The last two contests have been fairly wide open themes allowing for a lot of variation in submissions and interpretation.  This time the theme is a little more narrow, with a specific subject in mind – faces!  I decided on the theme to be “FACES” after my recent visit to the Avedon exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I’ve also been busy talking to sponsors and am happy to introduce HDRSoft ( http://www.hdrsoft.com/) to Thirsty Photo!  Sponsors like HDRSoft support this site by giving two products of Photomatix away this contest. So we should support them by clicking on their links and checking their site out! Help keep our sponsors happy by visiting them.

Click Me!

So before going further – click on the Photomatix Banner! I personally use Photomatix Pro for HDR processing and will do a post later this month on this useful piece of software.  Additionally, HDRSoft is also offering a 15% discount for all members of Thirsty Photo.  Simply use the coupon code “ThirstyPhoto”  when purchasing a license online.   The coupon has to be entered in the ‘Coupon Code’ field of the order form that shows after having clicked on one of the ‘Buy’ buttons of the purchase page of the HDRSoft website.  You can actually download a trial version here.

1. Contest Announcement :

submission album

showcase album

Contest Announcement September 20th, 2009 This contest is open to all eligible members of the Facebook Group ThirstyPhoto. If you would like to participate in this contest simply join our Facebook Group, Connect to the Site, and submit your photos!  Join the Facebook Event as well to keep informed during the Contest. This is a Category Assignment with a Judges Panel and a Popular Vote. This means that there will be a round of voting for the judges, they will select the judges’ top 3, and then the popular vote will be open for all members to choose the members’ top 3. Some useful links to get you started :

1. How to Connect and Submit Photos (here)
2. Basic Contest Rules (here)
3. Using metadata before submitting to protect your ownership (here)
4. How to post an image (here)
5. Editing a photo once it is approved (here)

Other useful links worth reading about our site :

• Anatomy of a Contest (here)
• How voting works (here)

Submissions must have some form of interpretation of the Theme within the composition and description. With the theme this contest being ‘FACES’, there is some room for interpretation, but the focus should follow basic portraiture.  Take the opportunity (I know I will!) to research basic techniques around portraiture, creativity, and subject composition.  I’ll post information I find during my own research to share with members. All photo submissions must be taken by the submitter, who must retain full ownership of the photo. The submission must provide minimal EXIF information. Once your submission has been approved, you will have access to edit your Photo details.

2.Our Judges :

http://www.rackleyphotography.com

Ruth Rackley is an international award-wining photographer. Her specialty is documentary wedding photography and lifestyle editorial photography. Her photographic experiences have taken her around the world and across the US. Ruth’s unique style of story telling and lifestyle photography has been featured as part of the Palmetto Portrait Project with the SC state museum. Her portrait and lifestyle work for editorial and commercial clients has been published in the US and abroad.  See also : http://www.rackleyphotography.com/blog/

http://www.rcrivera.com/

RC Rivera is a San Francisco based photographer, by way of Brooklyn, Jersey, Virgina, and Manila. Specializing in fashion, beauty, portraiture, still life, conceptual photography for advertising and editorial assignment. Likes motorcycles, bunnies and traveling.  See also : http://www.silberstudios.tv/previous-shows/rc-rivera/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29539255@N04/

Shane Liem won first place in our last contest from the Judging Panel! I thought it would be fun to have previous winners participate as a judge. The extent of her photo experience is in her own words,  “… I was the head photographer of yearbook and newspaper in my high school, I used to compete at the photojournalism competitions for high school students. I placed first place in San Joaquin County, 2nd place in State and 1st place in Nationals for the NJEA. I went to USC Film School and was studying to become a cinematographer but ended up working in casting on feature films for 6 years. Then I went into casting commercials, ran someone else’s company for 6 years and then started my own company about 5 years ago and have been very fortunate to be successful…” She started really shooting again in January of this year.   Here was her winning photo.

First Place 'Signs' Theme

3.Prizes :

There are more prizes this time!  With our new sponsor on board, I am able to offer more. I hope as I get more sponsors on board the prizes get more compelling.

Prizes for Judges Panel selection:

1st Place: Adobe Lightroom

2nd Place: Photomatix Software

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3rd Place : Richard Avedon – Photographs 1964 – 2004

Prizes for Popular Vote:

1st Place: Photomatix Software

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2nd Place: Photo Techniques 12 month subscription

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3rd Place : American Photo 12 month subscription

First, second and third place submissions will be showcased in the Group’s Showcase album.

4. Dates :

Firstly, Be sure to join the Facebook Event, and our Facebook Group ThirstyPhoto. The Submission Window opens  today September 20th, 2009. All submissions must be posted no later than October 23rd, 2009. There is no Maximum Submission Count for this contest, so you can add more than one photo to the contest as long as it follows the Theme. The Judges Panel will be open for 7 days from October  24th , 2009 to October  31st, 2009 November 7th. The Popular Vote will be open for 7 days from November 1st , 2009 to November 7th, 2009 November 7th to November 14th. (Dates changed due the the large number of submissions!) All winners will be notified through email.