SnapItTo.Me’s photo contest hosts will come from a variety of backgrounds, from advertising agencies, to creative design firms and mom-and-pop shops, all looking for the right photos for their needs. SnapItTo.Me provides a system for anyone to get that exact photo – the right one – they need. The closer a photographer gets to submitting a photo that a contest host is looking for, the more likely that photographer is going to win the contest. So, how do you get that – and win the reward money?

Well, an excellent photo blog called PhotoCritic has provided a detailed blog post all about it, at “How to win photography competitions”. You should read the full article to get a complete understanding of his recommendations, but generally the writer mentions six key points, that we’ve paraphrased here:

1. Stick to the Topic

• This is immensely important and one that some photographers get wrong. Be sure to read the entire photo specification description. Contest hosts are usually looking for something very specific and if you provide a photo that has little to do with what they are looking for, then you won’t even be in the running for the prize money. 

2. Know the Rules – then Break Them

• Photography is immensely subjective, and therefore, it’s difficult to establish hard and fast rules that will ensure a winner every time. That said, there are general rules of thumb that photographers know, such as the rule of thirds, that can make photos better when followed. But photography is a creative art, which means the best photographers know those rules – and then know very well when to break them to add the right touch.

3. Keep it Simple

• It can be really tempting to submit photography that can show a complicated display of artistic features, photos that incorporate various aspects of your photographic talent. Yet, this is what your portfolio is for – to demonstrate all of that creativity. For photo competitions, sticking to the subject in a powerful way, using simplicity to bring focus on a story that your photo tells will be most often your best strategy. 

4. Tell a Powerful Story

• Being a creative art, photography is inherently emotional. A picture is worth a thousand words – a good one will be worth ten thousand words. Powerful photos tell a story and tug at the audiences emotions in some way shape or form. Developing your skills in this area will be one of the best investments you make as a photographer.

5. Technical Perfection paired with Strong Vision

• Being a technical superstar is important but it will only get you half way there. Being able to execute in a strong manner – creating that powerful story while being technically superior – will help differentiate your entry.

6. The X Factor & Developing Your Own Style

• In the end, when everything else is equal, being able to provide that extra step, the work that gets you a “wow, this is an awesome photo” is something that you’ll develop as your own sense of style and personality gets introduced into your work.

These suggestions are a summary of a photo blogger, but seem to be very appropriate. What are other points that you, as a photographer or as a person looking for photos, may suggest? We would love to hear from the community!

Recently, the New York Times published an article called “To Sell a Luxe Apartment, No Ordinary Snapshot Will Do”. The article discusses real estate photography and the importance of a good photo in the selling process – it can literally add thousands to the selling price of a house or apartment. Photography is a window into so much of what is unexplored in this world, it is the introductory image that can make or break our engagement with what we have never encountered. And thus, photographers, when brought on assignment, act as gate keepers for the objects, sights, and people in which they are commissioned to capture by lens. So it is the creation of a single shot, with all of the right elements in the right place, that unlock untold potential, unseen by the common man.

Thus it is essential that photographers are both story tellers and visionaries. Their talent is born from their eye but skill is practiced, both of which, taken together, lend to experience. In one single image, a story is told; in one glance, the heart of the viewer is captured. A photographer must be able to take something that could be bland and have the vision to turn it into the most compelling visual story.

Photography is a craft and the journey towards perfecting this craft is a long one. It’s one of the reasons we created SnapItTo.Me, both to add opportunities on the journey and to walk along with everyone that is on it.

New Features / New Site

Hello everyone! SnapItTo.Me Beta version 2.0 is live and it’s super exciting! We’re happy to be able to offer everyone an awesome set of features that will help photographer make money, build portfolios and get recognized while providing people who need photos with a better resource for finding custom photography. Our lineup of features are:

• Launch a custom photo contest here.
• Find a contest to participate in (and make some money!) here.
• Browse photographer profiles and portfolios here.
• Update your profile and portfolio (because everyone is going to check it out now!) here.

If you’d like to find out more about how SnapItTo.Me works, go here to watch a short 2 min video and learn.

SnapItTo.Me’s Inaugural Contest – Win $200!

In celebration of our new site, we’re hosting our first contest, looking for awesome photos that would be perfect on the front page of our site. The first place winner will win $200 and their photo will go on the site’s front page with featured links to the photographer’s portfolio. 20 other top winners will also be selected and their submitted photo will be featured on the front page of SnapItT.Me, where people all over the world will see the incredible talent of our photographers.

Find out more at our contest page here!

Tell Your Friends about SnapItTo.Me!

If you have photographer friends who are looking for opportunities, please send them to SnapItTo.Me. If you know people who need custom photos, send them our way as well.

Looking forward to growing our community with you!

Happy Snapping!

The SnapItTo.Me Team

Posted via web from SnapItTo.Me: Development Blog

The most refreshing, deliciously satisfying bottle of Coca-Cola I’ve ever had was in Ghana. The day was hot, like every single day there. The minute you stepped outside, you felt the thickness in the air, as if you were swimming through the humidity. Dan, Chris and I were running all over Accra, exploring, seeing… and sweating.

We spent out days trekking around, meeting strangers, seeing life in Ghana and just wandering around. It was the best way to discover. We went to check out the The Labadi Beach Hotel, because it was the hotel President Obama stayed at on his visit. It was nice, full of the modern marvels of development, which in it’s most beautiful form, is embodied by the Air Conditioner. Sitting down in the lobby, a waiter came by and asked us if we wanted anything. First though – a nice BOTTLE, of Coke. None of that canned stuff.

When it arrived, the bottle was glistening with condensation, a signal of how beautifully cold it was. I poured. Then I sipped. And it was the most marvelous, wonderful Coke I had ever had. It felt completely appropriate to be in a Coke TV ad at that time, with no reservations as to how deserving Coke would be the choice for quenching anyone’s thirst. And furthermore, Chris agreed – his sentiments were exactly the same. How delicious life was in that very moment.

Ghana is like Heaven

We spent 2 weeks in Ghana, for Chris’s bachelor party. I had lived in Ghana, and many other parts of Africa, before, so when I embarked on our journey, I didn’t really think I’d come back with any epiphanies or new learnings. I wanted to go to show my buddies this great country and that was about it. Yet, I’ve been back for nearly a month now and I’m still processing our time there.

Just 2 weeks there, and I was shown a world that was completely different than ours here in the US, something that I believe is much closer to Heaven, the Kingdom, than we realize. All we had was our backpacks, some clothes and a little bit of money. Our intent was just to backpack around Ghana, live and learn. Little did we know how incredibly relational our trip would be.

Ghana is an incredibly friendly nation. It’s customary to greet anyone, even strangers on the road, in full conversation, asking names and exchanging kind words. This alone made it easy to meet anyone, from locals to expats. And that we did. Every turn, every city and village, we met incredible people, from all over the world. Ghana made it easy to be a part of a community.

Yet, it wasn’t just that people were friendly. Our very nature, our very situation made it essential that we met people. We had no car, no real means of getting around. We didn’t know where to live or what to eat. We arrived in Ghana and from the get go, we needed help. Of course, it’s a new country, a new culture. So we were DEPENDENT on those around us. If we wanted to get the next restaurant or the next city, we had to meet people, wheel and deal, so that we could continue our journey. But because we had to, we were meeting people all the time. Because we were dependent on others, we were building an inadvertent community. And by the end of our time there, it really was wonderful.

A Busted Journey

My buddies and I had to get from Takoradi to Kumasi, an inland journey that would take 6 hours over pot-holed road. We miscalculated the availability of bus tickets – when we get to the bus station everything was sold out. Dan had valiant attempts of offering higher prices for someone else’s ticket, but to no avail. We were stuck but we had to be in Kumasi that night. So we went to other locations around town to look for rides.

In a crowded market, we found a Tro Tro (crowded vans that go everywhere and anywhere you want) that was headed for Kumasi. It’s the typical way Ghanaians get around. It’d be our first time in one, but it was our only option. So we took it. They stuffed us and our packs into this van and we journeyed out. In any American perspective, it’d be overcrowded, hot, and uncomfortable… for SIX HOURS.

But for us, it was salvation that came in the form of a crowded van. We met some very nice people on the van, and six hours later, we had arrived – venturing over bumpy roads, stops to rest in random villages and jungles, and… lots of sleeping. Even though the air was hot, all the windows were open, so the wind that came through kept us cool. The journey was good. Better than sitting in a nice air conditioned bus that we were looking to get. Why? Because now I have a story to tell you and we had wonderful people to meet. This post would be 3 paragraphs shorter if we had ridden the bus. Maybe that’d be good though because this post is already too long.

The Un-American Dream

Everywhere we went, we needed to interact with people, to be with people, to depend on people. And I believe this is how we were created, to be relational beings, to have relationships, shallow or deep, and to commune with one another. In Acts 2, we’re given a picture of a church, one that sacrifices for one another, one that shares and gives freely, one that is so full of joy and community. And that’s right – a real community, a real family is one that shares, that trusts and depends on one another and is WILLING to let each other into our lives. In Ghana, we had to do that because it was our only option.

The American Dream is one where we pursue our economic and social ambitions such that we happily get the spouse that we want, the nice suburban house with a white picket fence, two and half kids and a nice pet dog. Once we’ve attained that, and perfect comfort, then life is good and we’ve done all that we need to do. We amass our “stuff” – nice cars, furniture, things and gadgets, nice china and tea sets, and the pinnacle of the American Dream – The “La-Z-Boy” Chair.

But all these things seem to separate ourselves from community – we create our own properties lines, walls that keep us in and keep others out. My La-Z-Boy chair allows me to wallow in the perfect personal comfort…”this chair is only for me, for me to lean back in and enjoy Gossip Girl while I digest from the All-You-Can-Eat-Buffet I just had, and since it’s single person, no one else can share in it. Don’t bother me while I bask in myself”.

I’m being to critical. I do love all this stuff – or did at least – and still do to some extent. But when I came back from Ghana, I began to feel really numb. I got in my car to drive to work and felt incredibly alone. We value efficiency and freedom, independence from one another so that we can live the lives we want but are inherently separated from one another, no longer dependent on each other. Driving alone sucks. I miss haggling for a ride to go where I need to get and then making friends with the driver. Another day, I sat in my room, again alone, and realized I had all the stuff in the world to keep me occupied – gadgets and gizmos, video games and computers, a nice bed to sleep in, etc. Yet all of this was so meaningless because all I desired was to be with people I loved and none of these things made that any more or any less possible. I felt numb to all of it and wanted to be rid of it. It was just clutter in my life that distracted me from the real joys of each day – being with people, the Body of Christ and thus with Christ himself.

I want to sell my stuff. I’m quite sure I can’t bring myself to sell it all. I really like my computer, and my phone, and my dress shirts. But I’ll do my best to sell what I can, to reduce the clutter – and consumption – in my life so that I can free myself to be more dependent on others. In this, I want to encourage my life to be much more relational.

Why Coke Changed My Life

In Proverbs 23, we’re led to do everything in moderation. I believe in this, not only for discipline and character, but also our lives and community. The US is a nation that over-consumes on a daily basis. I over-consume daily and it’s hard to stop. The concept of the All-you-can-eat buffet disgusts me – but I LOVE IT, they are SO DELICIOUS. Yet, I go and eat and come out with abdominal pains from the unnatural amounts of food I gorge. All of this, while 15 million children die of hunger each year.

I’ve always liked drinking soda. Coke is nice. But I never loved it. I never thought the commercials really accurately captured my feelings about bubbly black syrup. It was always just okay. I’d have it every week if not everyday on some occasions. It was abundant and I was used to it, I could have it whenever I wanted.

But in Ghana, in the primordial heat, expounding gallons of H2O through every breath, there was nothing I wanted more than a ice cold bottle of coke. And it met every expectation and more. For the first time, I really enjoyed coke.

Through scarcity, through toil and suffering, salvation is so sweet. In America, we have our hearts content. The abundance of commodity, of consumption, of over-consumption, destroys all joy that we should derive from any one thing. In this one article from Yahoo Finance, it discusses how happiness comes from moderation in consuming it, as opposed to doing it all at once. The American Dream tells us that we can consume however much we want when we want. I believe the Kingdom actively tells us to shed such consumption so we can experience true joy, through dependence and communion with each other.

Conclusion (Finally!)

Don’t get me wrong, this nation is a blessing and the aspiration of the American Dream has led us – me – to where we are. I would not have these experiences and opportunities that I do if it weren’t for the hard work of my awesome parents and their pursuit of the American Dream. But, my thoughts are such that I would hope we could evolve – or at least, moderate – our desires. Less consumption, less independence, more sharing, more giving, more dependence on each other. I’ve spent the last 30 years almost seeking out joy through experience, wealth, parties, fame, and anything else. The closest to heaven has ALWAYS involved relationships – friends, family, community. Real and authentic.

2 weeks in Ghana taught me a bit of where real joy comes from. God’s blessing of people in our lives, all extensions of God himself. We are created in His image. So the choice to spend time with people and ever expanding that is a road to real happiness. But there are also choices in our lives that prevent us from enjoying that – the need for freedom and independence from each other, to only rely on ourselves, to never need others. We’re robbed of real community when we don’t need others. So I want to actively seek ways to involve people in my life – to give but also to be open to receive.

These thoughts aren’t complete and I’ve got a lot more to say here but I’m interested to see what others think. This actually rounds out my beliefs about social justice and compassion. Not just seeking justice and compassion just because Jesus did, but the reason for doing so because these are things that are natural relation building actions, actions that tie us together in community and love, and thus allowing everyone to share in Joy together – all so that the Kingdom of Heaven can be here on Earth.

Many of you might have noted the slow movement and radio silence in communication to our users over the last few weeks. Don’t fret, there’s a good reason. SnapItTo.Me has been working on the launch version of our site, design version 2.0 if you will. It’s a clean, slick look that will be launched with our contest platform and a few contests themselves. We’re really excited about this!

Our target date to release is June 4th, in a couple weeks! We encourage our users to help us out in testing, poking holes and letting us know what you want and what you don’t want. 

Thanks again for being patient as we learn how to build a better product for you!

Posted via web from SnapItTo.Me: Development Blog

This time around, four years later, its a bit different. The slowly rising potential that is the African continent, led by the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, is the reason that Delta, an american airline, has seen fit to add multiple direct flights towards african destinations. I’m bringing with me a litany of miniature devices, the largest of which is my 1.7lbs iPad. The other items are an unlocked 2.5G moto razr for local calling and my iPhone to keep in touch with anyone from the states. I’ve only got a backpack with a weeks worth of clothing for this two week trip.

But the biggest difference this time around is that it is going to be full of what was lacking last time – friends. Primarily, I’m on my way to for Mr. Christopher Yee’s destination bachelor party. It’s a tradition for us that i don’t see waning anytime soon. Mr. Daniel Jang will be joining us on our adventures. I’m going 3 days earlier to see about a very special girl, although during that time I’ll be working to prep for our adventures so that things will be set by the time Dan and Chris arrive. We’ll likely see our dear friend Erin Chu, maybe meet up with an introduced Esther who is currently out there working and possibly some cool people i met through the Sandbox Network that I’m in. I’ve met a new friend, Daniel from Accra, who has kindly offered his help for our journey and is sitting on the plane next to me.

Being with and around spectacular people is amazing. I am honored and proud to be able to be journeying out with two of my very best friends. My hope though is that we will encounter many fine people on our way towards wherever we’re going (because really, we don’t know where we’re going) and that such habits and encounters continue to follow us wherever we go.

iStockPhoto.com is 10 years old. Happy Birthday!

iStockPhoto.com revolutionized online photo as we know it. With the advent of its microstock photo product, it made it possible for stock photography, illustrations and video to be available to the masses and allowed for amateur and rising professional photographers, artists and videographers to compete with the professionals. Of course there was controversy in the beginning but 10 years later, they are revolutionaries. 

And now, to celebrate their 10 year birthday at http://www.istock10.com/, they are hosting two types of contests:

1. By purchasing istockphoto credit today, April 7th 2010, you are automatically entered in to win $10,000.
2. By tweeting the istock10.com website every hour on this day, there will be $10,000 worth of prizes to be given out.

Amazing revolutionaries are now also using the contest format to get the word out.

Maybe there’s something there…..

Posted via web from SnapItTo.Me: Development Blog

Hello SnapStars and SnapItTo.Me followers! well it’s about time for a quick update and we’ve got a lot of exciting things coming along.

First, since we’ve gone into our private beta program at the end of February, we have nearly 100 active photographer profiles being built and helping us testing out the user interface and photographer platform. This has been truly exciting working with half of our core customer group and interacting with some really awesome photographers out there. We’ve gotten some really great photographers with a diverse set of artistic talent and tastes.

Just to give you a taste of some of the talent, check out a couple of our photographers Joe Lekas and Atisha Paulson. Both of them are artists – Joe’s brilliant use of HDR and Atisha’s amazing talent for Lomography. These are just two of the many awesome photographer’s we’ve got.

We’ll be releasing our site into the public realm, taking the site out of private beta, in a couple of weeks and we’ll be launching with a couple very public platforms:

• The Photo Contest Platform
• Photographer Directory & Public Profiles

Now, people who are searching for photos can directly request for photos they are looking for as well as search for photographers that interest them.

If you’ve got any thoughts before we launch, we’d love to hear you out! Is there anything else in particular that you’re looking for?

Posted via web from SnapItTo.Me: Development Blog

SnapItTo.Me is officially launching our Private Beta! We’re welcoming all photographers to join us as we build our community and prepare for public beta launch! We’re looking for photographers who:

• Want to build their portfolio
• Want to build their experience, credentials and reputation
• Want to become part of a community that will have exclusive access to new products and features that will help them get access to opportunities they didn’t have before.
• Want to get paid for their work!

Please go to: http://bit.ly/SITMbg if you’re interested! 

It’s completely free. After answering a couple questions, if you are accepted into our Photographer Beta Launch Program you’ll be given one year of free premium features and exclusive preview of our products and features.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Posted via web from SnapItTo.Me: Development Blog

Why Now? Fall of the VC

If you play in Silicon Valley culture, then you are well aware of the fundamental shift that’s taking place in the investing environment. Due to the economic downturn, the flow of money into startups has dwindled. Less wealth means less money for Venture Capital firms which means less money being disbursed to startups. Things are achangin’ (as discussed in many events such as the Future of Funding Discussion) and they don’t look like they’ll be going back to the good ole’ days anytime soon. Investment returns are falling, exits and IPOs are scarce. Thus, VCs are taking less risk in their books, looking for more sure-fire startups, meaning the requirement to get that Series A, Series B and so on is substantially more than before.

Rise of the Angel

In a recent discussion I had with Adeo Ressi, the founder of TheFunded.com, he noted that the new environment has shifted the investment ladder one level up. Where before, if you had an idea, an Angel Investor would fund you to build a prototype, and then a VC would fund that prototype to get it fully developed and into market. Now, VCs are looking for solid traction and metrics before investing – a prototype is no longer sufficient. That’s why Angels are more important now than ever. New startups will have an incredibly hard to getting funded by a VC but Angel’s are willing to play that prototype expansion role that VCs used to play. Angels’ requirements are greater now, too, though – they are looking for built prototypes, not just ideas and concepts – but for new entrepreneurs that’s a more attainable milestone.

Fortunately, with technology, the costs for building a great web app has substantially diminished. Smaller seed round investments like $300k are able to bring early stage startups pretty far. If costs had stayed the same as those in the early 2000s, then that might have posed a problem for Silicon Valley innovation but that’s just not the case. Tech startups are still popping up left and right as the cost to building one diminishes.

Enter the Incubator

On the farthest left of the startup support spectrum is the startup incubator – something that is becoming an essential mainstay in the life of startups. Supporting entrepreneurs and hackers in the super early stage (recall: previous role of the angels), often times with just an idea or concept, incubators provide strong mentor and peer networks, essential startup business education, structure and encouragement, and sometimes a bit of funding in exchange for a little bit of equity. There are ones that have been around for a while, paving the incubator path, such as Y-Combinator and Techstars, and then there are the new entrants such as The Founder Institute, Seedcamp, Launchbox, NYCSeed and many others. All of these have produced promising startups, and with the early players like Y-Combinator, some have produced some great exits.

Success of the Founder Institute

SnapItTo.Me’s parent company, D-Pop! Labs, Inc., was lucky to be conceived and incubated in The Founder Institute. When asked what I thought about the program my first response is always “I’m much better off with it than without it.” Adeo Ressi has put together a spectacular program that has given many startups a chance that they would not have had otherwise. With success of our first graduating class, The Founder Institute is now on the war path ready to take over the world, expanding it’s program internationally.

I am a non-technical founder, a trait that has put me a substantial disadvantage in the eyes of the Silicon Valley elite. And I can understand why. So many days I imagine how much easier it would be if I could just do all of the coding myself. With that said, I’ve managed to bring together a fantastic team that has been instrumental in the success of SnapItTo.Me thus far. One of my most important goals is to prove to the world that it IS possible to be a non-technical sole founder AND be successful. The Founder Institute has played a significant role in giving me the confidence to do this – and the resources to back it up.

Looking Forward to Founders First

Now a post-incubator program has popped up, called Founders First, and SnapItTo.Me was fortunate enough to be one of two Founder Institute companies to be selected for this selective pilot. We’ll be in a cohort with other esteemed startups that came from Facebook Fund, Y-Combinator, Techstars, Seedcamp, and Launchbox. Started by Max Marmer, Alasdair Bell, and Suyash Tiwari, this program promises to be a continuation of the excellent learning and mentorship we received during our incubator days while giving us access to even more networks and resources now that we’re all startups that are active and running. I look forward to Founders First, what each of the startups will be able to learn from each other and just continuing to “do what we gotta do.”

Posted via web from SnapItTo.Me: Development Blog