National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest 2011

 

I am a big fan of photo contests. Not for the fame and fortune, or even the competition, but just for the simple fact that I love pushing my photography and the contests always give a theme and a direction to push towards. The bonus is that if you win, you usually get something nice, but again it is not the driving factor behind my motives.

This weekend I found the National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest 2011. I feel that this contest is perfect for the expat photographer in Korea. The styles of photos that they are looking for seem to match what a lot of people are shooting these days. Here are the categories and descriptions of what they are looking for:

Travel Portraits: Locals working, playing, celebrating

Outdoor Scenes: Landscapes, aerials, wildlife, waterscapes

Sense of Place: Pictures that evoke the essence of a place

Spontaneous Moments: Fun, quirky, surprising, and unrehearsed moments

 

The submission period ends July 11th and according to their site, more than 11,000 images were uploaded for last year’s contest. The top prize this year is an Expedition-type cruise around the British and Irish Isles for two. The second place prize is a nine night hotel stay around India with Trident Hotels. Simply fantastic stuff!

The photos should be uploaded online and have a minimum pixel size of 1600, but less than 5 megabytes. Also note that you want to be on the light end of the photoshop scale, so be careful that you are not removing objects or cloning things that aren’t really in the original image. HDR is allowed (assah!) but I would keep it at a minimum and not too crazy like some of the shots that I got for Buddha’s birthday… Here are the official rules and be sure to check the “how to enter” section for more on what you can and can’t do to your shots.

Now, there is a fee of $15 USD per photo and there is no limit to the number of photos that you can enter. These payments can be may through paypal. The contest seems pretty much open without any “special restrictions” on things like published photos or photos that have been entered in other contests. I got bit in the ass by that one a little while ago when I submitted the same photo to two different photo competitions in Ulsan and the photo got pretty much the same award (honourable mention). Sadly I had to cancel one and send back the prize because of the regulations. However, you won’t be that restricted here.

I hope that some of you enter your awesome shots in this contest, I know I will be! That trip to India sounds great to me! I will also keep you posted on the upcoming KTO Photo contest as it is extremely hard to find the posting for that one.