My Personal Nightmare...you are invited to explore your own fears and phobias through the medium of photography as part of an inclusive and non-competitive community project.

What's this all about?

The My Personal Nightmare art challenge is the creation of =Ptollemy, so I'll let her introduce it...



One of the things I love about photography is it's subjectivity - how we all have out own personal take on ideas. This gave me the idea of a "shoot out" - a shared theme with each photographer giving their own person vision.

Originally I thought of it as a one on one game, and asked ^RockstarVanity if she would be interested as I really love her work. She suggested opening it up as a community project, which is very exciting.



If you would like to help promote the project, you can use these stamps:



If you fancy making your own stamp, submit it to dA and note me with a link so I can plaster it all over the place.

If you have any questions about this art challenge please send me a note. Don't leave questions in the comments on this article as they don't appear in my message centre so are easy to miss.

Is it a competition?

No, it definitely isn't a competition. It's a community project, an art challenge, something fun to inspire creativity, give other artists a window into your mind, and to encourage involvement in something which isn't based on winning prizes. I've made a collection for submissions and will be gathering them as they appear, and will be featuring your work in journals and news articles too.

Who can join in?

Because this isn't a contest, it is open to absolutely everyone - members, subscribers, beta testers, seniors, volunteers and staff. The lack of a competition element will hopefully create a more welcoming environment for artists who are new to dA or just new to photography or horror art. Exploring the depths of your mind and expressing your emotions through the medium of photography is something that anyone can do, whether you're working with a super-expensive dSLR or a tiny little compact digicam. The art is made by you, not by your camera!

So its just horror photography then?

Pretty much, yes. But horror photography doesn't have to be all blood and gore. Some of the most amazing horror photos are all about the atmosphere without a drop of blood in sight. People who haven't yet explored horror as a genre to view or create may have misconceptions or assume that horror isn't for them just because they aren't into violence or gore. This is absolutely not the case and if you're one of the people who are new to horror, this challenge is an attempt to reach out to you and encourage you to have a go at something a little different.

HDR, panoramic, traditional and digital darkroom images are welcome, but this is a photography challenge, not a digital art challenge, so please keep your submissions within the guidelines for photography as laid out in dA's gallery descriptions.

Photography: Photographs taken with a film or a digital camera featuring a minimal amount of colour and exposure adjustment.

Photography > Darkroom: Photographs manipulated in a film darkroom or digitally enhanced with the use of computer software to emulate traditional darkroom techniques.

Photography > Darkroom > Traditional: Scans of traditional film prints and negatives that have been produced using traditional darkroom techniques.

Photography > Darkroom > Digital: Photographs that have undergone significant digital enhancements using computer software.

How can I submit to the challenge?

Create a horror photograph depicting your own personal nightmare.
Submit it to Community Projects > Projects & Clubs > My Personal Nightmare
Make sure you tag your work as Mature Content if necessary!

While it would be extra great if the challenge inspired you to create something new, you can relocate an existing deviation (or deviations) to the challenge's gallery if you have already explored the concept in depth in your previous work. You are welcome to submit as many photos as you like.

When writing the description for your deviation, you may find it helpful to refer to this news article about why its a good idea to explain your materials and/or methods for horror photography submissions.

The description of your deviation MUST include the following paragraph. All html tags are in place here so you can simply copy and paste it into your description:

This is My Personal Nightmare
For more information about the My Personal Nightmare horror photography art challenge, please visit <a href=\"http://news.deviantart.com/article/85986/">this news article</a>.

Inspiration

_{Horror art is an acquired taste and people tend to love it or hate it (or at least just not get it). If you love it, great! If you hate it or don't get it, please move along politely and refrain from being insulting towards other people's creations simply because the subject matter isn't to your personal taste. If you don't get horror art and would like to chat about it, feel free to send me a note and I'll happily answer your questions as best I can.}