Art of Birding 2021 Wildlife & Nature Photography Challenge

Banner for the 2021 Art of Birding Wildlife & Nature Photography Challenge - take your creativity to new levels. Banner shows a singing hihi on a golden textured splattered background.

The challenge in 2021...

Join us on a year-long weekly photography challenge, designed especially for wildlife and nature lovers. Over the year, you will create more and more compelling and creative images, while also increasing your skills and confidence.

Take me to the challenges!

Our participants tell us they love to learn new techniques and to see the world in a new, creative ways.
You can do the challenges with any camera, starting from any skill level.
Choose to do optional advanced challenges (announced in the weekly newsletter).

These are your challenges - do as many or as few as you want and in your own timeframe.
The only person you need to answer to or satisfy is yourself.

Secrets to success

sign up for the weekly newsletter and get extra tips and hints
do the challenges with a friend
choose a specific location or theme for your challenges
join our friendly and supportive Facebook group
make use of the calendars (below) to keep on track
for busy folk, schedule time into your calendar each week to do the challenge
if you're short of time, try combining multiple challenges into one photo
if you get behind, skip the missing weeks and jump back on in

#PhotographyForGood
I love to see challenge photos used to advocate for our precious wildlife and wildspaces.
Post your images to social media and to your blog, if you have one.
Use hashtags to enable us to find and share your images:

Challenge hashtags: #artofbirding, #artofbirding2021, #aob2021week1 thru #aob2020week52
Find other relevant hashtags related to the location and critters you're photographing, e.g., #sharemezealandia, #orokonui, #kaka, #takahe, along with #conservation, #wildlife, #birdphotography and other more general terms.

Be featured with Excio
Each month, in partnership with Excio Photo Community, we choose our favourite photos (with your permission) to feature on the Excio App and Excio Blog.

Resources
Join our public Facebook group and post your photos and art, discuss the challenges, and get and give help.

Download an iCal (*.ics) calendar to load into your calendar app or link to the public Google calendar.

Download a printable PDF of the challenges. (2021 coming soon)

The Art of Birding challenge is named after my blog.
Unless the challenge specifically refers to birds, you're free to photograph any relevant subject.