Grand Prize: Mountain’s Majesty
The 2007 Grand Prize Winner: Tracy Arcari of Wheatogue, Connecticut who took top honors for her breathtaking picture of The Mittens, a justly renowned rock formation in Monument Valley, Arizona.

A Favorite: Gateway Arch In Winter
Timothy O’Brien of Florissant, Missouri captured this powerfully graphic and somber image of the famed Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the big city closest to his home.

A Favorite: The Lincoln Memorial Lives
Matthew Johnson of Shortsville, New York shot this unusual and compelling view of the Lincoln Memorial while visiting his sister, who lives in Washington DC.

The Tamron “Make Your Mark: Landmarks—Natural or Manmade” 2007 Photo Contest was open to U.S. residents submitting any original photograph prominently including a natural or manmade landmark that was taken with a Tamron lens. The Grand Prize: A magnificent Tamron AF18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 Aspherical LD Di II (IF) Macro zoom lens in the DSLR mount of the winner’s choice, plus having the winning picture showcased in the Tamron Viewfinder newsletter, and in the Gallery section of the popular Tamron website. In addition, twenty photographers whose images were selected as Favorites would have their names and winning images published on the website for all to admire.

In addition, the theme for the next Tamron’s big 2008 Photo Contest is “Wet & Wild,” a very broad and exciting picture category that includes any images prominently including water—a lake, ocean, river, stream, pool, water slide, waterfall, even a sprinkler or bathtub!
Pictures submitted must be original, the property of the photographer, and photographed using a Tamron lens. The contest is open to Tamron users residing in the United States and all entries must be received no later than October 31, 2008. Complete details and an entry form can be found at http://www.tamron.com. The Grand Prize Winner of the 2008 contest will receive a Tamron AF28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di VC LD Aspherical IF Macro zoom lens featuring Tamron’s new Vibration Compensation mechanism (a $599 value).

Photoaxe is going to celebrate 1 year of photo-blogging. With this occasion, I decided to run a contest and as a prize for the winner, a book will be given away.

Why should I participate?

By participating you will have the following benefits:
1. the great prize the book Associated Press Guide to Photojournalism”. You can find out more about this book here.
2. a link to your blog for all the participants
3. audience and fame

How can I participate?

1. The theme: tell a story in pictures. The requirement is to have a series of pictures (3 to 5 pics) depicting a story.
2. Post your pictures on your blog and indicate your participation by linking to this post (a trackback will be received). If you want to be sure you can send me an e-mail at contest@photoaxe.com
3. Among with the series of pictures I’m also asking for a short text in which you explain what you felt about the subject and why did you choose it.
You can make new shots or use the ones from your own archive. I want you to tell me a story in pictures, no matter what story. Imagine that you are a photojournalist and I send you over to get me a story for a magazine. What would you do? How would you think of this?

What is the schedule?

1. The deadline: January 1st
2. The winner will be announced two weeks after the deadline.

My personal example

Below you can see an example of such photojournalistic series. In this example the images are black&white but you can also submit color. If you like the idea, then you will surely like the prize: “Associated Press Guide to Photojournalism”. There is no such thing as age limit or nationality. Also, don’t worry about copyrights: it’s all yours and Photoaxe will not use it for any purpose.

Indian Culture on Today’s Streets

Inside today’s busy city life, a group of enthusiastic artists remembered the passing watchers about native Americans and their culture.
Singing and dancing under the moon light, they managed to gather an impressive number of people around them and a photographer: me.
The feathers, the colorful leather clothes, the paintings on their faces, everything was done in a very eye-catching manner.
However, the sound of their music was amplified by modern electronic gears like microphones and high voltage speakers. I felt like this was ripping away the magic of the moment and the message which is supposed to be send:
“We must all stand together as a force of love. Arm yourself with truth, love and perseverance. People of the earth take back your heritage. I am not speaking of skin color or religion. Our heritage is this earth… Our heritage is also extended beyond this earth into the heavens where the spirit once lived before our birth into this world. You are bound to both.”

You are in the Jury

For complete objectivity I decided to ask your help too, my reader.

So the winner will be decided like this:

1. One week you will vote your favorite story. You can choose only one story. It will be nice to comment why you chosed that story.
2. In the jury will be me, Brian and Tudor. Based on your votes and our opinions we will chose the winner.

Shoot Your Questions

If you have any questions or suggestions please leave a comment. I will sure answer you.
If you would like to sponsor this contest please contact me.

The Nature Conservancy invites you to enter your stunning nature images in our second annual digital photography competition. Theme: beautiful nature photography representing the diversity of life on Earth.
Images can be submitted to one of 2 categories: Best Photo from a Place We Protect or Best Nature Photo. Lands, waters, plants, animals and people in nature are all eligible for the competition.

How to compete:
To enter one or more images, upload your photo(s) to the Conservancy’s Flickr group and tag them for the appropriate category. Or, if you prefer, you can complete an online form and email each photo, one at a time.

Prize:
At least 50 photos will be selected as finalists, a minimum of 25 for each category. Each category will have one grand prize winner:

The Best Photo from a Place We Protect category winner’s image will be printed in the 2009 Nature Conservancy calendar. The calendar reaches nearly 2 million households worldwide. To learn more about places we protect, visit the Where We Work section of the web site.
The Best Nature Photo category winner’s image will be featured on The Nature Conservancy’s website, nature.org, which is visited by more than 3 million people annually.

Rules:
The contest is open to all participants age 18 and older regardless of residence or citizenship, so long as the laws of their jurisdiction allow participation. Photo submissions must be uploaded by 11:59 pm Pacific Standard Time on December 31, 2007.
You will retain all rights to any photograph you submit — including ownership if applicable — other than those rights licensed in the next sentence. By entering the contest, you hereby grant to The Nature Conservancy (i) a nonexclusive, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free license to reproduce, distribute, publicly display and publicly perform the photographs you submit to The Nature Conservancy, and (ii) the right to use your name, city, state and country of residence in promotions and other publications.
Images may be submitted in one of two categories. Photographers may enter all entries in a single category, or they may select different categories so long as each photo is entered into only one category. Judges reserve the right to move images from one category to the other based on eligibility.

MORE

If you look over the photography news, you probably already know about the new Olympus E DSLR cameras. But do you know about the fact that the international photo sharing website Woophy are running a yearly photo competition with the Olympus E-410 DSLR camera?
In 2007, the theme of the contest is ‘What is your news’ and the closing date for entries is December 31st 2007.
There are 3 categories and you can enter only one (but with more images if you want):
1)Below the Surface
2)Big World Events
3)Raging Reporter
In January 2008 a jury consisting of independent photo professionals (Michiel Munneke, Vincent Mentzel, Thesi Geesink, Ron Wunderink, Hoyte van Hoytema), chooses the overall winner from the total number of entries, as well as one winner for each category.

Prizes
1 Place: OLYMPUS E 410 SLR CAMERA
Other prizes:
3 x Gorillapod, The Joby Gorillapod (more details on this here)
7 x License PicaJet – Digital Photo Management and Image Cataloguing Software
4 x Lulu photo album of your own pictures
12 x Woophy T shirt

Here’s the message Woophy sends to the competitors:
Now don’t get grumpy! We don’t want you to copy the type of pictures you see in your daily newspaper. The independent Woophy-jury is not looking for classic press agency news but your news. Woophy wants to see what’s considered ‘news’ to people living in all different corners of the world: ranging from your local pie eating contest or colourful street parade, to personal takes on issues such as globalisation or climate change.

Participate now!

Tags: photo competition, photography competition, photography contest, photo contest, woophy competition

When the end of the year gets close, calendars are filled up with some of the best pictures made by any kind of photographers from amateur to professional. On this matter, we got Ricoh GR Digital calendar contest calling up for entries by Ricoh GR Digital owners. This way, Ricoh hopes to stimulate customer enjoyment of participating in the creation of a special calendar by taking photographs with their GR DIGITAL cameras, while at the same time showing our appreciation to customers.

GR DIGITAL Calendar Contest
Application period: October 26, 2007 to November 11, 2007
How to submit : Submit photographs from contest site (see the link below – Site opens October 26, 2007)
Number of winners : 13 (calendar photographs including cover)
Photographic themes : We are looking for photographs that stir the heart and that are suitable for the GR DIGITAL calendar. Submissions do not have to be seasonal images. As in the previous contest, entries from abroad are welcomed.
*Entries are limited only to photographs taken with GR DIGITAL.
*Entrants may be either amateur or professional photographers.
*Number of entries is limited to three per person.
Application of winning entries: The winning images will be used to produce a special calendar with one image used for the cover and one for each month.
*The method of distributing the calendar is currently under consideration.
Prizes: GR DIGITAL Calendar
Extra prize: Specially-made album that arranged photographs of winning prizes
Judges: Mr. Keiichi Kimura, Writers from Ricoh’s official blog “GR BLOG”
Results announcement: Winners will be announced November 20, 2007 on the contest website
*Details covering contest entry rules/suggestions are to be posted on the contest website on October 26, 2007
See: http://www.ricoh.com/r_dc/gr/calendar2008/

Tags: calendar photography, photography contest, photo contest, photo competition, calendar contest, ricoh

The 2007 Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards ceremony tooked place in London, revealing the winners of this prestigious global competition.
Held annually, the competition (owned by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine, and is sponsored by Shell) aims to find the best wildlife pictures taken by photographers worldwide of all ages.
The overall award-winner of Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year receives a big cash prize and the coveted title Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and, the winner is…
Ben Osborne with his picture Elephant Creation
Made with: Canon EOS 1D Mark II N + 70-200mm f2.8 lens (set at 135mm); 1/50 sec at f5; ISO 400; beanbag.

On the other hand, there was also an owerall prize of the Shell Wildlife Young Photogrpaher of the Year, which was revarded to Patrick Corning (United Kingdom) for his image Monkey moment, made with Nikon D50 + 75-300mm f4.5-5.6 lens; 1/40 sec at f5.6; ISO 200; tripod.

Special Award include:
Eric Hosking Award – This category, named after the famous British wildlife photographer Eric Hosking, aims to encourage and promote young photographers aged from 18 to 26. An entry comprises a portfolio of six pictures that demonstrates a range of ability.
This one goes to: Bence Máté
- using Nikon D200 + Nikon MF 300mm f2.8 lens and Nikon TC-301 extender; 1/1000 sec at f5.6; tripod; hide.

Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife – The award is given to the best image of a species officially listed in the 2005 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable or lower risk at an international or national level.
This one goes to: Roy Toft, and, Highly Commended pictures of Andy Rouse, Jeff Yonover, Wade Hughes

Canon 1D Mark II + Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS lens; 1/20 sec at f6.3; ISO 800.
One Earth Award – This is a new award, which seeks to highlight the interaction between humans and the natural world. Images should demonstrate the power and resilience of our planet and its impact on us. They can also show our connection with, dependence or effect on the natural world. Images can be graphic or symbolic, but must be thought-provoking, memorable and encourage respect for our world.
Winner:Csaba Karai
An amazing shoot at the moon while a plane crosses the view: Canon EOS 20D + 500mm f4 IS lens and 2x teleconverter; 1/50 sec at f8; ISO 800; tripod.

Runer-up:Arne Naevra
Highly Commented: Angie Scott

Then, the adult awards also included more categories:
Animal Behaviour: Birds РLouis-Marie Pr̩au
Animal Behaviour: Mammals – Johan J Botha
Animal Behaviour: All Other Animals – Amos Nachoum
The Underwater World – Felipe Barrio
Animal Portraits – Sergey Gorshkov
In Praise of Plants – Bob McCallion
Urban and Garden Wildlife – Danny C Green
Wild Places – Robert Knight
Animals in their Environment – Paul Nicklen
Nature in Black and White – Thomas P. Peschak
Creative Visions of Nature – Ben Osborne (see the overall winner above)

The Junior awars was split into 3:
Ten years and under – Patrick Corning (overall winner of the Young Photographer of the Year)
11-14 years old – Fergus Gill
15-17 years old – Evan Graff

Congratulations all!
This year’s collection of stunning wildlife photographs representing the best images taken by the top nature photographers around the world will be exhibited at the Natural History Museum in London, daily 10.00-17.50 (last entry 17.15). It is also open until 22.00 during After Hours, on the last Friday of every month from November 2007 to April 2008.
Come and join a Nature Live session at the Natural History Museum where you will meet award-winners from this year’s prestigious Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition and find out about their work, experiences and techniques.

Choose your favourite image from the 2007 winners. Also, you can now select a favourite image and customise it with your choice of size, frame, canvas and art paper. The resulting quality print will then be delivered to your door. In addition to the print on demand, you can also get your hands on a wide range of gifts accompanying the exhibition, including notepads, postcards, books, calendars and fridge magnets.

As for the future, the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008 Competition launches mid January. Full entry details, categories and rules, will be emailed to you in January.
Closing date for postal entries – Monday 24th March 2008
Closing date for online entries – Monday 31st March 2008
Get your camera ready!

Tags: Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year, wildlife photography, nature photography, animal pictures, best nature photos, nature photography competition

PhotographyBLOG is giving away some photography software from Corel, offering 3 copies of the brand new Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, worth £79 each. All you have to do is to subscribe to their newsletter, or, if you are already a subscriber, you do not have to do anything to enter this contest: your name will automatically be entered in the prize draw.
As a result of the subscription, every Tuesday of each week, you will receive an Email Newsletter containing the latest digital and film photography stories from around the world, plus the latest news from the PhotographyBLOG website. You can choose to have the Newsletter emailed to you as either a HTML or text version.
On Tuesday 13th November 2007 three names will be randomly selected from the list of PhotographyBLOG Newsletter subscribers.

Here’s the link of this contest.

Corel® Paint Shop Pro® Photo X2 is the ideal digital photography software for aspiring photographers and business communicators who want to transform their digital pictures into professional-looking photos fast. Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 provides users with the widest selection of photo editing features ranging from automatic tools for quick fixes to precision controls for fine-tuning. Unlike lite, essentials or elements version photo editors, Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 provides continued depth of functionality that enables users to grow as their skills and knowledge progress.

With Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, viewing, sorting and processing downloaded photos is faster than ever thanks to the all new Express Lab.
Beginners benefit from a wide range of automatic, one-click adjustments while advanced users can take full advantage of the programme’s manual adjustments providing more direct control over each photo. With speed improvements and the built-in Learning Center, new users can produce results quickly, learning as they go.

The “Pricey Ink Stinks” is a contest sponsored by Kodak, who wants to “to put an end to the pain of expensive ink cartridges by submitting clever ideas for re-purposing old printers. ” Kodak also claims that the inspiration for the campaign came from the cost of Kodak’s EASYSHARE AiO replacement ink cartridges, priced at less than half of most competitors at $14.99 MSRP for color and $9.99 MSRP for black.
An an entrant in the “Pricey Ink Stinks” campaign you are asked to submit a photo, drawing, video or blog of how you would creatively re-purpose Kodak’s old printers. The grand prize winner will be selected by Kodak staff from the top 20 highest scoring entries. The lucky winner will have to choose between $1000 cash or a $1000 scholarship. The best video, best image, best blog and most viral entries will each win a Kodak EASYSHARE 5300 AiO.

Kodak has done something about this expensive injustice by offering KODAK EASYSHARE All-in-One Printers that save you up to 50% on everything you print compared to similar consumer inkjet printers.
Rewards:
* Best Blog: 1 winner, chosen by Kodak from the top 20 blogs that receive the highest score, wins a KODAK EASYSHARE 5300 All-in-One Printer!
* Best Image: 1 winner, chosen by Kodak from the top 20 drawings or photos that receive the highest score, wins a KODAK EASYSHARE 5300 All-in-One Printer!
* Best Video: 1 winner, chosen by Kodak from the top 20 videos that receive the highest score, wins a KODAK EASYSHARE 5300 All-in-One Printer!

Duration: October 12, 2007 12:00 AM (PST) – November 23, 2007 11:30 PM (PST)
How to Submit:
1. Tap into your creative resources and come up with a radical, alternate use for your old printer, then blog it, draw it, photograph it or video it!
2. Click the Submit Entry tab and follow the steps provided.
3. Tell friends to come to Brickfish and vote for your entry!

Requirements: You must use or mention a printer in your entry. Please do not display a competitor’s logo in your entry. Open to anyone in the 50 United States who has access to the Internet, and is 18 or older at the time of entry.

Details

As amateur photographer, you are being invited to put your skills to the test in a new global photography competition as part of the World Firefighters Games 2008. The photography competition is open to everyone and participants do not need to have a direct link with Fire and Rescue Services. The contest is sponsored by Sigma photographic equipment, the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (SWPP), and the British Professional Photographers Association (BPPA).
There are two age categories (under 16s – young photographers and over 16s). Each submissions is accepted with an entrance fee of £10. The closing date is 12pm on June 1, 2008, and the winners will be announced on August 24, 2008. The winners, runners-up and second runners-up in each age group will be awarded with a genuine World Firefighters Games 2008 medal, plus the competition sponsors have donated a number of outstanding prizes including a Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG MACRO Standard Zoom Lens (worth £349.99 from Sigma), and full membership to the SWPP and BPPA (worth £99).
You can enter you photo into 4 categories (submit a maximum of four photographs, which can focus on one category or be spread across the four categories):

1 – Operational Incidents. Photographs of firefighters or other Fire and Rescue Services staff doing their jobs, for example attending buildings on fire, road traffic collisions or water rescue.

2 – Vehicles and Equipment. Photographs of Fire and Rescue Service vehicles or equipment in use or on standby, for example fire trucks, cutting equipment, hoses or fire rescue boats.

3 – Previous World Firefighters Games. Photographs taken during previous World Firefighters Games. These images will show a wider audience the diversity and fun of a WFG event, bringing firefighters together from around the world, for example events, competitors, venues or visitors.

4 – Heat. This category has an open interpretation and is sure to prove popular with entrants. Here are some suggestions for photographs – desert sand dune, a child eating an ice-cream on a hot day, open log fire in winter, or the passion and determination of a competition. So let your imagination loose and see what you can come up with.

For full competition rules and to enter online visit http://www.wfg08photo.com now!

The World Photography Awards (WPA), sponsored by Sony, is an international showcase of the best images taken by renowned and undiscovered photographers alike. From landscape to music and photojournalism to fashion photography, the WPA is the first awards of its kind and is supported by hundreds of the industry’s top photographers, critics, gallerists, directors, founders and more. The aim of the World Photography Awards is to unearth the images of the future while paying tribute to the visions of the past.

Featuring eleven different categories, both professional and amateur photographers will be invited to enter work to the World Photography Awards from 9th October 2007 until mid-January 2008. The winners will be announced at a black tie awards ceremony in Cannes at the Palais des Festivals on 24th April 2008.
The eleven categories are:
• Abstract
• Advertising
• Architecture
• Fashion
• Music
• Nature
• Nude
• Portraiture
• Photojournalism
• Science
• Sport

For the professional awards, all submitted works will be judged by academy members and three finalists will be nominated in each of the eleven categories.
• l’iris d’or
• One photograph will represent the image of the year and win l’iris d’or which comprises:
o The title Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year as well as $25,000
o Entry into the World Photographic Academy for future years
o Exhibition showcase of winning image and 25 picture portfolio at the 2009 World Photography Awards
o Winning images exhibited on the World Photography Awards’ website and promoted to creatives worldwide
• Individual Category Awards
• Lifetime Achievement Award

For amateur awards, both international and interactive, the contest is allowing people from across the world to submit photographs online via the WPA website (an amateur competition that will run in parallel to the Professional Awards). Each photographer can submit up to three photographs per single category. The site aims to create an online community and social network in which people can interact, creating a destination point for amateur photographers across the globe.

More informations.

Tags: Sony World Photography Awards, photography awards, photography contest, sony contest