Well, here I am, a newbie to the site and my first PotM is looming

I have looked through all the PotM entries of 2009 and there are constantly great pictures, but my biggest dilemma is just what will I submit?"
I would consider it easier to make a choice were there a theme, but totally open-ended ...... wow, just where do I start.
Landscape, nature, wildlife, macro, funny, serious, cute ....... oh dear.

I would be most grateful for any help or pointers from all you 'old hands'.

I understand what you are saying Keith as myself and Linda also have this same problem... at least with a theme you are restricted to what you can choose! Maybe we can look at introducing one for March so if anyone has any suggestions; here are some we prepared earlier:

* Lochs
* Waterfalls
* Bridges
* Buildings
* Ruins
* Glens
* Hills or Mountains
* Flowers, Foliage, etc
* Vehicles
* Graffiti
* Graveyards
* Inscriptions/Engravings
* (Odd) Mileposts
* Night Time
* People at Work
* Reflections
* Telephone/Post Boxes

And then there's those that Keith suggested: Landscape, nature, wildlife, macro, funny, serious, cute!

Feel free to add some more and we can vote on these some time during the coming month!

Don't get me wrong Bruce, I'm not saying you should or must have a theme, it's just a case of what is the 'norm' for most people when the choice is unlimited.
Do folk tend to stick with landscapes, meaning all scenery including mountains and lochs, or do they experiment with other things?

We usually have 3-4 months with themes throughout the year (including December's Winter!) so March would be a good month to have the first this year! As for the other 8 or 9 months, I suppose the majority of the photos would be scenic shots, but we do get the occasional historic building or some wildlife or (as with Ken's winning shot in January) something completely different... but what we always get are great photos!

Maybe one of these days I'll get round to creating the PotM Index that I have been considering to show every shot by each entrant we've had since it all started... gonna be a while setting up, but it might be interesting to see them all together!

I have found my old albums from my Scotland trips and there are a few promising pictures which I am considering using, but I am in the embarrassing position of not knowing exactly where they are

I see all entries usually give exact location details, is this a 'must'?

A location is something that is nice to have, but I guess if you don't know it then you can't tell us... so its not essential (and who knows, someone here might recognise it!)

Although I don't know the exact locations of two pictures in particular, I do know an approximate location and of course, the journey I was making at the time.

So I guess at a pinch, if I do use any of these, I could perhaps call them "En route to ...." or something similar.

Thanks Bruce.

I have loads of photos that have names similar to that... or "On the road from A to B"!

My decision, or narrowing down process continues.

I already discarded the 'Shopping Horse from Mull'



and I have now also discarded one I was quite convinced I would use, called "Light and airy on Mull" or maybe in Estate-agent speak something like 'Bijou with just a touch of decorating needed

That second photo looks like it would be advertised as ideal for stargazers... it certainly doesn't look like it will suffer too much from light pollution!

There's an idea; One's own observatory!

That's it, decision made, whether the right one or not, I have now sent my 'Scotland' entry.