Shutter Box Philippines :: Digital Photography and A Whole Lot More

The 2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition, which is now on its  44th year, is the most prestigious and successful event of its kind in the world.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition is an international showcase for the very best photography featuring natural subjects. The competition is owned by two UK institutions that pride themselves on revealing and championing the diversity of life on Earth - the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine.

Held annually, the competition aims to find the most stunning and original wildlife pictures taken by photographers.

Being accepted into this competition is something that wildlife photographers, worldwide, aspire to. Professionals win many of the prizes, but amateurs succeed, too. And that’s because achieving the perfect picture is down to a mixture of skill, vision, originality, knowledge of nature and luck.

Amateur and professional photographers of all ages worldwide can enter and get a chance to be named the 2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

Each year thousands of entries are received and judged by a specially selected expert panel. The winners are announced at an awards ceremony that takes place each October at the Natural History Museum, London.

The 2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is open to anyone with an appreciation of wildlife and a passion for fresh, innovative photography. Entrants stand to win an impressive £10,000 prize if they are given the coveted title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008 or £23,550 share a prize fund if successful in other categories.

The competition has 11 adult categories plus 4 special awards. You can even join the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008 if you happen to be 17 years old and younger.

Judges are typically looking for pictures that are memorable, either because of the behavior displayed or because of their aesthetic appeal - and ideally, both.

It will cost you £20 to enter online and £27 to enter by mail.

Deadline for submitting your entries is on March 24, 2008 by mail or March 31, 2008 for online submissions.

More info on the 2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition at the Natural History Museum.

IMAGINATIONS SOAR HIGH
at the 12th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta!

February 7 to 10, 2008
Clark Freeport Zone

The 12th annual Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta is the biggest aviation sports event in the country today. Hot air balloon and airplane pilots from all over the world fly into the Philippines to join their local counterparts in this breathtaking event.

Join the EPSON Photo Contest Marathon!

Win Php 20,000 in daily cash prizes, PLUS products and freebies from EPSON!

Check out the EPSON Photo Workshops and Activities!
EPSON brings in the country’s top workshop facilitators to give a FREE 4-day lecture workshop on photography and digital retouching techniques.

There will also be a shooting workshop on glamour fashion photography featuring models in aviation gear.

Witness Exciting Aviation Events!

• Daily Hot Air Balloon Flights
• Daily Flag Jumps
• Skydiving
• Micro Light Demonstrations
• Small Plane Fly-bys and Fly-ins
• Remote-Controlled Airplane Exhibitions
• Aerobatics
• Light Airplane Balloon-Bursting Competition
• Ultra-Light Formation Flying and Bomb-Dropping Exhibitions
• Helicopter Fly-ins and Exhibitions
• Rocketry Demonstrations
• Kite-Flying Exhibitions
• Ultra-Light and Motorcycle Races

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!

Day passes for the 12th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta are available in Makati City for Php 100 at OneWorkshop

G/F 2241 La Fuerza Plaza II
Don Chino Roces Ave. cor. Sabio St.
Makati City
See location map http://www.owg.cc/locationmap.html

For ticket inquiries , call 819-2074 or 810-5094.
For photo contest mechanics kindly email one_workshop@yahoo.com

EXCITING PRIZES AWAIT THE DAILY WINNERS!

Winners of the two (2) Best Photo Entries per day will each receive Php 10,000, PLUS a Certificate of Excellence, an EPSON coffee table book and a HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE courtesy of SM!

Winner of the two (2) Grand Prizes will each receive Php 20,000, PLUS a Certificate of Excellence, an EPSON printer and coffee table book, and a slot in an OWG Creative Centre Photo Workshop worth Php 6,000.

EPSON Photo Contest Mechanics

The EPSON Photo Contest Marathon is open to all visitors and guests of the 12th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta.

Students, amateurs, hobbyists and professional photographer are welcome to use any digital SLR, digital point-and-shoot or cell phone camera to interpret the given theme for the day.

DAILY CONTEST THEMES

Day 1: Happiness and beauty:
e.g. nature, beautiful people, family, colors, camaraderie, hot air balloon formations etc

Day 2: Triumph, passion and love:
e.g human interest, event activities, decisive moments etc

Day 3: Majestic view:
e.g sunrise, sunset, landscape, cloud formations, nature etc

Day 4: Creative moment:
e.g Hot Air Balloons and Clark and Pampanga landscape in focus etc

Photos for all daily themes are allowed to show entire or partial logos, signage or references to the 12th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta and/or EPSON.

Participants are allowed to submit multiple entries per daily theme.

Participants may win multiple daily prizes and compete for the Grand Prize.
CLOSE RANGE ACCESS PASS PROCEDURE

Participants must first secure a Special Shooters Pass ID from the on-site OneWorkshop booth. The access pass enables participants to use the special shooting area that allows photographers to shoot the balloons at close range.

Access passes are limited. The PIHABF event organizer may close the special shooting area once the limit has been reached.

Rules and Guidelines

• Photos MUST be taken during the 12th Philippine Hot Air Balloon Fiesta competition period of February 7 to 10, 2008.
• White borders around the area are optional, but must not exceed one inch (1″) on all sides.
• Built-in camera B&W, sepia tone and colored prints are allowed.
• Printed output that is manually retouched and/or painted over is not allowed.
• Creative effects done within the camera at the time of exposure, such as multiple exposures, flash fill, lighting and filtration are allowed.
• Digital retouching of density, contrast adjustments, minor cropping of composition, burning and dodging, and global adjustments IS TOLERATED.
• Major manipulation of main images through adding and subtracting IS NOT allowed.
• The name of the participant should not appear on the face of the entry.
• The decision of the board of judges will be final.

Submission of Entries

All entries must be printed on 8 x 10 EPSON photo paper. Only prints from the on-site EPSON ProLab OneWorkshop printing booth will be accepted.

Standard fee for 8 x 10 printing is Php 350 per print on EPSON Satin Photo Paper.

Participants using the EPSON printing service will be entitled to the following:

• Special Shooters Pass ID (Can be secured in advance at OneWorkshop in Makati City before the event. Limited to 100 pass per day only)
• EPSON signature cap
• FREE to attend the glamour fashion shoot and daily photo / digital retouching workshops. Top Photographers to conduct the workshops daily from 1PM-3PM: Jay Alonzo - Feb 7, Borj Meneses - Feb 8, PARC Cruz - Feb 9, George Tapan - Feb 10

All entries must be submitted by 3PM daily from February 7 to 10.

Winners and finalists will be required by the 12th Philippine Hot Air Balloon Fiesta and its photography event organizer OneWorkshop, Inc. to submit the ORIGINAL digital files of their entries for evaluation and publishing purposes.

Recognition of Winners and Finalists

Winners and finalists of the EPSON Photo Contest Marathon will be announced and awarded daily following the hot air balloon night glow.

The daily winners and ten (10) finalists will be on display each day at the designated OneWorkshop exhibit area.

An exhibit of all 10 winning entries and 40 finalists will be mounted at SM City Clark, featuring formal opening and ribbon-cutting ceremonies with PIHABF and an SM Executive Officer. Mounting, panels and cocktails are sponsored by EPSON.

A special feature on the ten (10) winning photographers together with all winning entries and finalists will be exhibited online for one year at www.philphotography.net sponsored by OneWorkshop and at www.philballoonfest.net

Entry Retrieval

Non-winning entries may be retrieved on the day after submission from the on-site OneWorkshop booth.

Non-winning entries may be retrieved after the event at OneWorkshop, G/F 2241 La Fuerza Plaza II Don Chino Roces Ave., cor. Sabio St., Makati City.

Deadline to retrieve entries is February 25, 2008. Entries not claimed after the deadline will automatically become the property of the Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta (PIHABF) and EPSON who may dispose of them as they see fit.

Restrictions and Disclaimers

The PIHABF and EPSON reserve the right to reproduce, exhibit or publish submitted images for promotional purposes but shall indicate and acknowledge the photographers. PIHABF and EPSON may display the prints in a public venue or publish the prints for the purpose of promoting the competition or any off-shoot event arising from the competition without financial compensation to the photographers. Copyright for the photograph, however, still belongs to the photographers.

PIHABF, EPSON and its photography event organizer OneWorkshop, Inc., as well their immediate family or household members are NOT eligible for participation in the EPSON Photo Contest Marathon.

Due care will be taken to ensure the safety of all entries. However, PIHABF, EPSON and OneWorkshop, Inc. cannot be held responsible for the damage or loss of any entry.

Note: This announcement is subject to change and updated from time to time.

You might also want to check out Up, up and away in Pampanga; a tour organized by Anton Diaz of Our Awesome Planet, Ivan Henares of Ivan About Town, Old Manila Walks and Manila Boy which will take you to the 12th Philippine Balloon Fiesta, VFW Outpost, Mount Arayat, Abe’s Farm and Nurture Spa Pampanga.

Shutter Box Philippines would like to know more about you.

Please answer the sixteen (16) questions listed below by posting a comment on this page.

In the spirit of Christmas and gift giving… every complete entry (all 16 questions answered) will be entered into an electronic raffle draw.

The winner will get (1) FREE 6 Months subscription to Digital Photographer Philippines magazine (DPP).

1. Gender

2. Age

3. Location

4. How long have you been into photography?

5. Are you using film, digital or both?

6. What camera brand/s and model/s do you use?

7. How would you classify yourself as a photographer (professional, hobbyist, etc)?

8. Do you belong to a photography club? If yes, please indicate name of club.

9. How did you find out about Shutter Box Philippines?

10. How long have you been reading Shutter Box Philippines?

11. How often do you visit Shutter Box Philippines?

12. Do you subscribe to Shutter Box Philippines’ RSS feeds?

13. What would you like to see more in Shutter Box Philippines?

14. What would you like to see less in Shutter Box Philippines?

15. What other photography related sites do you frequently visit?

16. Do you have a blog or a website? If you do, kindly share the url with us.

Please use a valid e-mail address when you post your comment so I can reach you in the event that you will be drawn as the winner.

All comments should be submitted by 11:59PM GMT+8 of December 26, 2007 for it to be included in the draw.

Please take note that all comments are moderated so don’t worry if your comment isn’t approved yet but as long as the time stamp states that the comment was submitted before the cut off time your comment will be counted.

Should you win but it just so happens that you are based outside the Philippines, you may elect to give the prize to somebody else who is based in the Philippines.

Enter for Free to Win a Mac Pro w/ Dual 30″ LCDs!

Compete for free in the biggest Photoshop contest of the year to win amazing prizes for four whole weeks ranging from iPods and MacBooks to the designers’ Holy Grail – The Quad Core Mac Pro with dual 30″ LCDs!

Here’s How it Works:
You can contribute one image. Sign-up and submission is completely free and without commitment.

Crestock will supply a set of source photos from their image library. Your entry must be based on one or several of these photos, but you are free to do with them whatever you like. You may also use other elements in your design, as long as one or more of the source images can be recognized as a central part of your design.

The winner is determined 40% by public vote, 60% by their highly qualified judges’ votes. The public voting will open after the deadline for each round and run for one week.

The winning entry will have incredible visual impact and exhibit fantastic creativity and technical skill, perhaps also with a twist of humor. Amaze us or make us laugh – or both. It’s up to you and your skills, creativity and imagination, but whatever you do, don’t miss out on the action!

The last round starts today, Tuesday, December 4, 2007 and will end on Tuesday December 11, 2007 at 10AM GMT.

You retain all copyright. Crestock will not sell your images. Read the full rules here.

invites you to…

How do I join the contest? 

Make your designs in any way you like (they can be photographic or illustration based) and upload them to Flickr. Join the MOO Competition group at www.flickr.com/groups/mooxmas07 and add up to ten designs to the group pool. Once your design is in the pool, that’s it - you’ve entered - and from November 1st 2007 you, your friends - and the rest of the world, will be able to buy your design on their holiday cards in the Holiday Card Store, on the MOO website.

What are the prizes?

There are four prizes, each of $2000 US. These will be awarded to the entry the judges consider to be the best in each category.

What are the categories?

Best Selling

For the design that is used on the most Greetings Cards sold through the MOO shop.

 

Best Photo

For the photographic entry the judges think is the best - both in terms of craft, and in the way it captures the holiday spirit. It can be a digital or a scanned film photo, but you shouldn’t have heavily manipulated it.

 

Best non-photo

For anything else - from drawings to quilts to design to computer generated art. Again, this will be the image the judges think is the best - both craft, and in the way it captures the holiday spirit

 

Funniest

For the image - however it’s made - that the judges think is the most hilarious take on the holiday.

You keep the copyright in your design/photos. When you add it to the group pool, you’re agreeing that MOO can show it on the MOO website, and let people print it when they buy greetings cards. Check the competition rules for more details. MOO will only use your images for the Holiday Card Store, and nothing else. You can still use your image in any other way you want to.

Entries must be submitted to the flickr group pool at www.flickr.com/groups/mooxmas07 no later than 23:59h (11:59pm) GMT on November 31st, 2007. Entries submitted after 00:00h GMT on December 1st, 2007 will not be eligible for the prizes.

For more info, check out the Moo Holiday Card Competition website and make sure to read the full Terms and Conditions and FAQs.

1st Philippine Airlines Photo Contest Finalists

Philippine Airlines proudly announces the finalists of the 1st Philippine Airlines Photo Contest.

Last week, five judges selected the finalists and winners out of some 2,800 entries submitted by professional , amateur and junior photographers nationwide.

The 1st Philippine Airlines Photo Contest is the first and most prestigious competition of its kind this year, with winners from the Professional, Enthusiast and Junior divisions receiving over a million pesos in total prizes.

Here are the finalists (In random order):

Professional Division - The Beauty of the Philippine Scapes Award:
Erwin T. Lim , Mark Wendel Dela Cruz, Ramon F. Castillo, Benny Bondoc, John Javellana, Rodney Niduaza, Samuel De Leon, Ronie N. Poblacion, James Park, Leonardo Sexcion, Ferdinand M. Singh, Roberto Mendoza, and Carlo Carlos.

Professional Division - The Beauty of the Philippine People / Portrait Award:
Rosemarie Razon, Carlo Carlos, Walter C. Villa, Joseph R. Yamane, Rodolfo Manabat, Romulo Domagas, Dennis Magdamo, Rodney Niduaza, Rolando Jumawan, and Raniel Castañeda.

Professional Division - The Beauty of the Philippine Culture Award:
Ruel Bimuyag, Donald Tapan, Carlo Carlos, Bobby Timonera, Michael W. Li, Arnold Jumpay, Erwin T. Lim, Rosemarie Razon, Raniel Jose Castañeda, Carolina Bustamante, Sixto M. Agraviador, Mark Wendel Dela Cruz, Jethro Rafael, and Jesus Tinapay

Enthusiasts Division - The Beauty of the Philippine Scapes Award:
Susan Celzo, Ernest Kurt C. Tan, Victor Alvarez, Merlie Biona, Antonio Rojas, Jr. , John Marcel Lainez, Roselyn F. Roldan, Jacob Maentz, Vincent Vilaroza, Teodoro Labay Pelaez, Lhor Santillan, Joylove Delgado, and Judith Carlos.

Enthusiasts Division - The Beauty of the Philippine People / Portrait Award:
Leonard Pe, Pacita Tiong, Mark Sandoval, Hannibal Zenon Ong, William Lee Chin, Jacob Borres, Rustom Banal , Jr. , Jose Paolo Sanchez, Josaias De la Cruz, Ronald Rillo, McLloyd T. Jumpay, and Hersley-Ven D. Casero

Enthusiasts Division - The Beauty of the Philippine Culture Award:
Antonio Rojas, Jr., Jesse M. Narrazo, Joaquin Ruste, Lemuel Ragaza, Maritoni Nanini, Jojie Alcantara, Maria Catalina G. Jumpay, Leslie Go Alcantara, Rustom Banal, Jr., Pacita Tiong, Ronalie Beltran, Allan Ong, and Japoi Cequina

Junior Division - The Beauty of the Philippine Scapes Award/ People / Portrait Award/Culture Award:
Eouia Aum Dueñas, Marirose Angeline Lim, and Marilaine Claudette Gapal,

The awarding ceremony is tentatively scheduled on Sunday, 3pm-5pm, October 28, 2007 at the SM Mall of Asia. All finalists will be notified by emails so that they will be there to await the announcement of the contest’s nine lucky winners from the Professional, Enthusiast and Junior Divisions.

The 1st Philippine Airlines Photo Contest aims to promote Philippine ecotourism, as well as encourage photographers of all ages and skill levels to develop their talents. The competition is for the benefit of Philippine Airlines Foundations ecotourism projects, and is presented in partnership with EPSON and SM Supermalls. Sponsors include I-MAG Photography, Mabuhay Magazine, philphotography.net, El Nido, Marithe Francois Girbaud, The Tides Boracay, The EMBASSY, Gadgets Magazine, Speed Magazine, Action & Fitness, Graphic Expo and OWG Creative Centre. Co-organized by OneWorkshop,Inc., and Eastgate Publishing Corporation.

Ultimate Frisbee Tournament

at

UP Diliman Sunken Garden

Saturday, 20 October 2007

8am to 5pm

Everyone is welcome to to shoot. This would be a good time to practice on shooting action/sports.

Posting a link to your Ultimate Frisbee Tournament shots here would also be great so that the Ultimate Community will be able to see your great shots.

Me and My adidas Originals Photo Contest

Calling all photographers and lomo enthusiasts out there!

Celebrate Originality by sending a photo of yourself decked out in Adidas Originals gear and flaunting the 3 stripes from head to toe.
Adidas will be hooking up the top two contestants with a year’s supply of kicks - that’s a fresh pair every month so you can rock the stripes in true Originals fashion.

Originally Cool Prizes!

• One male and one female with the most creative photo will be chosen as winners. Contestants must submit a photo of himself/herself wearing at least one article of adidas Originals apparel or footwear, with the logo prominently visible in the photo. Logos of direct competitors should NOT be worn or visible. The prize is a year’s supply of adidas Originals footwear, allocated as one pair of the winner’s choice each month. A special prize of half a year’s supply of adidas Originals footwear will be awarded to the most creative lomo photo. Prizes are non-transferable and non-consumable to cash.
• Semi-finalists will be chosen weekly and notified by an adidas Philippines, Inc. representative via phone or e-mail on or before 12 October 2007. Winners will be announced during the grand launch of the adidas Originals Concept store on 13 October 2007 at TriNoma. Semi-finalists are required to be present during the event to be eligible to win.
• The contest is open to all adidas Originals enthusiasts and legal residents of the Philippines. Employees of adidas Philippines, Inc. and its subsidiaries, affiliated companies and agents, and the foregoing employees’ immediate family members up to first-degree consanguinity are NOT eligible to join the contest.

Official Mechanics:

• Entries must be in the required media specifications: in JPEG digital format, with a minimum resolution of 150 dpi and a maximum file size of 1MB. Images must not have been digitally altered or enhanced in any way other than simple cropping and/or color adjustments.
• E-mail entries to adidas.OriginalsPH@ adidas.com , along with the following: fun name, age, school or company, contact information (including mobile phone), title of photo, and brief caption not exceeding 30 words.
• Submit as many entries as you like, as long as each one depicts a different idea or theme. All submitted must be original and unpublished.
• Qualified entries will be posted on www.adidasoriginalsph.multiply.com and will also get a chance to be exhibited in the adidas Originals concept store.
• All entries become exclusive property of adidas Philippines, Inc. and may be used for any advertising, promotional, publicity, or retail purposes. (if you want to join, do take note this clause)
  
• Contest duration is from September  17, 2007 to October 11, 2007. Submission deadline is on October 11, 2007 (11:59PM). No purchase or payment is necessary to enter or win.

Travel Photographer of The Year 2007

Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) is a prestigious international photography competition designed to find and showcase the very best in travel photography. It is run by photographers for photographers, and since its launch in 2003 it has become a major annual award, with entries received from over 50 countries around the world.

The overall winner of this year’s competition will travel to Dharamsala in India, during which they wil have the opportunity to spend up to two days with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This trip will enable the winner to produce a superb photographic essay on His Holiness and the Tibetan settlement at Dharamsala.

TPOTY 2007 features three Portfolio categories - One Planet Many Lives; Sense of Place, and Thrill - and a One Shot (single image) category.

Each offers an outstanding prize package, and there are great prizes for those who finish second, third and fourth. Details of each of these awards, categories and their prizes can be found by following the links found later in this page. And a full description of each prize can be found on the relevant sponsor’s page.

There’s also a special award for those aged 16 and under - the Young Travel Photographer of the Year - and a new award, for up and coming photographers - New Talent.

Travel Photographer of the Year 2007

To be considered for the title of Travel Photographer of the Year 2007 , you must enter at least two different portfolio categories. This year’s winner will receive an outstanding prize.

Young Travel Photographer of the Year 2007- Fragile Earth

The search for a photographer aged 16 or under who has exceptional talent.

New Talent Award - Insight

If you are aged 18 or over and an amateur or semi-professional photographer, or have turned professional since September 19th 2005, you can also enter the New Talent award. This very special category will help either set one photographer on the road to a career in photography, or give a significant boost to a fledgling career.

Portfolio Categories

This year’s TPOTY Portfolio categories are: One Planet Many Lives; Sense of Place, and Thrill. In each category you enter, you must submit a portfolio of four prints.

• One Planet, Many Lives

• Sense of Place

• Thrill

One Shot

This is an award for a single image. However, this year we are giving you two chances to win, as, for a single category entry fee, you can enter two different images. Each will be judged as a single image, so, unlike the portfolio images, they don’t have to form a set.

The One Shot theme is:

• Special Places, Amazing Faces

You may enter one image that shows a Special Place and one that shows an Amazing Face, or two that show special places, or two that show amazing faces, or one (or two!) that shows amazing faces in special places. The choice is yours!

For more info, visit Travel Photographer of the Year.

Photo Life Magazine

presents

Image International 2007 Photo Contest

Photographers worldwide are invited to send their best shots in the following categories:

A WORLD OF PEOPLE
Our planet will soon be home to 7 billion people and each individual has a story to tell. Knowing your subject is the magic ingredient to showing their individuality and telling their story. Show us who they are and illustrate their tale through your images.

NATURE AND LANDSCAPES
Despite disturbing threats to our environment, the Earth still grants us breathtaking fauna, flora, and landscapes that offer tranquility to appease our rushed and sometimes complicated lives. A keen eye can translate that tranquility into an image that speaks volumes… perhaps loud enough to impact environmental issues.

TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY
Travelling is often a choice opportunity for photographic creativity. Your travels canlead you miles away to exotic locations or right in your hometown. Make the rest of us green with envy through your discoveries.

GRAND PRIZE
A 10-day G.A.P Adventures expedition for two to Antarctica where you will experience the South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula, home to some of the planet’s most impressive wildlife and dramatic landscapes. (estimated value: $15,000)

HOW TO PARTICIPATE
By mail: You can participate either by regular mail using the Official Participation Form found within the pages of Photo Life magazine or by downloading, printing, and using the PDF file.

On-line: You can also participate using the on-line facility (high-speed Internet connection highly recommended), for more information, click here.
ENTRY FEES
Entry fees are $15 for up to 10 images in any or all categories (example: if submitting 27 images, the participation fees for the first set of 10 images is $15, plus $15 for the second set of 10 images, plus another $15 for the remaining 7 images, for a total of $45). You may submit as many images as you wish. Entry fees for on-line submissions are payable by Visa or MasterCard only and in Canadian funds for Canadian residents and in American funds for all others.

DEADLINE
To qualify, entries must be uploaded no later than September 30, 2007, 11:59 p.m.

More info on Image International 2007 Photo Contest at Photo Life Magazine.