This is a photography challenge for bloggers, but you don’t need to be a great photographer to take part. You simply need to be able to square your photographs!
Prior to 2022 the challenge took place quarterly (ish), with a new theme every challenge. In 2022 the challenge reduced to two months, and thank goodness it did as in the April my husband suddenly and unexpectedly died. I struggled to live that year let alone blog. In 2023, whilst I continued to learn to live with my loss and the grief, I took a break from blogging.
Now in 2024 I am beginning to blog once more and I am delighted to confirm Squares is returning.
So join us in this lovely challenge and post a themed photographic square daily for 30/31 days every month the challenge is live. The first month in 2024 will be May followed by September. May’s theme was announced here in early April, and it started here on May 1st.
September’s will be confirmed over the summer. Theme hints though will be given throughout the year!
days
hours minutes seconds
until
the start of the next SQUARES challenge
How it works!
Whilst I encourage daily posts, if you prefer you can join us weekly, post all 31 (or 30) in one go at the end of the month, or even pop in occasionally with your squares. The frequency of your posts depends on you and your blog. To join us:
- Create your square post, and include a pingback to one of my daily square posts (not this page or the home page as otherwise I don’t know about your ping!). You can also add the link to your post in the comments on any of my square posts
- Include the theme’s tag (sometimes this may be the only way I can find you too)
- Use one of my squares logos to help promote the challenge
- Leave a comment on my post as well as your link
- Remember to subscribe to my blog to receive your reminders
- Whether you post squares or not, be an amazing member of the Square team and make time to enjoy one or more of the square galleries
The
absolute rule
Your main photograph must be square in shape!
Other Useful Information:
Why square? It is not that I dislike oblongs with their unequal adjacent sides, in fact they are how I normally photograph. This daily challenge however is all about square photography (and square crops). So before you post please remember whilst every square is a rectangle only four equal sides make a rectangle a square!
In the winter months my post of the day usually goes live between 5am and 7am GMT, in the summer usually around 6am BST. Pingbacks need to be approved, which means occasionally there can be a small delay in your link appearing in the comments. I aim to visit every pingback/link, so if I have not liked or left a comment on your post within four days of you posting let me know.
At least once during the challenge month I create a gallery showcasing everyone who has taken part in the previous 7 to 10 days. It is a great way to catch up with fellow squarers, to make new blogging friends and to find inspiration.
The challenge began in September 2017, and since then more than 200 bloggers have taken part. In a challenge month around 60 bloggers take part; some daily like me, others weekly and a few at random times during the month.
There are been 20 Square Challenges of which the themes have been: Flowers, Sky, Circles & Squares, Roofs, In the Pink, Time, Spiky, Blue, Lines, words containing the word ‘light’, Top, Perspectives, Kinda, Up, Bright, Trees, Past, Odd, Walking and as of May 2024 renew!
If you would like to look back at some of our previous themes, and check out some of the amazing squares that fellow squarers have been sharing, click on a picture below to be taken to one of the gallery posts. Alternatively here are all my first day squares.
If you would like a mention and link to your posts to be included in one of the galleries it is essential your photographs are square.
If squares are not your thing there are plenty of other shaped blogging challenges. Visit Cee who has collated a wonderful list of regular challenges around the world. I’m hoping though you will try Squares at least once!
Privacy Statement: If you take part in Squares by leaving a pingback or a link in a comment I will record the name of your website in a secure spreadsheet (used to be a notebook!) to facilitate the production of the Square Galleries. I don’t record your url, your name, email or any other information in this spreadsheet and I don’t share this information with anyone apart from creating the online gallery for the Squares challenge.
I also occasionally look at the anonymous statistics produced by WordPress. Here’s my full privacy statement.
The life of B 