How the monomad challenge is exposing a crop of talented photographers on the Hive blockchain.

in Black And White2 years ago (edited)

Have you seen the quality on the monomad challenge? My God!!! My mouth has been open; constantly screaming wow!


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Photograph by Alexander Krivitskiy on Unsplash

Since my return to the monomad challenge I've had my entries made top spot almost everyday, and I'm entirely grateful that the moderators consistently find my work good enough. It's a testament to how much sacrifice I've put into my craft, and I'm happy about it.

However, I'm not only happy for my achievements, but also for the achievements that the monomad challenge has realised. The challenge has seen so much improvement in the quality of entries in the last couple of months that I can't keep shut about it. And while I don't know if that was the original intent of the challenge, I'm glad that the challenge has done a good job exposing the amazing talents on the blockchain.


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Photograph by @theartsydiva on Hive

When viewed from a very limited perspective, you'll feel that the challenge shouldn't get much hype as I'm giving it right now. I mean, isn't it a challenge where people just post any monochrome(majorly black and white) photos? Well, in the past, I'll agree with you. I'll agree that the challenge used to be as basic as posting a black and white photograph. In fact, I'm guilty.

In my early days as a participant of the challenge, I submitted very basic entries with little to no effort. A lot of other people did that too. But then things changed. One day I got a comment from a moderator stating that I had to put more effort in my entries as I did for other contest. To be honest, I got pissed by that comment.
In fact, it was part of reason I went on a break from the challenge. I didn't think I needed to do more than what I was doing.


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Photograph by Jungwoo Hong on Unsplash

Coming back to the challenge and seeing all the amazing works being published, and all these amazing photographers, I can say it was a right move by the administrators of the challenge. The entries have certainly improved, and it takes real high quality to make top spots now.

It's amazing to see how far the daily challenge has come. I think it's currently the longest charting photography challenge on the blockchain. When I joined Hive there used to be a lot of other ones. We had a "portrait contest", there was one from Deranged visions, even from qurator too. I think Qurator still host weekly photography challenges. It's been a long time since I participated.


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Photograph by Howie R on Unsplash

This post will be incomplete if I fail to appreciate the efforts of everyone that has ensured the continuity of this challenge. First the founder that is @brumest. Then everyone who submit quality entries daily, and lastly the moderators who collate these entries. Special thanks to the moderators, because I know for sure that it isn't an easy task; what they do. I mean do you know how hard it is to collect these entries every single day? I don't envy them at all. That's a lot of work.

It is my hope that the challenge continues for as long as it can, and I can't wait to see how much improvement it can gain from this point.

Alright! Bye for now! And no, I wasn't hired to speak on behalf of this challenge. This post is an honest expression of what I feel. Make an entry today!

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 2 years ago (edited) 

You got me completely out of guard with this one, and summarized everything pretty well.
At some point I realized that if I didn't shake things up the community would never evolve from where it was. First because the resources we had were very limited, and black and white photography being such a tiny niche wasn't helping either.

Giving exposure to the unnoticed photographers was always our main objective since day one, but always with the utopic goal of becoming one of the best photographic communities around.
I am not sure if we accomplished that yet, but it's at least evident that we disrupted that stagnation we were in and evolved to something bigger and better.

I know I was rough, but back then (and this is not to try to excuse myself) I realized the project was in a do or die stage, so I decided to put my sleeves up and shake up the ones I actually saw big potential in. You being one of them.
I am conscient that it pushed away few people, and in some extreme cases even created some domestic trolls as you can see here and here but at the same time it allowed us to restructure the community and become a place where people do want to post in and be associated with.
Thank you very much for your brutally honest opinion and opening up the way you did here.
You're one of the good guys.

Thanks a lot @brumest. Many people don't know, but you are so an amazing person. I still remember when you helped me out with that Hive patrol guy, I think Jaguarforce.

I'm grateful for the opportunity of the daily monomad challenge. I'm grateful for the growth the black and white community has seen. And it's exciting to know that there are more improvements to make from here.

About the trolls, they'll rest in due time. I think almost everyone got the lashing about improving our entries, but I don't think it was enough reason to troll. It takes a progressive person to take corrections, learn, and grow from his/her mistakes.

I hope that the people who went away( like me 😁) realize that you didn't try to push us away, you simply wanted us to do better. And the plan is working. I think there are lots of big eyes on the daily entries now, as my posts have seen a surge in upvote value. Once again, I'm grateful grateful.

Thanks to you, and everyone on the team.

I am glad I went after you and pulled you back into Hive when that jaguar episode happened. I didn't have much to do with what happened to him after. He was already being dealt with by some other good folks around.

And please follow @castleberry's advice. Engage more. That has also been my Achilles heel.
You have the talent, the skills and most importantly, the drive. Don't waste it.

Thank you very much. I'll definitely follow @castleberry's advice.

Wonderful post. There are so many talented photographers out there. This contest has reignited the fire within me for photography. It also is a great inspiration to see so many people from all over the world contributing and working on their craft. Well said @kodeblaccc

Thank you very much! The entries from few days ago totally blew my mind. Hive is filled with super talented photographers. And I'm glad we are inspired to share, through simple challenges like the monomad challenge.

 2 years ago  

It makes us happy to know that somehow we contributed to get you out there, shooting again!


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Thanks a million for the kind words about all of us participants ☺🥰

You are welcome @theartsydiva. I saw your submission and I was amazed. I checked out your profile and you are totally amazing. Keep doing what you do.

Bro, you don't really ever answer your comments or engage in any of the communities you post in. It's pretty sad given the support you get everywhere and the level of quality you produce with your photography.

Good Morning @castleberry. I wouldn't say that you aren't right. I'm guilty of what I'm accused of. To be honest, if it'll make any sense to you, I actually reply to comments in my head, and then forget to type it out. I'll do better.

No, i understand. I have to comment on all the posts i nominate for curation. I have posted 2 posts and have had 1175 comments. So, i think it's fair to say you should comment on your own posts to the people engaging your content before posting new content. I'm not trying to get you in trouble.... i just want you to be a pillar of the Hive community fulfilling the potential you have and exercising the aptitude your quality and skill calls for. It's a waste if you just want to reap the rewards and not give back in the simplest way of actually engaging.

Thank you so much for being kind. And I'm grateful that you think I'm worthy enough to be some important guy on Hive.

It's a waste if you just want to reap the rewards and not give back in the simplest way of actually engaging.

That statement is true, and I promise you, I'll try to do better. Thank you very much.

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The GIF looks a lot like you 😁

Wow! Thank you for this!
Seeing that our work is noticed and appreciated is the biggest push to keep doing it every day :)

And as I told you before, I will say it again - I'm glad you decided to come back to B&W.

Thanks again :))
Hive on!

You are welcome. You guys are the real MVPs. Thank you again!

mimikler oldukça iyi çekilmiş. paylaşım için teşekkürler.

Pretty cool and amazing I great shot

@kodeblaccc (70) photographs Beautiful photographs.

Thank you very much!

You don't need permission to. If you've created amazing photos in black and white or monochromes, publish them in the black and white community(only). Then ensure that your post or tags contains #monomad and you've officially made an entry.