Thanks for the Monday Photo Shoot!

John Scalzi's Monday Photo Shoot became a regular feature on By The Way on March 7, 2005. Two plus years on and hundreds of Monday Shoots later the basic promise of the Monday photo meme has remained the same. In John Scalzi's words:

"I suggest a thing to photograph, and you either go out and photograph it, or, if you already have a suitable photograph you want to share, go ahead use that. Then post the photo on your own AOL Journal, and then just come back here and post a link in the comments."

Simple and easy to participate are the two ingredients of a great meme but it did take a while for photo sharing via Journals to gain momentum. Photo sharing in 2003 and 2004 was a dicey process at best. Online photo sharing services offered photo sharing but in a limited context like e-mail or password protected gallery viewing. By 2005 enough Journalers had mastered the choices of FTP, Photobucket, AOL Pictures and other photo services to make the Monday Photo Shoot a reality.

On a Monday in March of 2005, John Scalzi asked to see our Sunsets and the AOL Journal community responded. A photo meme was born.

Starting with Sunsets to the current topic of "Frosty," the Monday Photo Shoot has let participants share their photos through the community lens. Our Graduations, our Fireworks, our Holiday Celebrations and, of course, our Pets all became subjects for the Monday Photo Shoot cameras. Great photography, good photography or snapshots, it did not matter just as long as you posted a photo to your Journal and posted your link on time. People noticed, looked in and commented on the photos shared.

Connections were made and friendships formed around the Monday photos. Buddy Lists grew as people discovered not only did they write about similar topics, they also admired the same scenery and used the same camera brands. Shutterbugs, snapshot takers and photo story weavers all crossed paths every Monday on John Scalzi's By The Way. A visual conversation of sorts began to happen in comments across the Journal community.

"Where was that photo taken?"
"Pretty!"
"What is that?"
"Who is that?"
"How can I make my photos bigger?"
"That's Amazing!"
"What camera do you have?"
"Nice to finally see you."
"Wow - how do you do that?"
"I want one of those"
"Nice blue sky, it's raining here."
"You just made me hungry!"
"I have the exact same rug!!!!!"
"I just see a red X"
"Awwwww, she's lovely."

We communicated through our pictures while admiring the results of the Monday Photo Shoots. Sharing photos each Monday on By The Way. Good fun.

What are your recollections? The Best Monday Photo Shoot ever? Your favorite topic? Your favorite shutterbug? Whose photos did you always want to see? Post your links to your own entries in comments about participating in the Monday Photo Shoot and we'll share them here on the Scalzi Celebration blog in the coming days.

Tags: John Scalzi, By The Way, Monday Photo Shoot, blogplugs