Time to get your creative hat on – it’s time to start the 2025 Bingo Challenge! If you’re not familiar with our 3rd annual bingo challenge, let me try to explain the challenge as simply as I can.

We provide you with a bingo-styled card that lists prompts for you to create photos from. Obviously, photos that feature your toys! The only deadline is that you must be finished by the last day of 2025. There is no judging, only a random drawing from all completed entries for a Lensbaby lens valued at $299 (US). Past winners have included Sunny Ang and Janan Lee.

The bingo challenge prompts

A big thank you to past winners Sunny Ang, Janan Lee with the help of Barb McKenzie for developing this year’s bingo prompts. I’m thrilled that they developed a list that includes both technical and story challenges. They even included a few of the MeWe community’s favorite past photo challenges!

As you read through the prompts I hope that you can see that there are multiple interpretations for many of them. In my workshops I always let new people know that in toy photography there are no right answers, only creative solutions. The goal is to have fun, have a goal that keeps you moving forward creatively, and to try ideas in photography that you wouldn’t normally. I do want to push you out of your comfort zone! It’s by moving into the uncomfortable that we discover our limitations. Which are rarely as limiting as we think!

Horizon

If you’re like me you might be looking at the prompt ‘Horizon’ and scratching your head. I know I did! This prompt was chosen by Sunny, and after you watch this short explainer video, you will have a clearer idea of what is being implied. What will dominate your horizon line?

Reflections

I love using ‘reflections’ as a prompt for toy photography. As creative photographers, we can approach them as either metaphors or a creative design element. Any reflective surface (puddle, mirror, lake, car hood, window, etc) can give you as much or as little reflections as you want. Reflections can be either crystal clear or abstract. Like everything else in toy photography, they can be anything you want them to be!

I’ve assembled three examples of reflections to get you thinking about just one of the 24 prompts in the 2025 Bingo Challenge. What I love about two of them is that they would also work for ‘Frame in a Frame’!

by Luis Castanon
by Sunny Ang
by Shelly Corbett

The fine print of the 2025 Bingo Challenge

While the basics of the 2025 Bingo Challenge are pretty easy (take 24 photos by the end of the year), there are a couple of additional guidelines that need to be followed.

  • You must be 18 years or older to enter
  • You must be an active member of the Toy Photographers MeWe community
  • To be an active member simply post at least twice a month plus like and comment on other members’ posts
  • All posts that are part of the challenge should be tagged #ToyPhotographersBingo2025
  • Images posted in MeWe should also be added to a folder you create in the group and titled: Bingo2025 + your name
  • We want to encourage you to share your images outside of MeWe and tag them #ToyPhotographersBingo2025
  • Images created for this challenge will be eligible for feature on our various social channels
  • At the end of the year please create a post in MeWe featuring all your entries so we can celebrate your accomplishment!
  • All entries must be posted in MeWe by 12/31/2025 and your bingo card (.jpg) must be sent to Shelly (editor of Toyphotogrpahers.com)
  • The blog will cover the cost of shipping any and all prizes.

If you would like to use the following PNG file created by Sunny to create your final Bingo Card, feel free. A big thank you to Sunny who took the amazing prompts and created our visuals for this Bingo Challenge as well as our Logo!

Have fun!

The 2025 Bingo Challenge is designed to keep your creativity alive in a year guaranteed to be filled with change. 24 images may feel like a lot, so here’s a quick list of ways to break down this task:

  • Set a goal of two images a month
  • Rate images from perceived easiest to hardest
  • Tackle the hard ones in between your ‘easy’ ones
  • Make idea lists for all the prompts and revisit the list throughout the year
  • Let your ideas and toys guide you; don’t force your ideas
  • If you’re stuck on one image, approach it from a different point of view
  • Post regularly in the MeWe group for support and encouragement
  • If you’re not enjoying yourself, stop, take a beat, and think about why that may be
  • Have fun!

Thank you for joining our yearly challenge. I can’t wait to see what you create!

Shelly