Welcome to the third issue of the Steem Photo Journal!
The SPJ is a 
Besides the contest, which will be always present, sections of the journal may vary depending on the authors involved in the issues and will respond to the readers’ feedback!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Captivating
CAPTIVATING
Finding visually exceptional photo posts on the Steem blockchain. No text needed.
@kieranstone
@annaabi
@scottdphotoPHOTOGRAPHER'S STORY (featuring 
''I started taking photos as a child with a plastic Girl Scout camera that I received as a gift from my parents in 1964. It used 127 films and had one shutter speed and since it was the only camera my family owned, I became the official photographer of the family.
I started taking photos when I began traveling. I got my first passport at age 40 for a trip to Russia and wanted to capture the experience to share with family and friends. And after that trip came Taiwan, Greece, many countries in Europe, Canada, Mexico, Belize, Bonaire, and almost all of the states in the USA. And I took pictures everywhere I went.
Today, I am so excited to be able to have Steem as a reason to sort through old pictures and relive the wonderful memories!
I have several cameras around, including a Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ200, but the one I grab most often is a Canon Powershot SX420 IS, partly because it is WiFi compatible and I can download the photos easily to my phone.
I use Pixlr for most editing, and I love all the filters and options available to turn some of my less than ideal photos into something useable!
I have learned only by trial and error and asking questions of people that seemed to know what they were doing. I am definitely an amateur photographer who just loves taking pictures.''
CURATION
Featuring exceptional authors worth curating.
@victorbzOne of the great B/W photographers on the Steem blockchain. Based in Israel and mostly presenting analog photography.
TRAVEL
Showcasing visually entertaining travel post.
STATS
TOP 20 Effective curators in Photography category
| ¹ | Account | Votes | Authors | VAS(%) | Contr. (SBD) | Share % | Eff. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  @sweetsssj | 28 | 11 | 92 | 1314,96 | 8,44 | 6,69 |
| 2 |  @isteemd | 51 | 23 | 16 | 585,27 | 3,76 | 6,23 |
| 3 |  @esteemapp | 132 | 80 | 4 | 123,36 | 0,79 | 4,56 |
| 4 |  @good-karma | 131 | 80 | 4 | 61,38 | 0,39 | 2,27 |
| 5 |  @hendrikdegrote | 33 | 28 | 5 | 123,44 | 0,79 | 1,6 |
| 6 |  @roelandp | 282 | 93 | 2 | 27,22 | 0,17 | 1,17 |
| 7 |  @surpassinggoogle | 31 | 27 | 7 | 59,15 | 0,38 | 0,74 |
| 8 |  @alexis555 | 41 | 21 | 16 | 70,18 | 0,45 | 0,68 |
| 9 |  @jawnz | 56 | 10 | 100 | 141,7 | 0,91 | 0,66 |
| 10 |  @redes | 42 | 25 | 16 | 53,05 | 0,34 | 0,61 |
| 11 |  @steepshot | 202 | 84 | 10 | 14,3 | 0,09 | 0,56 |
| 12 |  @newhope | 35 | 15 | 16 | 68,05 | 0,44 | 0,47 |
| 13 |  @davidding | 16 | 10 | 54 | 100,07 | 0,64 | 0,46 |
| 14 |  @onceuponatime | 21 | 11 | 47 | 88,43 | 0,57 | 0,45 |
| 15 |  @grandpawhale | 112 | 58 | 2 | 15,85 | 0,1 | 0,43 |
| 16 |  @slowwalker | 25 | 14 | 15 | 66,25 | 0,43 | 0,43 |
| 17 |  @mangos | 48 | 23 | 15 | 39,71 | 0,25 | 0,42 |
| 18 |  @ocdb | 21 | 8 | 39 | 104,75 | 0,67 | 0,39 |
| 19 |  @daveks | 53 | 11 | 78 | 76,78 | 0,49 | 0,39 |
| 20 |  @oldtimer | 23 | 13 | 60 | 61,35 | 0,39 | 0,37 |
TOP of photography related categories from the TOP 200 categories by rewards
| ¹ | Category | Authors | Posts | Reward (SBD) | Share % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | photography | 2162 | 6554 | 15530,79 | 5,027 |
| 2 | travel | 655 | 1485 | 7982,018 | 2,584 |
| 3 | photo | 316 | 602 | 1621,71 | 0,525 |
| 4 | colorchallenge | 265 | 559 | 1438,183 | 0,465 |
| 5 | photofeed | 62 | 168 | 1053,505 | 0,341 |
| 6 | streetphotography | 139 | 236 | 369,637 | 0,12 |
| 7 | monomad | 81 | 217 | 367,39 | 0,119 |
| 8 | foodphotography | 159 | 247 | 299,535 | 0,097 |
| 9 | landscapephotography | 176 | 294 | 294,444 | 0,095 |
| 10 | animalphotography | 220 | 305 | 285,24 | 0,092 |
| 11 | macrophotography | 124 | 210 | 271,872 | 0,088 |
| 12 | steepshot | 96 | 216 | 258,354 | 0,084 |
| 13 | smartphonephotography | 141 | 221 | 256,769 | 0,083 |
| 14 | travelfeed | 34 | 58 | 246,108 | 0,08 |
| 15 | cityscapephotography | 66 | 88 | 213,945 | 0,069 |
| 16 | colourfulphotography | 101 | 163 | 210,296 | 0,068 |
A table explanation
Votes - Each curator distributes a certain part of the reward pool with his votes (upvote / flag).
Authors - This part of the pool he distributes between a certain number of authors.
VAS (vote average strength) - For general awareness, we can estimate the average vote strength in percents (%), with which the curator votes.
Contr. (SBD) (Contribution in SBD) - The distributed part of the pool is the contribution of the curator, it is calculated in SBD. In this case, the author's reward is taken into account. The curator's reward is not taken into account.
Share % - The percentage of the curator contribution among the contributions of all curators, we can also estimate for information purposes in %.
Eff. - The effectiveness of the curator is estimated in conventional units.
CONTEST
The SPJ’s contest is a monthly photography challenge, constituted by four parts (one a week) with different themes. The four recurrent themes are: portrait, street photography, landscape and black and white.
The way the winner is selected is the following: every week the ten best submissions will be selected by our judges and receive 1 to 10 points, based on their ranking. At the end of the month the points received in each of the four weeks will be added together, resulting in a monthly winner.
The photographer of the month will win 5 Steem! In addition, every week, the three best submissions will be rewarded with 0.5 Steem each.
Location: Romsdalen area near Åndalsnes - central Norway
Photographer: 
This week’s theme is LANDSCAPE!
How it works:
Post only your own original content adhering to the weekly theme.
Create a post entitled ‘SPJ contest submission by username’, using #spj as your first hashtag.
Copy paste a link to this post in the comments section below (deadline: Monday 12pm CET).
Upvoting and resteeming this article is not mandatory, but highly desirable, as it will contribute to the success of this contest.
The winners will be published in the following issue of the SPJ.
You can join the contest at any point!
Winners of the previous round with the theme STREET PHOTOGRAPHY:
All winners are getting 0.5 Steem.
SPJ Contest submission by 
SPJ Contest submission by 
SPJ Contest submission by 
MONTHLY Leader-board:
| ¹ | Author | Portrait | Street | Landscape | B&W | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | @marekwojciakcom | 7 | 10 | 17 | ||
| 2 |  @cave-man | 9 | 7 | 16 | ||
| 3 | @nolasco | 8 | 8 | 16 | ||
| 4 |  @twodorks | 10 | - | 10 | ||
| 5 |  @txatxy | 6 | 4 | 10 | ||
| 6 |  @photoquest | 4 | 6 | 10 | ||
| 7 | @minnowhale | - | 9 | 9 | ||
| 8 |  @maquemali | 5 | - | 5 | ||
| 9 |  @boddhisattva | 3 | - | 3 | ||
| 10 |  @photobe | 2 | - | 2 | ||
| 11 |  @ijmmai | 1 | - | 1 | ||
| 12 |  @ykdesign | 0 | - | 0 |
PARTICIPANTS
COVER: Photographer:
@photofriend 
@claudiaz 
@brumest 
@jpphotography @boddhisattva @photofriend | judged by 
@axeman and @brumest