The SmugMug Blog

Our buddies over at BorrowLenses.com have put together a fun contest over on their blog with some great prizes that celebrate our joint awesomeness: A year of membership at BorrowLenses.com and a year of SmugMug Pro.

Win Great Perks

In case you weren’t already familiar with their membership program, it’s more than just a login. Members automatically get a 10% discount on all lens rentals, priority rental availability and a free t-shirt. It costs $99 per year, but enter to win and you could get yours for free.

Once you’ve got one foot on the red carpet, you can easily upload, sell and share all your photos on SmugMug Pro.

Make sure to get your entries to their blog HERE (not below!) no later than Friday, March 23rd, 2012.

Good luck!

If you’ve ever held a DSLR in your hands, you’ve probably heard of Vincent Laforet.

He’s the Pulitzer Prize-winning mastermind behind some of the most incredible photos seen in National Geographic, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Time and more.

Vincent earns his bread and butter using the industry’s most coveted photographic equipment. He is a Canon Explorer of Light who breaks down the barriers between Photo and Video. We’ve been behind him since his his first HDDSLR short film, Reverie, and now he’s written a book that everyone should read.

Visual Stories: Behind the Lens with Vincent Laforet

Whether you’re an avid photographer or just someone who seeks a better creative process, you’ll love taking the journey through Visual Stories.

In it, you’ll find over 200 pages of inspiring photos, personal reflection and informative technical details to help craft your unique vision. The DVD contains over 60 videos that get you up-close and personal with the photojournalist himself.

"The image tells the story of her victory from the context of the thousands of people who had witnessed the moment. This perspective gives you an appreciation for the scale of the event that you don’t necessarily get with a long telephoto lens, where the background is completely blurred out." - Excerpt from Visual Stories by Vincent Laforet

Because Laforet’s experience began in journalism, he shows you how the principles of this genre can be applied to tell powerful stories in a single image. You’ll learn how to craft this energy into any type of photograph, include landscapes, close-ups, portraits, action shots, aerials and more.

Plus, get tips on using light, shape and color to create rich photos that support your story and add intense beauty and emotion.

Vincent Makes his Mark for You

We’ve got five autographed copies of this beautiful book, ready to find their way into your hands. Here’s how to get one:

1. Like SmugMug’s Facebook page HERE.
2. Post a message on our Facebook wall telling us why you want this book.

We’ll pick five lucky winners from the list on Wednesday, December 28, 2011.

So what will it be? You can keep grasping in the dark and taking the same photos, or you can grab a copy of Visual Stories and learn how a master works his craft. Check it out now at Peachpit Press.

Why a contest?

We teamed up with the good folks at Bay Photo Lab this fall to kick off a contest asking photographers to submit photos representing the theme of a perfect pair — two things that go splendidly together. SmugMug and Bay Photo are like peanut butter and jelly, ying and yang, aperture and ISO. We love Bay’s hand color correction and their crazy-in-a-good-way devotion to making the best dang prints out there. They love our seamless integration, fanatical devotion to making sure your photos look the best in our galleries and prints, and 100% guaranteed customer service. We guess you can say we’re the perfect pair for picky pros whose reputations depend on us.

Photographers from all over heard our call and submitted almost 2000 shots. The time has come to announce who the winners are, and we couldn’t be more tickled to have another reason to shout to the world how much we heart Bay Photo Lab and the awesome customers we get to work with on a daily basis. Winners of the Perfect Pairs Photo Contest were picked by a group of Judges from Bay Photo Lab and SmugMug based on their editorial discretion and your votes.

Here’s what we decided.

GRAND PRIZE WINNER

“Steam Runners” by Ric Cederholm of Waunakee, WI

We love this photo because it’s two friends having the time of their lives. The shot captures a playful and fun moment that makes us long for the days we could run with our hands in the air, hollering with joy (sure, we can do it as grown ups too, but it’s definitely cuter when kids do it). What’s better than running in the sun with the mist in your face? Maybe unwrapping your first MetalPrint. Maybe.

Ric, if you’re watching, you get:

• 5 free years of SmugMug Pro ($750 value, not including bragging rights)
• $500 Print Credit to world class Bay Photo Lab
• Photo credit in major national and tradeshow advertising, including WPPI

FIRST RUNNER UP

“Coordination” by Marc Benjamin of Fairfield, CA

This shot shows the power, elegance, and artistry that can be created when two powerhouses come together. The striking contrast stopped us in our tracks, and the poetry of these dancers forms entwined in the air sealed the deal for us.

Marc gets:

• 4 free years of SmugMug Pro ($600 value)
• $300 Print Credit to Bay Photo Lab

SECOND RUNNER UP

“Relationship Stability” by Jesse Rather of Arcata, CA

Talk about a photo that makes you look twice. Managing a business and serving your customers is a fine balance of impeccable quality, dedication and fun, and we thought this photo channeled that feeling well. To top it off, the quirkiness, beauty, and humor made us smile. Thanks, Jesse!

Jesse won:

• 2 free years of SmugMug Pro ($300 value)
• $200 Print Credit to Bay Photo Lab

THIRD RUNNER UP

“The Polar Pair” by JP Diroll of Pittsburgh, PA

A bit surreal, a bit Planet Earth. It’s hard enough to resist such childlike interplay in the animal world, but drop the fuzzies into a sun-streaked pool of the deepest blue and you have double the win.

JP wins:

• 1 Free year of SmugMug Pro ($150)
• $100 Print Credit to world class printer Bay Photo Lab

FOURTH RUNNER UP

“Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Rachelle Elliott of Wymore, NE

Rub-a-dub-dub, two cuties in a tub. Parents, watch out: They’re already winning hearts!

Rachelle wins:

• 1 Free year of SmugMug Pro ($150)
• $50 Print Credit to world class printer Bay Photo Lab

Thanks. We Mean It.

We we really blown away by the enthusiastic response to this contest and totally felt the love. Thanks again to everyone who entered their photos and shared their vision of “The Perfect Pair!”

Have you seen this man?

You should. He’s awesome!

If you’ve never received a help email from Nick, shook his hand at a SMUG or boogied with him in Vegas then you’re missing out on one of the best bennies of being part of our family. Nick’s the real deal, and his Garbaldi is the source of his power. It makes scissors tremble and stylists swoon. Nothing can stand in its way and we have pictures to prove it.

Best of all, his beard is the Blarney Stone of the chin world. Touch it, and ye shall be gifted with undying off-camera light and perfection in posing.

Hero Nick will be stalking the pens at WPPI this week so you can come and see us (and him) at booths #1528 and #1529. If you can catch this cagey tiger and lay fingers on Thee Sacred Hairs, you may find yourself surrounded with beautiful models, zippy interns and possibly something even better.  Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Your Mission:

Snap a pic of yourself while touching Nick’s beard at WPPI and post it to SmugMug’s Facebook wall. Then tag yourself! And if you’re still riding on the high, Tweet your success so others can play, like this:

#NicksBeard. Snap a pic for a chance to win a prize from Andy’s gear bag. @SmugMug booths 1528 and 1529 #WPPI

Deadline is Tuesday at 9 PM, Vegas time. Winners will be announced via our Facebook Wall on Friday.

Your Reward:

Five winners will be randomly picked from all of those that show us the goods on our Facebook wall. We’ll then pick five more random winners from those who have tweeted about it, and another five random winners from everyone else who shows us they’ve touched The Beard.

Something good’s comin’ your way. We’ve got tons of swag, photo gear, bags and even a free year of SmugMug Pro ready to go.

And if Nick’s face-drapery isn’t enough to get you to hang out with us, stop by the booth for a super-special 40% off code to save on your first year of SmugMug. What else could you possibly ask for?

See you in Vegas, baby!

—————

UPDATE! Although this contest is now over, we have good news in the form of winners. There were fourteen successful posters who overcame shyness, crowds and bad wi-fi to post a pic of #NicksBeard, so they each get a free year of SmugMug Pro PLUS $125 print credit (OR $125 credit towards site customization with one of our certified companies). In addition to these great prizes, those of you who posted by the Tuesday evening deadline will get free bonus SmugSwag.

Thanks to everyone who participated, even if you couldn’t get your pic on our fan page!

If your name is below, stay tuned. Katherine will drop you a note on Facebook with details.

Winners:

• Jummel Hidrosollo
• Catherine Oglesby Tolbert
• Tommy Huynh
• Classic Image Photography, LLC
• Cathy Breslow
• Torsten Bangerter
• Monica Toohey-Krause
• Trudy Mitchell Montgomery
• Julie Antillon
• Melanie Custodio Powers
• Gavin Farrington
• Tim Powers
• Brian Dang
• Sina Ngov

If you couldn’t make it to Vegas, we have fun giveaways going on over at Facebook each week. Don’t forget to “Like” us so you can win something, too!