Earlier this year I threw caution to the wind and decided to enter a few of my favorite images into an international portrait competition. In previous years I’d seen many of my photographer friends talking about and voting in the annual Shoot and Share competition, and each year I would say to myself “I want to be a part of that excitement!” Well this year I decided to go for it!
The competition is completely anonymous, involving over 10,000 photographers, with 330,000 photos submitted, over 156 countries represented, and over 60 MILLION votes placed! It is a unique opportunity to have portraits viewed and voted on by category and without bias. Anyone can vote which made it even more fun! I found myself being totally pulled in, voting every spare moment of the day, just to see more beautiful images – in the pick up line at school; waiting for clients to arrive; while I was supposed to be doing laundry; and my favorite – hubs and I voting side by side under the covers late into the night.
I entered 50 portraits and 16 of them placed including 1 top 100, 1 finalist, 6 in the top 20%, and 8 in the top 30%! I’m super proud of these results, but just as much I’m proud of all of the images I entered. My clients are so much more to me than “just clients.” I capture families and love and the most amazing newborn debuts. I am allowed into families’ lives at the most precious of moments, and to me that is the greatest reward of them all.
Check out the images that placed below. Is your family in there?