Photo Contest Winner for July 2010 | Maris Ehlers Photography

This was a tough competition! We had five judges from across the U.S. and several of the photos were within one vote of each other, A tie had to be broken for 5th place by votes, and I think you'll be pleased with the winners. First place receives a FREE portrait sitting with Maris Ehlers Photography.

1st place, and our free portrait session, goes to Jill with a youthful picture of a Grandpa and his two grandsons on a toy tractor. I love this one, and so many other people did, too! It is the epitome of youthful, especially because Grandpa is a farmer. I guess a love of big machines never gets old. Congratulations, Jill!



Alyssa took 2nd place with this darling photo of some children reaching through a fence to a cute little foal. One judge, Skye, said "I think the foal was as interested in the kids as they were in it.  Youthfulness is curiosity.  The only hand not touching is the older, less curious one."

Missy came in third with the image of her Valentine Grandparents. This is such a sweet image, and what makes it youthful in my eyes is the fun with the paper valentine (well, that and the kissing - ha ha). Remember the day when we actually did make our valentines out of fun paper hearts that we would cut out?



Fourth place goes to Courtney (who you may remember won last month's competition) for the image of the little girl and the calf, which she called "Connected Through the Heart", which is very fitting.  I hadn't met Courtney before she won last month's competition, but as she is local she has since joined me on a couple of shoots, and she does some nice work!

"New Life" by Ryan earned 5th place.  I would guess these hands belong to Ryan and his daughter when she was born.  :)   Way to go, Ryan!  It's lovely.

Congratulations to all of you, and a huge thank you to all of you who posted images.  It is so fun to see what everyone is posting, and I am enjoying getting to know each of you a little bit through your portraits.  Keep 'em coming, because the August competition is going to be a fun one!  The theme:

The Dog Days of Summer!

Here's a little example to get you thinking!  This image I snapped the other day became the inspiration for August because:  a) what says summer better than kool-aid moustaches on a bunch of kids who are all wet from playing water games.  My husband so KINDLY introduced my kids to kool-aid this past week, and they've had a red moustache ever since.  Ha!  So not a good idea!!!!  Our dog, Ruger, is in the background, so that made me think of adding the phrase "The Dog Days of Summer" to the theme just to make it a little more interesting - please interpret as you like!  :)

Images will be accepted from now until August 15th, 2010, and MUST BE EMAILED AS A JPEG to contest@marisehlersphotography.com.  If your image has a title, please save the file as the name.  It will make it much easier for us here on the receiving end of things!

The winner will receive a $40 gift certificate to National Camera Exchange here in the Twin Cities (but can also be used online as well, so start snapping and sending!

Cheers,

Maris