This year, I decided to enter a handful of my photos in the 2015 Shoot and Share Contest.  This is an international contest that included professional photographers from all over the world!  As scary and impossible as it seemed that I would even make it through the first round of voting, I decided to be brave and enter for the experience.  In case you are not familiar with Shoot and Share, this is a membership community created for the sole purpose of inspiring, connecting and educating photographers.  It is a community focused on serving, contributing for a greater cause and celebrating the lives of each other.  I love everything this group stands for and am proud to be a shareholder.  I can honestly say over the past few months, this community has changed my life.  Perhaps I will share more about that in another post, but for now…

 

LET’S TALK ABOUT THE CONTEST!!!

 

Here’s how the contest worked:

There were no names.  No watermarks.  No popularity contest.  Thousands upon thousands of photos were submitted.

One Hundred Ten Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty-eight to be exact.  You could enter up to 40 images.  I entered the maximum.

The 21 categories for entry were:

– Engagement

– The Wedding Couple

– Just the Bride

– Just the Groom

– Just the Guests

– Real Moment

– Details: all dressed up

– Details: ring shot

– Details: cake, flowers & decor

– Wedding Party

– That Just Happened

– Newborn

– People Portraits

– Children

– Families

– Senior Guy/Girl

– Maternity

– Passion Portrait

– Phone Photography

– Personal Work

– Stylized Shoot

FOR THE VOTING:

1.  4 images would populate at one time on your screen.
2.  You clicked on your favorite out of the 4.
3.  Then 4 more images showed up.  You clicked on your favorite again.
4.  All day.  Every day.  Only rare bathroom and/or chocolate breaks.  For a little over a month.
5.  Random images would continue to show up.
6.  Every few days, the images with the lowest percentage of votes would drop off.
7.  12 rounds total.  Over 70,000 people involved.  Over 110,000 images submitted.  Over 20,000,000 total votes.
8.  The voting went on until a winner was selected from each of each of the 21 categories.

I will admit I spent, um, a LOT of time in front of my computer voting in this contest.  It. was. SO. addictive.  I was consistently blown away by the beautiful work of so many incredible photographers!  It was surreal to see my work in the same contest with the very photographers I look up to and are being mentored by!  Every once in awhile, one of my images would pop up and it was exhilarating! Towards the end of the month-long contest, I received an email that stated I was a…

 

 

What?!  For realsies?  Then, at the very end of the contest, I received an email that stated I was a…

 

 

 

You guys! I can’t even tell you what kind of happy dance was going on when I realized I made it this far! I am humbled and so grateful for the people who voted for me and the support group I’ve had over these past 4 years of business.  In the end, once ALL the votes were tallied, I ended up with 24 images out the 40 I submitted in the top 30% or higher!  Here they are:

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And NOW for my finalist photos!!!!

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Last but not least, one of my images made it to the Top 100 in its category!!! I am so excited since this is in my Top 3 favorite photos I’ve ever taken! So, without further ado, here’s my finalist photo….

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(((((DRUM ROLL)))))

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There you have it, friends!  The 2015 Shoot and Share Contest is a wrap!  Whether you are a professional photographer, an aspiring photographer or a hobbyist with photos you are proud of, I encourage you to enter next year!  It’s an amazing and super fun experience!

See you soon!! xoxo