourceful, and sometimes that means solving problems quickly–really quickly–like, before anyone else even realizes there is a problem.

So with that in mind, I tweeted the following question:

I had already thought of a few items I would use as a light diffuser, but was really interested to see what others might come up with.

I’m not convinced that every item listed would function as a “diffuser” but it was great to see the ingenuity of people. :)

Thanks to everyone who answered my question!

It’s been a long time since we’ve done a challenge, and it was great to see that everyone completed it this time.

As always, the challenge is not about technical abilities with a camera or related equipment, but about how you look at things… how you see things.

The photos are below… Enjoy!

Photo by April.

Photo by Deb.

Photo by Cory.

Photo by Dawn.

Photo by Jess.

Photo by Joe.

Photo by Kerry.

Photo by Kevin.

Photo by Kim.

Photo by Lyra.

Photo by Mario.

Photo by Olivia.

Photo by Pete.

So what do you think? Any favorites among these? Think you could do better? Let us know!

And that was the theme for the 3rd Z2 Photo Challenge… although we were a bit worried we might not complete it before summer was over. When it comes down to it though, we get it done!

As always, the challenge is not about technical abilities with a camera or related equipment, but about how you look at things… how you see things.

The photos are below… Enjoy!

Photo by Jessica.

Photo by Justin.

Photo by Kerry.

Photo by Lauren.

Photo by Pete.

Photo by Dawn.

Photo by Cory.

Photo by Deb.

Photo by Dana.

Photo by Eric.

Rather than push it off another two weeks, we thought it best to call this one, so we could critique and move on.

So we present to you the second “Z2 Photo Challenge” with the splendid “Self Portrait” as the challenge this time…

Again, keep in mind, not everyone at Z2 is a photographer. The challenge is not about technical abilities, but about how you look at things… how you see things. If people needed technical help, they got it, so no one had an unfair advantage.

The photos are below… Enjoy!

Photo by Cory.

Photo by Justin.

Photo by Kerry.

Photo by Mario.

Photo by Pete.

Cory’s comment on these photos was that they all looked like album covers…