Hi all,

I would like to make an entry suggestion - have a theme. I cannot take credit for the idea, it is what beardeddragon.org does. Each month they have a set theme (actually two), such as sleeping in funny positions; gaping; bd with other animals (Darwin and Kyndra, my cat, won that last year ); etc. Then they have a second one where they will accept photoshopped and other altered photos. Their March contest for the latter category was St. Patrick's Day - some clever pics, go check them out.

Now chameleons do not do the same weird things that bd's do, but we could have one month of hatchlings (or under 3 months or other age), sleeping, weird positions (like when they do splits on branches!), shooting, resting colors, fired up colors. One month could be males only another females only. Lots of ideas (and I don't think BD site would get too upset if we got some ideas from their past contests).

I think this would make it more fair for entrants and easier to vote on. We could do two a month (maybe only one would win something) with one focusing on real quality photography. When we have just a mix of pics it makes it very hard to decide because we don't have a basis on which to judge.

Just some ideas...

lele & Cy

I like this idea. It makes it easier to focus on choosing a pic during voting. Also, it encourages everyone to go out and take more pics.

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"A-Kuna-Mattata" - Timon and Pumba

I remember Brad once had a Veiled/Yemen chameleon only month...

Personally, I think I prefer the variety that the current system provides. However, I am open to having occasional contest themes. As chamgirl mentioned above, we did have a veiled only contest last year. Trying something new could be a lot of fun. Maybe we should collect a few of the more popular ideas and have a vote. I could not find any info on a photo contest at beardeddragon.org.

I am not sure I agree that it would make it easier to vote or more fair on entrants. Marc does make a good point though that themes would encourage members to take new photos.

The trick is to have a "theme" that doesn't apply to any less keepers. IE, a specific species, or outdoor photos, Males only, females only, or something like that. Those cut down on the number of entries. Rather have thems such as:

-"My Chameleon and I" (self portaits)
-"Chameleon and Prey"
-"Yoga Positions"
-"Camoflauge"
-"Photo of the Cage"

__________________
WILL HAYWARD

here's the link, Brad. it's in their header, but it's in green and sort of blends in
beardeddragon.org contest

Anyone have additional ideas? I am open to doing something different for the November contest.

As a photographer myself, it seems like most of our entries are based already on either

a) a cham in a funny pose or seeming to display a funny attitude.
b) a somewhat uninteresting shot of a brilliantly colored cham

(I'll make the prediction now that the cham with the fly on it's nose this month will win - hands down - no contest.)

It seems like we could already break those two groups up. Funny poses, and brilliant colors. Some people are just taking picture of their gorgeous "show chams" and they are gorgeous, and then they get beat by a cham doing a handstand that was a product of right place right time.

I'd love to see a contest that would encourage more creativity, but I'm biased.This guy comes to mind:
http://photo.net/photos/siwanowicz
If you scroll through all the bugs you'll see a few great cham pictures.

I second that. Well put Royden.

Splitting the contest into multiple contests is a good idea and definitely worth considering. Currently, however, I spend too much time on the contest. I would like to see this improved in some way before adding more complexity (time) to the equation. Until I can streamline the current process, I was looking more for 'themes' similar to Lele's suggestions above.

I am a little confused by the comments you made, can you be more specific? You predict that a creative photo will win this month, "hands down", but then later you state that you would love to see a contest that would encourage more creativity.