52 by 52 — Weekly photo challenges set by accomplished photographers

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Year one of 52 by 52 came to a close in August 2012. The next phase of the project, 26 by 26, started March 2013.

Over fifty-two weeks a selection of the world’s leading contemporary photographers created challenges for members of an online community. The 52 by 52 project aimed to stretch its members creatively, encouraging experimentation in terms of approach as well as aesthetics.

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Members' Book

Members’ Book

The 52 by 52 Members’ Book is now available to purchase. It aims to showcase a small selection of the 1300+ images submitted to the project and tries to give a flavour of the diverse work created in a plethora of styles and formats.
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Challenge #52

Beauty’s Nothing. Show me your take on this.
— Nadav Kander

Nadav Kander | Member’s submissions for #52

Challenge #51

Flip the script.
— Josh Cole

Josh Cole | Member’s submissions for #51

Challenge #50

Bend it, break it, bin it.
— Palmer + Pawel

Palmer + Pawel | Member’s submissions for #50

Challenge #49

Movement in still images is a paradox. Combine movement and stillness in a single photograph.
— Bertil Nilsson

Bertil Nilsson | Member’s submissions for #49

Challenge #48

Take a photograph of an event. Focus on putting it in the context of the landscape and those watching.
— Simon Roberts

Simon Roberts | Member’s submissions for #48

Challenge #47

The world is forever changing; a rock spinning through space. The land we think we own is only borrowed. What stands today will be taken back over time. Photograph impermanence.
— Mitch Dobrowner

Mitch Dobrowner | Member’s submissions for #47

Challenge #46

Shoot your subjects from behind.
— Irina Werning

Irina Werning | Member’s submissions for #46

Challenge #45

Try to see geometrically. Imagine that everything we see hides shapes, lines, circles, squares, triangles, spots…
— Gustavo Jononovich

Gustavo Jononovich | Member’s submissions for #45

Challenge #44

Take a photograph of yourself, from behind the camera.
— Kate Peters

Kate Peters | Member’s submissions for #44

Challenge #43

Make an image of unsustainability.
— Edward Burtynsky

Edward Burtynsky | Member’s submissions for #43

Challenge #42

A portrait is to be given never taken… Use this as your guide and give a street portrait of a complete stranger.
— Steve Pyke

Steve Pyke | Member’s submissions for #42

Challenge #41

Make a color photograph of a scene that has no (or very little) color. Think monochromatic.
— Christopher Anderson

Christopher Anderson | Member’s submissions for #41

Challenge #40

The painter Bonnard said “Make little lies to tell a great truth”. Use that as your inspiration.
— Chloe Dewe Mathews

Chloe Dewe Mathews | Member’s submissions for #40

Challenge #39

“Try again, fail again, fail better.”
(Samuel Beckett)— Richard Mosse

Richard Mosse | Member’s submissions for #39

Challenge #38

Photograph something that can never happen again.
— Harry Benson

Harry Benson | Member’s submissions for #38

Challenge #37

Try to transform our world into an abstract image.
— Lucie & Simon

Lucie & Simon | Member’s submissions for #37

Challenge #36

Hope is the poor man’s bread. Photograph hope.
— Niall McDiarmid

Niall McDiarmid | Member’s submissions for #36

Challenge #35

Photograph your feelings in a state of boredom.
— Gerd Ludwig

Gerd Ludwig | Member’s submissions for #35

Challenge #34

Use your camera as an excuse to go and spend time with someone that you’ve always been curious about.
— Olivia Arthur

Olivia Arthur | Member’s submissions for #34

Challenge #33

Create a portrait that expresses isolation in circumstances that are not isolated.
— Terry O’Neill

Terry O’Neill | Member’s submissions for #33

Challenge #32

Close your eyes, turn your eyeballs around. Photograph what you see.
— Roger Ballen

Roger Ballen | Member’s submissions for #32

Challenge #31

Try and apply a technique or style that is widely associated with a specific photographic genre and use it in an unconventional way.
— Maja Daniels

Maja Daniels | Member’s submissions for #31

Challenge #30

Take a photograph that is strong and necessary of something which is not photogenic.
— Paolo Woods

Paolo Woods | Member’s submissions for #30

Challenge #29

Make a portrait where the primary goal is to engineer intimacy from a situation that is fundamentally artificial.
— Chris Floyd

Chris Floyd | Member’s submissions for #29

Challenge #28

Take two things that do not fit together, and put them together.
— Klaus Pichler

Klaus Pichler | Member’s submissions for #28

Challenge #27

Use a Random Point Generator to pick the exact location where you make a photograph.
— Alec Soth

Alec Soth | Member’s submissions for #27

Challenge #26

Go into your archive and find an orphaned photo as an inspiration for a new photo – have it feed your consciousness, to inspire a newer – and better – version.
— Donald Weber

Donald Weber | Member’s submissions for #26

Challenge #25

Photograph something you’ve been looking at or walking past for a long time, but which you’ve never photographed before.
— Palani Mohan

Palani Mohan | Member’s submissions for #25

Challenge #24

Take a photograph that depicts the binding and bonding of people local to you.
— Jim Mortram

Jim Mortram | Member’s submissions for #24

Challenge #23

Find a situation or environment that puts you ill at ease, or embarrasses you, and make an image.
— Benjamin Lowy

Benjamin Lowy | Member’s submissions for #23

Challenge #22

Don’t simply take a photograph of something that is in front of you, but instead focus on an idea that you find interesting.
— Marc Wilson

Marc Wilson | Member’s submissions for #22

Challenge #21

Take a photograph that reveals something about yourself that you’ve never shown before.
— Phillip Toledano

Phillip Toledano | Member’s submissions for #21

Challenge 20

Photograph to make sense of the past: what has been, and how it has affected what has come after.
— David Maisel

David Maisel | Member’s submissions for #20

Challenge #19

Choose your favourite poem and try to represent a line of it visually.
— Marcus Bleasdale

Marcus Bleasdale | Member’s submissions for #19

Challenge #18

Ask someone if you can spend half an hour in their company whilst you try and capture their true essence / personality.
— Jenny Wicks

Jenny Wicks | Member’s submissions for #18

challenge #17

Use light to isolate a subject and draw the viewer to the picture.
— David Ellis

David Ellis | Member’s submissions for #17

Challenge #16

Think of your surrounding as elements of light, not objects.
— Matthew Niederhauser

Matthew Niederhauser | Member’s submissions for #16

Challenge #15

Take the greatest picture you can of that in which you truly believe.
— Simon Norfork

Simon Norfork | Member’s submissions for #15

Challenge #14

Take a photo that captures three distinctive actions within the same frame.
— Tomas Van Houtryve

Tomas Van Houtryve | Member’s submissions for #14

Challenge #13

Take a picture at night – however, added flash or long exposures are not allowed – use solely available light, whether artificial or natural.
— Mikko Takkunen

Mikko Takkunen | Member’s submissions for #13

Challenge #12

“If a photographer cares about the people before the lens and is compassionate, much is given. It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument.” (Eve Arnold)
— David Chancellor

David Chancellor | Member’s submissions for #12

Challenge #11

Photograph something that you have never shot before, in a style you have never used before, so the photo is not recognisable as yours!
— Martin Parr

Martin Parr | Member’s submissions for #11

Challenge 10

Get wet. Take a photograph in the rain using the elements of the situation to your visual advantage.
— Peter Dench

Peter Dench | Member’s submissions for #10

Challenge #9

Take a natural scene and distill it down into its fundamental components to make the simplest and strongest statement.
— Fran Halsall

Fran Halsall | Member’s submissions for #9

Challenge 8

Recreate a famous photograph – one that you greatly admire.
— John MacLean

John MacLean | Member’s submissions for #8

Challenge #7

Photograph at least one person who lives on the same street as you (with their permission).
— James O Jenkins

James O Jenkins | Member’s submissions for #7

Challenge #6

Pick one place and don’t move from it for one hour making as many beautiful images as you can from that one point of view.
— Ami Vitale

Ami Vitale | Member’s submissions for #6

Challenge #5

Try to capture an unposed picture that contains the elements of a story, a strong sense of geometry and evokes an emotion in the viewer.
— Craig Semetko

Craig Semetko | Member’s submissions for #5

Challenge #4

“Nameless, wondrous, fleeting, moments are the truest treasure” (Rabindranath Tagore)
— Cate Davies

Cate Davies | Member’s submissions for #4

Challenge #3

Capture an honest portrait of a complete stranger in the street.
— Steven R. Hazlett

Steven R. Hazlett | Member’s submissions for #3

Challenge #2

The background is as important as the sitter (yourself).
— Sam Reynolds

Shoot The Living | Member’s submissions for #2

Challenge #1

We once saw a mural in Maidstone that said “What you see depends on where you stand”. Use this as your inspiration.
— The Caravan Gallery

The Caravan Gallery | Member’s submissions for #1