FLAUNT YOUR ROCK | CONTEST

Flaunt Your Rock – An Engagement Contest

LOVE is in the air! Did you recently get engaged and are beaming with pride over the shiny rock on your finger? Want to flaunt it some more? In honor of all the love going around, I am holding a contest for you engaged love birds to show off your new bling!

What do you get for flaunting that shiny new rock? The winner will receive a one hour engagement session and a $100 print credit!

The Details:

• Submit 1 photograph of your ring & 1 photograph of yourselves (please do not submit images taken by another professional photographer).

• Encourage all of your friends and family to vote for you. The ring with the most votes wins!

• Engaged couples only.

• Open to all newly-engaged Powell River couples. All submissions must be received by midnight March 5th, 2010.

Entries will be judged by a panel of photographers who will narrow down the selection to 3 rings. The finalists will be posted on Kennedy Photografik's blog and the winner will be chosen via a public voting poll. Voting will occur between March 7-March 13, 2010 (exact dates to be posted). There are specific rules around voting that will be clarified during the voting round of the contest.

Winners and prizes will be announced on March 15th, 2010. Winning session must take place between March 18 - May 1st. Winners must sign a release to allow Jennifer Kennedy to display images on the Kennedy Photografik blog, website, Facebook Business Page and any other print or web materials as deemed appropriate.

Don’t live in the Powell River area? Have friends across the country? Check out these photographers who have Flaunt Your Rock contests running in other cities!

CANADA

Edmonton/Vancouver Canada: Jen Williams Photographer
Fort McMurray/Northern Alberta: Leslie Brown Photography
Central Interior, BC: Andrea Blair
Langley, BC: Cathy Empey

UNITED STATES

Boise, Idaho Lucid Design & Photography
Boston, Massachusetts: Helen Makadia Photography
Denver, Colorado: Keri Doolittle Photography
Columbia, Missouri: Ashley Turner Photography
Seattle, Washington: Susan Berman of Whimsical Photo Design
Philadelphia and Main Line, Pennsylvania: April Ziegler Photography
Grand Rapids, Michigan: K. Holly Photography
Spokane, Washington: Cameron Glass Photography
Phoenix, Arizona: Jeanette LeBlanc Photography
Ft. Smith, Arkansas: Beaty Photography
San Jose, California: V&J Photography
Tampa/St. Petersburg: Stephanie A. Smith Photography

The Fine Print:

This is our contest, we make the rules. We have researched many different ways of voting and there are pros and cons and hanging chads in just about every method out there. This is how we have decided to run our contest. if it’s not a fit for you, we respectfully accept your decision to decline participation. We also know there are ways to work around the system, so we will actively monitor IP addresses and research anything that appears to be fishy. We reserve the right to disqualify any entry that appears to be suspicious.

All participants must agree to sign a model release allowing images to be displayed on Kennedy Photografik’s blog.

Winning participants must sign a release allowing images taken by Jennifer Kennedy for Kennedy Photografik to be displayed on web site, blog, Facebook and print advertising sources.

Participants must also agree to standard Terms & Conditions of Kennedy Photografik. Regular session terms and conditions apply.

We require an electronically marked consent that you are entering this contest voluntarily and that Kennedy Photografik is not promising any winnings or other compensation for participation.

Whew! Now that all of that is over, EMAIL ME TO ENTER!

CAKE.

I just have to take a minute to gush about this cake. It came from CakeBread (the loverly european bakery that shares it's home with Hot Chocolates) on Fifth Avenue in Courtenay. It has been the beacon of amazingly-stree-relief-deliciousness that I have needed and looked forward to every night after these long hours I have been working this week.

Oh, heavenly.

Yum.

I HATE HAVING MY PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN.

That probably caught you off guard. But, that is the honest truth. I hate it (and I really, really dislike the word hate, to boot).

Last week I attended a workshop in Vancouver, taught by Becker. I met a couple-handfuls of fabulous wedding photographers, ate a fabulous lunch, networked, took notes, got my learn on. And towards the end of the shoot-portion, Becker shot us. The photographers. And he wasn't taking no for an answer.

So, standing there in Gastown, I thought about protesting, politely declining. After all, I'm behind the camera for a reason, right? But it didn't matter. I looked into the lens like I was looking down the barrel of a gun. Ugh. But I gave in. Becker was nice, made jokes, complimented. And I gave in... and this is what I got.

And do you know what I realized? I'm not the person that I imagine in my head. I'm not photogenic. But I'm me: squinty-eyed, big-nosed, crooked-toothed, goofy. And as of today, I'm okay with that. :)

So, to all of you that meet me and say "I'm not photogenic", or ask me to photoshop your insert-your-flaw-here, I say no. You are all beautiful in your own way. Original. Perfect.