A Lenten Photo Challenge – Join Us!

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR THE 2014 PHOTO CHALLENGE?

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE NEWEST CHALLENGE LIST.

**UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: We are now on Instagram! Find us @CatholicSistas on Instagram and join in the fun!**

**UPDATE: We have decided to include the following social media outlets to participate in this challenge – in fact, the sky is the limit. Blog about it and include the hash tag as part of your tags! We will be spreading the challenge to Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, and even asking readers to post pictures on our Facebook fan page! **

As Lent draws nearer {and as some of us are finally starting to put away Christmas decorations – Candlemas, anyone?}, we at Catholic Sistas are going to try something new. A friend suggested taking the Instagram* photo challenges {#IPC} and put a Catholic spin on it, creating our very first Catholic Sistas Lenten Instagram Photo Journey, using the hash tag #CSLentIPJ.

Whoa. Wait just one Texas minute. Back the truck up, ladies! you might be thinking. I can barely keep up with the blogging, the prayer campaigns, the Catholic Nerd Series. Are you really suggesting I follow something else? I don’t even know what this Instagram stuff is!

If you haven’t heard of Instagram yet, I’m sure you’ve seen friends’ pictures on the interwebz using the somewhat trademark square picture with little borders and simple actions.

So, the challenge, if you are up for it, will consist of the following details. Be sure to download the challenge list and print it up and stick it on the fridge. Or just save a copy to your phone or desktop. There is no pressure to do it everyday, although I anticipate this to be a great way to see how others are viewing the themes for the day in light of our Lenten journey.

HOW TO GET STARTED:

1) Set up your Instagram account using your smart phone and downloading the app.

2) Don’t have a smart phone? No worries. Just visit Bluestacks to set up your desktop {for both Mac and PC users} Instagram app.

3) Download the Catholic Sistas photo challenge image for quick reference. Note that weekends are a different color.

4) Use the hash tag #CSLentIPJ when you label your photo.

5) Search Instagram using the #CSLentIPJ hash tag to find other friends of CS who are participating in the challenge.

That’s it! We’re posting this well in advance to give you {and, let’s be honest, ourselves, too!} time to get everything set up and test out a few pictures before Ash Wednesday.

*In response to Christine-Soccer Mom’s comment – As a photographer, mostly hobbyist, a few years professionally, for the past twenty {plus} years, I know how concerning that legalese can be. For me, I view it no differently than the rights that we give to Facebook, Twitter, etc. in the use of our pictures. I was concerned with the same statement you posted when this all came out a few months ago, but also saw this follow up by Instagram that’s worth the read.
I also consulted with a professional photographer friend over the matter via Facebook and she had this to say:
Here’s the bottom line….
Yes, you are granting permission for Instagram to use your photos and not ask you first OR pay you for it. But guess what, you granted it to FB too. The only reason this changed for Instagram, is BECAUSE FB bought them and changed it to match their TOS.
Now, odds that someone will actually use your photos?? Slim.
But it IS the reason I do not use Instagram. I still use FB because I can WATERMARK my images before I post them. So if they use them, I still get credit
Point of fact however, it’s not just Instagram that can use them for ads.

You are actually more likely to have your pics stolen by some Joe Shmoe than a company who wants to use them for advertising (and even then it is NOT likely)….and that’s really who I am protecting myself from more with my watermarking, the average folk and from other budding photogs.
In my professional world, picture stealing happens all the time. I can give you five pros right off the top of my head that have had pics stolen, me included. I can name another five that I know of that have been caught using stolen pics.
So that’s where all my caution and being obssessive about TOS come in.
But of my everyday friends for whom photography is not BUSINESS…I don’t know anyone who has had their stuff stolen.

Find us on the Gram, Pinterest, & Facebook!