Recently in our MeWe community, frequent contributor Tobias posted his completed 2024 Bingo Challenge images. Because I’m used to entries arriving on December 31st I reached out to him for his reflections on completing this challenge. My goal is to inspire you to start or complete your own Bingo Challenge while appreciating the growth that comes when we take on a creative challenge. There are two months left in 2024, which means there is plenty of time finish, or even start, this challenge. – Shelly Corbett (Editor)

What about a Bingo Card?

There’s no playing bingo without a bingo card, right? For all I know, everyone anticipates the moment someone jumps up and screams BINGO! So we need a bingo card here at the 2024 International Toy Photographers Community Bingo Tournament.

Plus, we had a bingo card last year, so I decided to make one this year.

There are many reasons for creating a visual bingo card. It’s great to see at a single glance what you’ve photographically accomplished over the year. It’s really a small, private retrospective. Looking back, you may realize your style has changed, or possibly the subject matter.

For example, comparing last year’s bingo card with this year’s it seems I’ve been working on my lighting. My images are getting brighter, less enveloped in darkness. Maybe that’s because two of the prompts where “high key” and “negative space”.

The group experience

It’s also great to see everybody else’s bingo card come together. There’s a couple of cards I am certainly looking forward to. I’m curious where this journey will take my fellow toy photographers. I love hearing the stories behind other’s experiences as they look back on this year long challenge. How did they approach it? Which prompt did they like most? And which one of their 24 pictures is their favorite?

Feeling stuck?

Should you feel out of ideas, here’s what I discovered: Single pictures can lead to a larger series or longer stories. This is what happened for me this year. The first bingo prompt I followed was “secret”. When I first contemplated this prompt, I felt I didn’t have the right figures to make the picture I had in mind.

Then I found this gang of elderly guys who were wrapped up in a partie de pétanque which inspired my “tradition” picture, above. They also looked like they were whispering “secrets”, which could then be photographed “in the style of” film noir. That again led me to create an image inspired by the Beatles’ When I’m Sixty-Four which satisfied the “based on a song” prompt. And then it’s only natural to find five elderly men hanging out in a pub which filled in the “party” prompt.

You get the idea. One picture leads to the next. And as I was creating the pictures I wanted to make, I was also checking my ideas against the prompts. Which explains why images featuring these old men are scattered throughout my card.

What about the actual bingo card?

As for creating a bingo card, there are many ways to make one. I decided against a loose arrangement of the pictures and went for the grid you see above. Further mirroring the grid with the prompts, I arranged my pictures according to the prompts because I also liked the idea of this arrangement being independent of any intentions of mine – I avoided the temptation of finding a story.

For those who have inquired about the mechanics of creating a bingo card, here is a basic outline. I use Affinity, but any photo or graphic app will work, even PowerPoint. First I had to do a bit of maths based on a single photo with the dimensions of 600 x 400 px. My goal was a grid of five photos by five photos, like the original. I planned on adding 10 px to separate each photo as well as create a frame. Based on my calculations I created a new document of 3060 x 2060 px. Then I added a new layer which I “filled” with white color (I can’t really name the commands because mine are in German). Finally, I imported / positioned every single picture. Which can be a bit fiddly – but fun too.

I hope that these reflections on my completed bingo card will inspire you to complete your own project. As I mentioned earlier, I’m looking forward to seeing your final images and hearing how this went for you.

If you have questions or further ideas, please leave them in the comments.

– Tobias