What makes a good photomarathon topic?

So obviously we’re not going to tell you the topics in advance, where’s the fun in that? But there is a conventional style to photomarathon topics, and many recurrent themes. So what was our thought process as we chose our twelve? If you’ve never done a photomarathon before, check out our minimarathon to get some suggestions as to what you might expect.

The committee met at our local pub one evening last week, armed with a stack of Post-its and various coloured Sharpies, and beer. In the background, the sound of Morris Dancers jingling their irritating bells and banging sticks together gave us some Oxfordshire inspiration. Personally, I agree with Sir Thomas Beecham on that topic, but in Oxfordshire that put’s me in a minority.

We were mindful that, as the Oxford Photomarathon, we wanted some Oxford themed topics, but all our topics have to be accessible to all participants everywhere (and we have a small number elsewhere in the UK, in the USA and in Canada) so they could be too exclusive. We also wanted every topic to invite multiple interpretations – we don’t want to see 100 photos based on the same idea, because then judging becomes all about technical perfection, and creative interpretation and originality are, to us, more important.

Looking now at the list we developed, a list which is now kept in a locked filing cabinet behind a sign saying Beware of the Leopard, I think we have achieved a mix that will invite a variety of images from everyone. I can see topics that I would address with a landscape, a portrait, a street scape, an abstract, a still life and more. But there are no “right” answers, and your image has only to be inspired by the topic, it does not have to be a literal representation. So be brave, be bold, and focus on visual impact and creativity. Most important though, have fun on the day, then later have fun looking at everyone else’s entries and seeing how they tackled them.