Image by Blogging U.’s Photo 101 Course: Post a Photo a Day
On Monday, November 3, WordPress.com’s Blogging U. launches a free month-long photo-a-day course. Sign up today!
On The Daily Post, we host the popular Weekly Photo Challenge each Friday, and we’re always excited to see your snapshots from all over the world. We thought a free photoblogging course mixing the spirit of these photo challenges with bite-sized shooting tips would be a fun way to get you taking pictures and meeting your daily posting goals.
Introducing Blogging U.’s Photography 101 course
Photography 101 is an intro-level course, open to all. You might be a totally new blogger, an amateur photographer, a veteran photo challenge participant, or a pro-shooter. Or, you may be someone who wants to participate in the daily posting madness of November, alongside NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo enthusiasts, in a more visual way. Self-hosted bloggers and photographers on other platforms are also welcome to join us.
The basics:
- A month-long course, starting November 3 and ending November 28. Weekend participation is optional.
- No prerequisites, other than your camera.
- We love all devices! Use your cameraphone, compact point-and-shoot, dSLR, or other equipment. (You can shoot with a film camera, but note the suggested goal is to publish an image on your blog each day. Alternatively, film photographers are welcome to use the themes as inspiration, and all are free to participate in a way that works for you.)
- The course tag is photo101, which you can use to connect with fellow participants and see their submissions in the Reader.
- If you shoot mainly from your iOS or Android phone or tablet, download the WordPress app (for iOS | for Android) if you don’t already use it. We’ll also watch the wponthego tag for images you post from the app — we want to see your photography on the go!
What to expect each day:
- New assignments are published on The Daily Post each weekday at 12AM GMT.
- Each assignment includes a daily theme and tip to inspire you to take a picture and publish it on your blog. Browse our past Weekly Photo Challenges for the types of themes to expect.
- The daily tip consists of basic shooting and editing advice: we might share tips on composition, working with different types of light, or cropping and rotating an image. Each tip complements the daily theme, but you don’t have to incorporate it into your shooting or posting process.
- Participants will have a private community site, the Commons, for chatting, connecting, and seeking feedback and support. Daily Post staff and Happiness Engineers will be on hand to answer your questions and offer guidance and resources.
- This course will remain separate from our Weekly Photo Challenges on Fridays. You can focus on this course, or participate in both.
Interested in joining Photography 101? Register now! If this course doesn’t sound right for you but you’re itching to join a Blogging U. course, consider Blogging 101, which focuses on the nuts and bolts of blogging. You can register for either course — or both — below.
You won’t receive an automated confirmation, but you’ll get a more detailed welcome email before the courses begin.
Please note that if you’re clicking over via email and receive a security warning, remove the “s” in “https” in the link and refresh. Alternatively, just fill out the embedded form at the bottom of the post.
- October 28, 2014
- Better Blogging, Community, WordPress.com
WordPress.com News 
I use the WP APP exclusively for all my posts and have been for over a year, since I started my blog. Can I tag my posts wponthego? I also love to post my email and audio and have come up with my own tags, but if there is a common threats, I would appreciate those tags as well. I use it all and am loving it.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yes, you can tag your posts published from the app with wponthego (whether you’re in this course or not!).
LikeLiked by 2 people
As an amateur in love with photography I am so excited about this! I cannot wait to participate!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Do we have to take the photos on the day we post them, or can we post photos we already have? Either way is fine, but some days the weather is better than others, and we don’t all live in California 🙂
LikeLiked by 4 people
No, you don’t have to publish images on the day you take them — you’re free to interpret/use this course in a way that works for you.
We really encourage you to go out and take *new* photographs, rather than flip through old albums of photos. But ultimately, you’re free to use these daily themes as you’d like, and if we simply inspire you to publish daily on your blog, that works 🙂
LikeLiked by 7 people
I’d like to participate in the Photography 101 course.
LikeLike
Great! Use the form above to sign up. Note that you won’t receive an email confirmation immediately — but we’ll be in touch before the course begins.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d like to join!
LikeLike
Hooray! Do use the form above to register. Thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Cheri
I’ve tried to complete the form but get a message that its not safe and my server throws me out. Can you advise how to register please?
Thank you
Dee
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi Dee — the URL this sends you to is safe — the signup form is generated by Polldaddy, another product by the same people who build WordPress.com. We’re aware that this happens (we received similar comments on our other recent course).
If you’re clicking from the email you received, the form will become an https link, which will give you a security warning — you can either delete the “s” in your browser and refresh the page, or just use the embedded version of the form at the bottom of the post itself.
LikeLike
Thank you Cheri – registered now
Dee
LikeLiked by 3 people
This sounds great. Is there a cost and who is the kind course director?
LikeLike
Hi Charlotte — as mentioned in the post, it’s free 🙂 There’s isn’t really a course director — but I and other editors at The Daily Post compiled and wrote the course assignments.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Wow! WordPress is so awesome.Thanks to you and all the other editors for giving us this great opportunity to learn!
LikeLiked by 3 people
The link doesn’t work {Take our survey).
LikeLike
If you’re clicking from the email you received, the form will become an https link, which will give you a security warning — you can either delete the “s” in your browser and refresh the page, or just use the embedded version of the form at the bottom of the post itself.
If you still have issues, let me know. I can take note of your email address and add you manually.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Got it. Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cheri: my blog is in Spanish. ¿I can participate?
LikeLike
Yes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! 🙂
LikeLike
I would love to add a silhouette photo to my blog!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I will be on travel for two of those weeks but able to check in daily. The posting of photos may come as a challenge since I currently do not have a mobile device to down/upload photos through while on travel. That COULD change though….I’m looking to resolve that issue. Currently, while I’m travelling, I just collect the photos and download them when I get home to process on my computer before uploading and posting. It’s a little archaic but it’s what it is for right now.
LikeLiked by 3 people
How can I register to this challenge?
LikeLike
Hi there — the form is at the bottom of the post: https://wordpress.com/blog/2014/10/28/photography-101-course/
Just a few bits of info we need. You won’t receive an email confirmation immediately, but we’ll get in touch before the course begins. Thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks i got it and signed in.
LikeLike
Great ideas and concepts which unfortunately I won’t be able to join this challenge as it is daily basis theme. Will I able to read the post from the blog without joining it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
If anyone is unable to participate for some reason, then when will this and a course similar to BloggingU be held in the near future? Or does it occur every November?
Thanks.
LikeLike
This is the first time this photo course will run, so we’ll see how it goes. From there, we’d likely run it again in the future, but I can’t say when just yet.
Since November is a big month for daily writing, blogging, and posting, I suspect this course could run again next November. I also suspect it’d run again sooner than that 🙂
You’ll always learn about new Blogging U. courses and launches on The Daily Post: https://wordpress.com/dailypost.
Thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks a ton for the reply! 🙂
I was not able to make up my mind, whether to join right now or not, due to my studies. But I hope to not miss the opportunity the next time… 🙂
Thank you once again.. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
So glad I stumbled upon this! I just launched my blog yesterday so any information is greatly appreciated. Can’t wait for next week!
LikeLike
Please tell me you can post spontaneously in this contest. I’ve just now begun blogging again, and I don’t want to bite off more than I can chew, falling back into ‘overload’. Thus, I hesitate to commit to an endeavor I may not be able to finish. Too, my little Orple buddies keep sticking their noses into my photographs, so I have to ‘wait’ for them to catch up with me. Sometimes, their presence distorts the view due to editing. So tell, me, can we jump in here and there without penalty?
LikeLiked by 1 person
You can sign up and participate here and there, sure. You don’t have to participate every day.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m looking forward to participating in this course.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interestngly, the registration form does not display in the latest version of Google Chrome for Windows 7 but works fine in Internet Explorer 10 on the same computer.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on Eric Binnion and commented:
Excited that WordPress.com is hosting a photo a day course for the month of November. Sounds like the push I need to dust off the SLR that we bought and rarely ever use!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Just created a site and signed up for this course never done a blog before this will be the first time, but will also mean I will start to use my camera rather than being sat in cupboard and Hardly used. Thanks
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cool challenge
LikeLiked by 1 person
I signed up a while back and am really looking forward to participating. Thanks for the opportunity.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This might be fun if I didn’t already do it. See laskowitzpictures. org. BTW, I’ve been shooting a picture a day for six years. It fills the gaps in between assignments, commissions and travel. Have fun with it. I always tell people that you’ll learn a lot about yourself.
LikeLike
Looking forward to this course! I signed up for Blogging 101 as well…does that start at the same time? Thanks!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yep, they both start on November 3.
LikeLiked by 1 person
i will definitely like to participate in this course..what i have to do for this?
LikeLike
Hello there — if you’d like to participate, there’s a form at the bottom of the post. You can register, and just before the course begins, we’ll send a welcome email with more details on how it works. The daily assignments will be posted on this page on The Daily Post. (The benefit of registering is getting access to the private discussion site, where any feedback, comments, and interaction with other participants will happen.)
Thanks for your interest!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the insight.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am a shutterbug, semi-pro status and am very excited about participating, especially since it begins on my birthday! Nice to see other enterprising individuals taking both Blogging and Photography 101. Can’t wait to see the photos this session will bring. Good luck!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sure my wife will be happy for this one.
LikeLiked by 2 people
And how do you participate in the Photography 101 course?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi there — there’s a form at the bottom of the post. You register, and just before the course begins, we’ll send a welcome email with more details on how it works. The daily assignments will be posted on this page on The Daily Post. (The benefit of registering is getting access to the private discussion site, where any feedback, comments, and interaction with other participants will happen.)
Thanks for your interest!
LikeLike
Always nice to see more photography related challenges and courses. I’m always open for new inspiration 🙂
LikeLike
This will be my first time doing this and I know nothing about photography but I just wanted to try it out and see happens…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great! See what it’s all about, and feel free to participate in any way that works for you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! Looking forward to this👍
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interested in joining Photography 101. I want to learn some new expertise in photo designing.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks for your interest! Not sure what you mean by “photo designing” — so, just to clarify, the course is intro-level, primarily focused on using daily themes and inspiration words to prompt you to take new and different kinds of photos. Along the way, there are basic tips on composition/framing, light, etc. — and some days later in the course focused on editing images with online tools/software.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Can’t wait!
LikeLike
Look like this is a course you need to sign up for.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes — you can sign up using the form at the bottom of this post.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m so excited about this course. I love photography and really want to enhance my blog with amazing pictures……Is it 11/3 yet?
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m okay in taking pics, but I can always improve. Blogging is something new to me,so I’m curious about about what to learn. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Seems like a pretty cool course – can’t wait to try something exciting and new… Are there stipulations to this course?
LikeLike
Hi there — no, as I mentioned in the post, there are no prerequisites.
LikeLike
Super excited about this!
LikeLike
How to sign up
LikeLike
You can sign up here: https://wordpress.com/dailypost/commons-access/
LikeLike
I love taking pictures! I’m excited to give this a try!!
LikeLike
This sounds wonderful, I’m really looking forward to seeing what pictures people will share.
LikeLike
Hi … joining more as an observer/learner than participant – hoping to learn a bit as am not Saxby on photography:(
LikeLike
Hi there. I tried signing up last week and again today but haven’t received an email.
LikeLike
I just tried adding you (using your email) to the Commons, but it says you’re already a user there, so you *should* have access to it: https://photo101november2014.wordpress.com
Are you still having trouble?
You can try signing up again: https://wordpress.com/dailypost/commons-access/
LikeLiked by 1 person
It seems to be working as it should now. Thank you so much!
LikeLike
The camera doesn’t love me – whether I’m in front or behind it! Looking forward to seeing everyone else’s efforts though.
LikeLike
I signed up last week, but haven’t been added to the commons. I’ve signed up again via the form if that helps?
LikeLike
Hi! I just checked, and “dreamandflutter” is already a user on the Commons site, so you should have access. Are you still having issues?
LikeLike
Now it’s showing up, before I was getting a message saying I didn’t have permission. Thanks!
LikeLike
Hooray!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Just signed up for my very first blog. I am excited, confused and a lit bit scared. I appreciate all and any help I can get. Guess my first step is to provide a profile pic.
LikeLike
I love to take snapshots.. I’m interested to join and learn how to take great photos.. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stunning photograph. I like it. Rasheed
LikeLiked by 1 person
My blog, keepingkadence, does not have access to the Commons? Can someone help?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your email account is recognized on the site and it appears you’ve got access to the Commons — looks like you’re all set. Are you still having issues?
LikeLiked by 1 person