It's taken me since the beginning of this year to work out whether or not to share these images from the 2017 Shoot and Share Contest with you. These first two images are particularly special and poignant, and I don't share them because of the 'awards'. I share them because I want to share the hope in these images. This is beautiful little Emily, who I photographed in NICU at about 26 weeks old. This absolutely tiny little girl really touched me, and I am just so pleased to let you know that she is now 20 months old, and is doing so well! NICU is an amazing place. It's a place filled with so many mixed emotions and roller-coaster rides for so many parents - in reality, it's a place sometimes crippled by sadness and fear, and other times filled with hope and strength. But no matter what, it's always a place filled with love and care. I know not all these beautiful, tiny little babies are as fortunate as Emily, but I wanted to share the power of the hope, love, strength, and the fighting spirit of this wee girl!
Out of over a thousand photos in the "Passion Portraits: Giving Back" Category, Emily’s photos placed 12th and 15th. This category is reserved for photos taken to give back to our communities. It's about using our gifts within photography to share with and bless others. These two photos are really special to me, and I'm glad they touched the hearts of photographers around the world who voted.
Out of over a thousand photos in the "Passion Portraits: Giving Back" Category, Emily’s photos placed 12th and 15th. This category is reserved for photos taken to give back to our communities. It's about using our gifts within photography to share with and bless others. These two photos are really special to me, and I'm glad they touched the hearts of photographers around the world who voted.
Shoot & Share is "a global community of photographers who are focusing their gifts, knowledge, compassion, and talent on others". I love what it stands for and just being part of this community and contest is really fun, and really addictive!
As well as the passion portraits, I entered some of my favourite lifestyle photos into some other categories. These photos seem extremely trivial when I put them next to the ones above, but they may provide you with a bit of a laugh too. The Shoot and Share contest this year had 330,000 photos submitted, and over 150,000 photographers from around the world participated in voting... 60 million votes were cast!! It's all done fairly and anonymously... there's no way it can become a popularity contest . It's just a bit of fun, but a great way to see some incredibly inspiring photography and to push myself photographically too.
I had four other photos that were Finalists in their categories. These first two of Eli were finalists in the 'Lifestyle' category...
As well as the passion portraits, I entered some of my favourite lifestyle photos into some other categories. These photos seem extremely trivial when I put them next to the ones above, but they may provide you with a bit of a laugh too. The Shoot and Share contest this year had 330,000 photos submitted, and over 150,000 photographers from around the world participated in voting... 60 million votes were cast!! It's all done fairly and anonymously... there's no way it can become a popularity contest . It's just a bit of fun, but a great way to see some incredibly inspiring photography and to push myself photographically too.
I had four other photos that were Finalists in their categories. These first two of Eli were finalists in the 'Lifestyle' category...
And these next two were finalists in the "That Just Happened..." category! Apologies in advance... ;)
And just because I can... here are a few of my other entries of Eli that placed in the top percentages of their categories...
If you want to check out the full collection of winning photos... check out shootandshare.com/photos. There is some incredibly awesome photography to pour over there, from the last few years the contest has been run! Enjoy xx