Photo Journal Swap

I really love taking pictures and I love seeing what other people take pictues of. So this swap will be a journal style photo book. You will take a journal of some sort and fill it with pictures and explanations of the pictures. The pictures must be your own. You may alter them on the computer if you'd like ie, combining photos, changing the colors, etc, but it's got to be your own work.

You can handmake the journal or you can buy one, but please choose a size that allows for writing room on the same page as the picture. Please, no spiral notebooks. The pages come out of these way too easily. ALSO, please be extra careful about writing on the page across from the pictures. We don't want to smear the pictures with ink.

You will take at least 12 pictures over the next month for your journal. You may include more and you may alter the outside of the journal if you wish. Walmart has prints for 28 cents and snapfish has relatively cheap prints as well. So it's not unreasonable to ask for you to print out a minimum of 6 shots on photo paper.

On the first page, do a self portrait accompanied by a short intro. I realize that people like privacy, so the minimum is a first name, user name, and what you like to do for fun. On the following pages, fill your journal with your photography. As I said, you may alter the pictures with Gimp or Photoshop, but it needs to be your own work. You may also embellish the journal pages around the pics with drawings or cutouts or ephemera relating to (or not relating to) the picture.

Try to diversify the pictures so that it's not all shots of one thing or place. Please don't just send 12 pictures at different angles of the same thing, either. Also, please make sure that your photos are clear. No fuzzy shots unless there is some artistic reason for the fuzziness. Please handle red eye as well either through a red eye fixing program or with one of those red eye correcting pens.

No recent 1s. Recent 3s only with a good explanation. It would be extremely difficult to angel this swap, though if anyone is flaked on, I can send you pictures, though maybe not a journal. Minimum of 5 completed mail swaps (completed meaning that you were rated).

I am selecting a month for the amount of time for this. If it's not long enough, let me know, but I'm afraid that if I select any longer people will forget or grow disinterested and we will have flakers.

ALSO...NO X RATED PICS. I would think that people would know this, but I'm afraid that if I don't say it someone will get something inappropriate. If you feel the need to send pics of the human body, please make sure that private areas are covered tastefully. (IE artistic pics where a belly or back is showing is ok as long as it's not suggestive, not of a child, and there is some sort of TASTEFUL covering of the buttocks and genital areas). No naked baby pics because you don't know who you're sending to. Put a diaper on the child or cover him/her with a blanket below the waste if this is your form of art.

Suggestions (though please feel free to branch out): flowers shoes people at play something you see at work something you find on the street something you receive in the mail today a mess that you made

The idea is to be stretched and pushed beyond what you would normally do. See something new and show it to your partner.

I will send out a reminder about a week before the mail deadline. And if the deadline needs to be extended let me know.

Happy Swapping!!