Commons:Photo challenge

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Photo Challenge The Photo Challenge inspires photographers to take great pictures and upload them to Commons. Monthly thematic competitions encourage participants to try new subjects, new photographic or processing techniques, and to develop skills while improving the Commons repository of free images. Photographs entered into a competition must be new to Commons and taken by a Commons user.

Skip to: Contents Challenges open for submission Challenges open for voting Previous challenges Themes suggested for future challenges

Formal things

Challenges

Challenges are based on a theme and run for a month. The theme may be a concrete subject, an abstract concept, a photographic technique or artistic style.

Participation

Everybody can participate in challenges open for submission. You simply

1. Choose one or all of the current challenges
2. Read the challenge description(s), which may vary in their rules (e.g., some place restrictions on when the photos are taken)
3. Take picture(s) for the challenge(s) during the challenge period (or, if allowed, select from your own existing pictures that are not yet on Commons)
4. Upload your picture(s) during the challenge period
5. Submit your candidates at the top of the current challenge gallery during the challenge period. To do that you click the [Edit] button of the Entries section of your chosen challenge and insert the File name above the last entry (or above File:-Insert image here-.svg for the first entry).

   Add your entry between the <gallery> tags as indicated. Gallery entries are placed each on a new line, and consist of the filename, a vertical bar |, and a description. For example:

   Electric steam iron.jpg|An electric steam iron

   For help on the syntax of entries in a gallery see Help:Gallery tag. Please do not add square brackets [[ ]] or include a thumb parameter or the full URL. The File: prefix is not required, but harmless.

6. Do not sign your submission(s)
7. If you want, you can have a look at previous challenges and Vote

Challenges are open to any Commons user. Submissions must be your own work, not previously uploaded to Commons prior to the challenge date and should illustrate the challenge theme in the opinion of the photographer. Please read the challenge descriptions, as there may be additional rules or explanations for specific challenges. There is no limit on the number of submissions per user (unless specially so restricted in the challenge), but please choose from among your best and most varied images.

To submit pictures, you edit the gallery of the contest and add your candidate(s) to the top of the list.

New themes can be proposed and discussed here.

Assessment

After the challenge has closed to new submissions, the pictures will be assessed by popularity voting in the subsequent month. You are allowed to vote for images submitted by others if your Commons account is at least ten days old and has more than 50 edits or if you participated in one of the challenges. Challenges open for voting can be found here.

Winning

The best three pictures will be awarded first, second and third place. They will be displayed on the Photo challenge page and may use the template {{Photo challenge winner}} on the file description page.

New media viewing experience

Please note users can disable the media viewing experience for all images on Commons when logged in (uncheck "Enable Media Viewer" under Files and click Save in Preferences, Appearance).

Challenges open for submission

2024 – December – Pastels

The new challenge features pastels.

Ideally, each submission should contain a summary description of the subject in the file information, including the location of the subject, and relevant categories should be added to the files to enable other Commons users to find them and use them. Please take care not to violate copyright in respect of non-free creative works, and observe our educational project scope and the personality rights of identifiable people, or your files may be subject to deletion.

The challenge will remain open for submissions throughout December UTC.

Checklist for this theme:

• Photographs must be the work of the nominator.
• Photographs must be newly uploaded to Commons during the challenge submission period i.e. December 2024 UTC (but may have been taken earlier).
• Submissions must be added to the top of the "Entries" section below.
• Please do not nominate lots of similar photos; instead choose just your best and most varied images.

Add your entry between the <gallery> tags as indicated. Gallery entries are placed each on a new line, and consist of the filename, a vertical bar |, and a description. For example:

Electric steam iron.jpg|An electric steam iron

For help on the syntax of entries in a gallery see Help:Gallery tag. Please do not add square brackets [[ ]] or include a thumb parameter or the full URL. The File: prefix is not required, but harmless.

• Restriction: A maximum of four entries can be submitted per photographer.

There are 20 days 13 hours left before this challenge ends. (refresh)

Examples

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Entries

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  Rainbow crepe cake of pastel and strawberry cream crepe cake
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  Pastel Theme - Malta - Gozo Beach
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  Pastel Theme - Malta - National Museum
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  An image of the exterior of the Atlas Lab building at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.
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  Plafond in Great Hall of Catherine Palace, St.Petersburg, Russland.
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  Pastel colored Butterfly Tamilnadu India
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  Pretty pastel flowers
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  Lovely lilac flowers
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  Pastel flame
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  Pink petals of lotus
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  Radiant raintree flower
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  Dainty flower on a mighty rock
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  Melon mania
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  Pastel cloth pegs
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  Tschesmensker Kirche, St.Petersburg, Russland.
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  Winding road in Valley of Fire
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  Devil's Canyon (Utah)
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  Antelope Canyon
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  Minerali di Calcite di diversi colori pastello. Mostra di Minerali, Fossili e Conchiglie di Roma, Dicembre 2024
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  Big Book Festival 2024
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  Val Sinestra. Decorative tree stump surrounded by soft pastel autumn colours.
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  Wasserfarbe des Roten Meeres. Aufgenommen in Ägypten. Makadi Bay. Hausriff des Hotels Grad Makadi.
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  Boy is gazing out near pastel colored gate Tamilnadu, India
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  Pastel blue Zeekr Mix MPV
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  Pastel green Mango tree tender shoot Tamilnadu India.
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  Cotton candy in pastel pink color, Shimla India
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  Перед грозой
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  Гортензия
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  Люстра 5 лепестков
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  Trabant in Sopron
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  Breaking wave, Plage de Pors Péron, F
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  Vaulted ceiling of Maulbronn Monastery Church, D
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  Evening mood on the Læsø sand flats, DK
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  Cotton candy on the Galli market, Leer, East Frisia, D
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  Lake Salmozero (Kola Peninsula)
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  Morgenröte mit Birke im Dezember
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  An indoor bouldering gym
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  Flowers of a cherry tree, genus Prunus, New Mexico, US
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  Aphelocoma behind a juvenile Turdus migratorius, Colorado, US
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  US Navy Leap Frogs at an airshow in Colorado, US
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  Accipiter cooperii, New Mexico, US
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  Detail of a cumulonimbus. Taken in Padua, Italy.
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  Red Arrows flying the "Tornado" manoeuvre in evening light
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  Pastel colors of of Pink Cadillac 1955 Fleetwood Series 60 Elvis (Las Vegas).
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  Вид на с. Козьмодемьяновка Тамбовской обл. на закате в пастельных тонах
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  White-eye and wild rose fruit
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  Frog-headed tuktuk in Trang, Thailand
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  coloured houses
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  A piece of rainbow cheesecake
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  Weigela
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  White-lilac Fiat 600 Multipla at Esens, Germany.
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  Pink 1950 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible at Rastede, Germany.
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  peinture
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  Calcit. China. Terra Mineralia. Mineralienausstellung TU Bergakademie Freiberg.
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  A Crab spider of some kind and Japanese Honeysuckle flowers.
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  Erythronium japonicum flower, Midori-shi, Gumma-ken, Japan.
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  A Butterfly stay with on the table
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  Child flying a kite on the beach at sunset
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  Nomenclature by plants (গাছ দিয়ে নাম লেখা)
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  A Pond in R K Mission, Rahara
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  Buds of Jacobaea maritima
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  Deutzia
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  Red-orange nimbostratus clouds in Banqiao, New Taipei
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  Fungo Lepista nuda (Bull.) Cooke, parco urbano di Villa Ada, Roma
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  tulipe
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  Creative Floristik. Schmetterling. Aufgenommen bei der Ausstellung Chemnitzer Frühling 2019. Chemnitz, Sachsen.
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  Fiori di una ortensia con tenui colori autunnali
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  Heliconia rostrata in Forêt de Bébour (Réunion)
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  Shinkansen E5 and E6 coupling in Japan
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  Verso sera con cigni e riflessi pastello sul lago di Bracciano
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  Pastel colors of the walls of the building of the Twelve Collegia
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  Pastel colors of the sunset at Tikehau (French Polynesia)
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  Pastel colors of the sunrise at Mount Fuji and Aokigahara forest (Japan)
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  Peeling paint on an old railroad car
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  A wall with layered beige and pastel-coloured tiles
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  To submit pictures please follow this link

2024 – December – Footprints

The new challenge features footprints, hoofprint, pawprint, etc.

Ideally, each submission should contain a summary description of the subject in the file information, including the location of the subject, and relevant categories should be added to the files to enable other Commons users to find them and use them. Please take care not to violate copyright in respect of non-free creative works, and observe our educational project scope and the personality rights of identifiable people, or your files may be subject to deletion.

The challenge will remain open for submissions throughout December UTC.

Checklist for this theme:

• Photographs must be the work of the nominator.
• Photographs must be newly uploaded to Commons during the challenge submission period i.e. December 2024 UTC (but may have been taken earlier).
• Submissions must be added to the top of the "Entries" section below.
• Please do not nominate lots of similar photos; instead choose just your best and most varied images.

Add your entry between the <gallery> tags as indicated. Gallery entries are placed each on a new line, and consist of the filename, a vertical bar |, and a description. For example:

Electric steam iron.jpg|An electric steam iron

For help on the syntax of entries in a gallery see Help:Gallery tag. Please do not add square brackets [[ ]] or include a thumb parameter or the full URL. The File: prefix is not required, but harmless.

• Restriction: A maximum of four entries can be submitted per photographer.

There are 20 days 13 hours left before this challenge ends. (refresh)

Examples

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Entries

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  Cat tracks in the snow in the field
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  Tracks of european rabbit
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  Tracks of a white wagtail
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  muddy footprint
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  Mudflat-hikers and their tracks
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  Eastern wild turkey snow tracks, Rouge National Urban Park, Canada
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  Fooprints of roe deer on soft ground close to the Vistula River bank
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  Cat paw prints in the snow in the field
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  Footprint of an Indian Peafowl Tamilnadu
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  Firm footprint to follow
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  Footprint on the ground
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  Footprints to follow at the beach of Gopalpur on the sea
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  Footprints are about to imprinted
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  Faded footprints
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  Looking back at the path
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  Tracks of the former Berlin horse-drawn railroad in Reichenberger Str.
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  Foot and tire imprint on a path on the banks of the Tiergarten in Berlin
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  Prague Zoo Walk of Fame with cast of footprint of the horse of Przewalski
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  Следы к океану
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  Footprints of off-roaders after off-road competitions
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  Walking along the shore on the Tersky coast
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  Отпечаток следа КАМПТОЗАВРА. Экспонат музея ВСЕГЕИ, Санкт-Петербург 2H1A0382WI
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  Fußabdrücke des Friedensnobelpreisträgers 2007 R.K. Patchauri. Aufgenommen in Stavanger, Norwegen.
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  Fußabdrücke des Friedensnobelpreisträgers 2007 Albert Arnold (AL) Gore. Aufgenommen in Stavanger, Norwegen.
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  Goat footprints in a dry terrain
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  Impronte dello zoccolo di un cinghiale alla solfatara all'interno del Bosco Macchia Grande di Manziana
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  noir et blanc
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  Parking lot on a snowy morning
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  Hasenspuren im Schnee. Aufgenommen im Erzgebirgskreis, Sachsen.
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  Wet footprints of a grey heron.
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  Bengal tiger footprint at Ranthambore National Park (India)
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  Bengal tiger footprint alongside tyre marks at Ranthambore National Park (India)
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  Bengal tiger footprint over tyre marks at Ranthambore National Park (India)
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  Footprint set in concrete repair on pavement.
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  To submit pictures please follow this link

Challenges open for voting

Voting is open to all registered contributors who have held accounts for at least 10 days and made 50 edits, and also to new Commons contributors who have entered the challenge with a picture. Users cannot vote for their own picture. Voters may select up to three photographs in each theme to award points and can give praise to other photos without awarding points. Voting will be open for one month. The votes not complying with those requirements will be removed or converted to praises. In some cases users might be asked to correct their votes after voting ends.

November 2024

• Panning (Intentional Camera Movement)
• Sidewalk

Previous challenges

October 2024

• Blue Yellow -> Commons:Photo challenge/2024 - October - Blue and Yellow/Winners
• Recycling -> Commons:Photo challenge/2024 - October - Recycling/Winners

September 2024

Roofs: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	Altstadt Meißen, Dach Des Hauses Markt 3.	Workers re-doing the artistic roof line on a thatched cottage	Holzschindeldach des Frohnauer Hammer (Sachsen)
Author	Kora27	Cbuske46	YvoBentele
Score	19	18	8

Accessibility: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	Fare gates at Stevens MRT station in Singapore, including a wider gate for priority users	Wheelchair ramp, Confey Railway Station, Ireland.	Wheelchair racer during Paralympic Games 2024
Author	S5A-0043	Leimanbhradain	Ibex73
Score	9	9	8

August 2024

Dust: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	Mustangs in Colorado, USA, 1971	Dusty Billiard Table, former Pozzuolo del Friuli barracks, Ferrara, Italy	The Milky Way with cosmic dust
Author	Foeniz	Nicola Quirico	Zwiebackgesicht
Score	13	10	7

Spices: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	The Christmas spices star anise, cinnamon and cloves	Chili peppers at the market in Santanyí	Blüte mit Safranfäden
Author	F. Riedelio	F. Riedelio	Tetraeder
Score	17	6	6

July 2024

Manholes: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	A lion is coming from a manhole, in León, Spain	Manhole opened for cleaning, Heidelberg	Child coming out of a sump
Author	Guy Delsaut	Foeniz	Saral Shots
Score	15	13	9

Breads: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	African bush squirrel eating bread gotten from tourists in Namibia	A young man putting discs of bread into the oven in the Islamic Cairo section of Cairo, Egypt.	Bread being kneaded in a bakery in Aalen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Author	Lusi Lindwurm	FischerFotos	Mozzihh
Score	24	12	9

June 2024

Construction sites: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	Carpenter working on a concrete formwork	Workers attaching a chain to the Main bridge in Ebing	Demolition site of the so-called Kaufhof store "Tortenschachtel" (cake box) on Berliner Platz
Author	Ermell	Ermell	F. Riedelio
Score	17	14	11

Mushrooms: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	Poisonous mushrooms against a forest in autumn, Wrzosów, Poland		Mycena interrupta NZ
Author	Ivonna Nowicka	Famberhorst	Haydenrjones
Score	15	13	9

May 2024

Waves: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	This was shot in Kakinada Beach, shows struggle of fishermen in middle of sea	A wave painted with a white neon lamp in a flashlight, city beach in Płock, Poland.	Port Saint-Michel in Batz-sur-Mer
Author	Zahed.zk	Lightpainterplock	Ibex73
Score	28	19	11

Pets: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	Australian Shepherd Dog	Hachi and Boy	Cat enjoying the sun between daisies
Author	Ermell	HachiBoy	Lusi Lindwurm
Score	27	15	13

April 2024

Vertical lines: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	Колонны здания администрации и думы Новгородской области 2H1A4397WI	Columns on the façade of the Philharmonie in Luxembourg	Fassade Mark- Twain- Grundschule 02
Author	Kora27	Ermell	ThoBel-0043
Score	25	14	11

Flames: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	Visitors at the 2024 Easter fire in Rottorf	Campfire at lake Yngen, Filipstad Municipality, Värmland, Sweden	Osterfeuer im oberen Murtal
Author	F. Riedelio	Mozzihh	Bitisajn
Score	21	14	10

March 2024

Grays: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	Sieben graue Köpfe	Reflections - Shyok River	Nina-Replica
Author	Mensch01	Prof Ranga Sai	Wingerham52
Score	20	18	11

Courthouses: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	Palazzo di Guistizia with Courte di Cassazione at river Tiber, Rome, Italy	North facade of Palais de justice de Paris.	Supreme Court of Finland at night
Author	Mozzihh	FreCha	GPSLeo
Score	19	15	12

February 2024

Lunar New Year: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	Dragon Dance, Oklahoma City, OK, Lunar New Year, 2024 (Year of the Dragon)	Sec. 1, Wuchang St., Taipei City, with LED lights decorations above on 2024 Chinese New Year	Eu Tong Sen Street in Chinatown, Singapore, with CNY decorations above
Author	OKJaguar	Junyu-K	S5A-0043
Score	11	9	9

Knots: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	Boat knot	Figure-eight loop in mountaineering	Root knot of a beech tree
Author	Teseo	Wagner Cxxx	Foeniz
Score	11	9	8

January 2024

Silos: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	Garfield Grain Elevator and Silos Garfield Washington USA	Feed silos in Hirschbrunn near Burgebrach	Silos of the Hannoversche Portland -Cementfabrik (abandoned in 1986)
Author	DaveGinOly	Ermell	Hgrobe
Score	19	13	8

Masks: Entries • Votes • Scores

Rank	1	2	3
image
Title	Narrentag 2024 - Elzacher Schuttig	Kirchseoner Perchtenlauf - old winter parade tradition in Bavaria. Mask of type "Klaubauf"	Taken in Dublin, march 2014
Author	Rainer Halama	Würmchen-vom-Mölchlein	Oncewerecolours
Score	13	13	10

Previous years

• Photo challenge in 2023
• Photo challenge in 2022
• Photo challenge in 2021
• Photo challenge in 2020
• Photo challenge in 2019
• Photo challenge in 2018
• Photo challenge in 2017
• Photo challenge in 2016
• Photo challenge in 2015
• Photo challenge in 2014
• Photo challenge in 2013