Merit Award :: Lexington photographer

Earlier this year, I finally mustered some courage (and made some time) to enter a photo in a contest that I learned about from a Chase Jarvis tweet.  It sounded fun: photos taken and processed on a mobile phone.  I use my phone ALL.THE.TIME. because my girls don’t complain as much about me capturing their everyday with it as opposed to my “work” camera. In a way, it forces me to stay in the moment, not worry about settings, and focus on composition and light, and just document what they are doing that given time.  It’s easy to snap a couple, and put the phone away and go back to playing.  But in the process, I have over 3000 snaps.  I plan to print out little 5×5 books for them – how fun would those be to look over a few years from now!  Before I digress, I got an email about a month ago saying one of my photos was a finalist.  I was shocked, because of the sheer volume of high quality entries.  And yesterday the winners were finally announced, and my photo received a merit award in the “people” category.  It definitely brough a huge grin to my face!

You can see all the winners here: http://thebestcamerachallenge.com/gallery/gallery_winners.html

And my winning entry…my girls in their glorious mis-matched clothes (taken with iPhone 4, processed with ShakeItPhoto app):

photo contest results

Thank you all for making this a fun & successful photo contest.  I hope you all enjoyed sharing your child(ren)’s photos with friends and family, and I can’t wait until we do this again next year

In third place, with 37 votes, winner of an 8×10 print to be added to your new session in 2011, image #22, the adorable Miss ‘E’:

In second place, with 44 votes, winner of an 11×14 print to be added to your new session in 2011, image #11, beautiful Miss ‘A’:

First place, with 84 votes (WOW), and winner of a free session in 2011 & an 11×14 print is #6, gorgeous Miss ‘A’:

 

Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks so much for playing!!

photo contest update & my little Picaso :: lexington, ky lifestyle photographer

I promised an update for the on-going photo contest, and with only  ONE more day left, it’s still a very close race for 2nd and 3th places, so keep those votes coming
I will be disabling the vote results tomorrow, to keep the winners a surprise, so don’t be alarmed if you suddenly don’t see it.  Here are the current standings from earlier today:

On a different note, I’ve been trying to be better about getting photos of my own kids.  We do lots of fun stuff together, and it usually involves big messes.
Here’s a glimpse of a favorite afternoon activity of my little budding artist:

I’ll be back on Friday to announce the winners of the contest!

2010 Favorites :: Photo Contest

It’s photo contest time, and I just want to start by saying getting this list compiled was SO hard. I have so many favorites from many fantastic sessions last year. And I am so lucky to have worked with all those wonderful families, new and returning.

So, first things first, a heartfelt THANK YOU to all my clients!

Secondly, what’s a contest without prizes!?!!
First place will receive a Free 2011 Session* & 11×14 print.
Second place will receive an 11×14 print* with their new 2011 session
Third place will receive an 8×10 print* with their new 2011 session. But that’s not all…
During the photo contest week (now until end of March), you, your friends, colleagues, neighbors, or anyone who stumbles on this post can also take advantage of a $50* credit when booking your session. This can be combined with your winnings too and with your referral credits!

What to do? Vote once in the poll below for your favorite image, and tell your friends/family/co-workers/neighbors to vote for your image, email or post a link to your facebook and/or twitter. You must vote only once per computer/IP. Repeat votes will not be counted and could disqualify that entry, so please play fair.

When? Now until Thursday 3/31/2011 at 11:59pm. The winners will be announced on Friday, April 1st.  I will post updates with the standings during the week.  Want to be the first to hear about this and other exciting offerings next time? Please subscribe to my very infrequent newsletter

Anything else? 2011 pricing/products and new offerings will be announced 4/1/11.  Sessions booked this week will be locked in with current prices.  Last year there were just over 400 votes, so let’s make this bigger and better.  Ready? Set? GO!

Now for the fun part…

*Free 2011 Session is a new child/family session or $150 credit towards a newborn or bug cycles sessions. Session must take place during 2010. No cash substitute on any prizes. Non-transferrable. Print/credit prizes are for new session only. Not to be combined with any other offers. Expires 12/01/11.






Winners announced |Lexington KY Photography|

The fun photo contest has come to an end. Over 400 votes, neck-to-neck battles, the final results are in!

I will start with the honorable mentions, tied for 4th place, and missed the podium by one vote are:
Images #5 and #14. I’ve added a gift for all your hard work, so email me to claim your $40 print credit for a new session in 2010!

Third place, with 43 votes goes to image #10.

Second place, with 65 votes goes to image #11.

*****drum roll*****

And the first place with a total of 86 votes, grand prize winner goes to image #2!!! Congrats!!

Trivial lovers: for the second year in a row – a set of newborn twins take that top prize! I love my newbies, and I love my double newbies x2

Thank you so much for sharing, voting and participating. Now if you haven’t booked your summer session, do so now – May is almost booked, and I will be taking an extended vacation (2 weeks) in July. You have until the end of the week to claim a $50 print credit for booking during the promotion/contest time. Please mention this promo when booking!

Winners: Congratulations!!! Please email me or use the contact page to set up a session and claim your prize.

Photo Contest |Lexington KY photographer |

What better way to start the spring, than to celebrate some of my favorite images from last year!  It was a great year, and I wish I can showcase every single baby, child, senior and family, but that would only be possible if I do it in rounds.  I am all about keeping things simple this year, so I’ve narrowed it down to 21 images.

So here are the details:

How? Just vote for your favorite image below. Limit one vote per person/IP (multiple votes from the same IP will disqualify the entry, so please no cheating). Pass it along to your friends & coworkers, post it on your facebook, link it to your blog or tweet it.

When? Today  through Sunday, April 18, 11:59pm.

What? Prizes*??? Of course!
First place gets a free 2010 session, and a set of brag books included  ($400 value).
Second place gets a $100 print credit towards their 2010 new session.
Third place gets a $50 print credit towards their 2010 new session.

What about your friends/voters? Book a session during the contest dates, and get $50 print credit towards your session too!

So without further ado, the images, in no particular order:

*Free 2010 Session is a new child/family session or $150 credit towards a newborn/senior session. Session must take place during 2010. No cash substitute. Expires 12/31/10.

Helping Hearts – winner announced |Lexington KY Photography|

A heart-felt THANK YOU to all those who opened their hearts and wallets to help Haiti..I truly appreciate your generosity!

And the winner is ***drum roll****…

Kandace Bright

Congrats, and thanks again for helping out!  Please email me so we can setup the details!

Helping Hearts For Haiti – win a free session |Lexington KY Photographer|

The devastation in Haiti is unimaginable, and it saddens me.  My husband happened to grow up on the other side of the island in the Dominican, so we’ve been glued to the news watching in disbelief, wishing I can do something.  Thanks to Michele of PinkleToes Photography, and Lyndsay Stradtner of Life in Motion Photography, who started Helping Hearts, I’m joining in an effort to help out with the situation in Haiti. But, we need you, too! Here’s the deal:

You could win a photo session for your child(ren) or high school senior!

• This session will be photographed by myself and will be held in Lexington before April 4th, 2010.
• Session is for up to 3 children (or one senior) and will last between 1-1.5 hours.
• Winner will also receive 20 fully processed, high resolution images on CD. Print to your heart’s content!

How to win:

• Make a MINIMUM donation of $10 to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund.
• Forward a copy of your receipt to info@zoombugphotos.com.
• All entries must be RECEIVED by midnight (Eastern time) on January 31th Febuary 2, 2010 (extended due to email problems).
• Winner will be drawn at random and announced on February 1st 3rd.
• You can enter as many times as you’d like, but each entry must be the minimum $10 donation.

Other details:

• Session participants must sign a model release.
• Session must be held in Lexington by April 4th.
• If the winner does not claim his/her prize by Feb. 5th or cannot claim the prize, then another winner will be drawn.

But wait! There’s more!

If you are a photographer and would like to hold your own Helping Hearts event to help Haiti, please contact us ASAP so we can send you everything you need to get started!

And PLEASE blog, Tweet or share this link on Facebook! You can also follow Helping Hearts on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

ETA:  Deadline extended to 2/2/10 to get your entries in due to email problems I had this past week!

International Charity Model Search |Lexington KY family photographer|

Zoombug Photos is participating in the International Charity Model Search to select North America’s Cutest Family and to raise funds for the non-profit Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation. (NILMDTS.org)

Are your loved ones North America’s Cutest Family? We’ll give you the opportunity to prove it! Many exciting prizes will be awarded, and the grand prize winner receives a new car!

Model Search Special:
$150.00 entrance fee includes a 60-minute model session and one image submitted to the national gallery.

Finalists will be determined by online votes. Each vote is $1 (no limit on the amount of votes you can cast), and all proceeds from votes benefit Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (NILMDTS.org).

Grand prize international winner will be determined from the 52 city finalists. The winners will be selected from the finalist gallery by photography and modeling industry experts. The winning family also receives a session with the renowned portrait artist Sandy Puc’ and international recognition.

Call 859.494.0965 or email info@zoombugphotos.com now to enter your family in this exciting contest.

*Contest open to residents of the US and Canada. For more information, visit http://sandypucmodels.com/.

drumroll please….

My blog contest ended yesterday night, with a total of 270 votes. So without further ado, the results:

The third place prize (8×10 mounted print) goes to:
Angel baby

I am very proud of this image. All my newborns are extra special, because parents trust me with this fleeting moment, and welcome me into their homes with their brand new bundles of love. This was my very first newborn session, and I want to extend a special thanks to Katherine & Juan for giving me the opportunity to capture baby A. She’s precious, and I can’t believe she’ll be turning one soon!

Second place (free 11×14 mounted print) goes to:
Fun couple

I love this image…and their entire session. I love the change of pace of working with adults, especially those who like Rayna and Andrew who are open to new venues, and are totally up for all of my craziness – and so totally in love with each other, it shows in every photo. Thanks, guys!

…last, but not least, THE GRAND WINNER, goes to:
Brand new twins

How special it is to welcome twins into this world! It was really hard picking my favorite from this set, because I love so many of them. Karen & family, thank you for everything! I loved working with your gorgeous family.

Congrats to all the winner, and thanks to everyone who played. I hope you had fun. If you won, please shoot me an email to arrange for your prize pick-up! This was so much fun, I might have to do it again in the spring