"Say Cheese," win cash and acclaim

Buffalo.com photo by Jeff Noto.

Photographers - you probably have more "smile for the camera" shots than anyone else in Western New York...this contest is right up your alley. Thanks to Darleen for sharing this!

Let the world see Buffalo through your eyes by capturing the city’s people, places and things with your camera and submitting them to the “Say Cheese, Buffalo!” photo contest.

The contest was created by the Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau to capture the essence and beautiful sights of the Buffalo Niagara region. If you love Buffalo and like taking pictures, then this is the contest for you.

“We are always looking for fresh images to sell Buffalo to the world. Who better to help us than our own residents? By recruiting local ambassadors we are actively getting them involved in helping market Buffalo with their creative images,” said Drew Cerza, interim president of the Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau.

“Say Cheese, Buffalo!” is open to photographers of all ages. It’s is an on-going contest that has four periods of entry that correlate with the change of season. Each of the four periods will have a 1st place $100 prize that will be given to the photographer who can best capture the beauty of the Buffalo Niagara region.

Each photo submitted has the chance to be used in various CVB publications and on its website, to promote the area as a fun and exciting place for out-of-town visitors and locals. Judging will take place shortly after the ending date of each contest period.

Contest dates run from July 1, 2009 – September 30, 2009 (summer), October 1, 2009 – December 31, 2009 (autumn), January 1, 2010 – March 31, 2010 (winter) and April 1, 2010 – June 30, 2010 (spring).

Dust off your tripods and use your imagination to help capture the beauty of the region to let others know how wonderful the Buffalo Niagara area is. For more information about the contest visit www.visitbuffaloniagara.com and look for the “Say Cheese, Buffalo!” logo.

Photo contest, if you are interested

The National Wildlife Federation is sponsoring a wildlife photo contest with prizes $25,000 in prizes. If you have any particularly powerful wildlife photos you want to share, you might want to try taking a shot at this one - it's a $15 investment.

Photo contest in Brant

Buffalo.com photo by Sean Rudyk.

Hey, here's something pleasantly unrelated to all of the changeover talk...a chance to win some prizes for your pics. Check it out:

The Town of Brant is having a photo contest as part of their Summer Fest on June 21. The cost is $5/photo to enter. 8x10's are suggested but not required. The categories are Faces, Places, Children & Community Life (doesn't need to be the community of Brant). A panel of judges will choose a winner in each category. There will also be a popular vote in each category. The back of the photo needs to have the photographer's name, address, phone # & Category.

I didn't get the address for where you submit the photos, but you can click over to the Town of Brant Web site and I am sure you can either find the information or find someone who can get you that info...

And by the way, I saw something online about this being "Free Doughnut Day" at Dunkin' Donuts. Is this true?

Aud Demolition photo contest

Buffalo.com photo by Dan Ruggiero.

The Aud is tumbling down and will be gone before we know it...so one of us may as well take advantage of the loss of this piece of civic history, right? Check out the Erie Canal Harbor Aud Demolition photo contest for your chance to win some interesting Aud-related prizes. Go for it if you're interested...

Buffalo Zoo Photo Contest

Buffalo.com photo by Tom Kuenzi.

The Buffalo Zoo is holding its annual photo contest - I know that a lot of people in the program are talented animal photographers and may want to take a crack at this challenge. The grand prize is $50 and your choice of lemur.

OK the lemur part is not true. The deadline is Dec. 31, so you have some time to practice and pick out your top shots.

Anyhow, here are the rules and regs.

...and the winners are...(and other notes)

Buffalo.com photo by Darleen Stry.

...well, I will preface this by saying that the overall winner of the Spotted Spring photo contest was Darleen Stry's gallery, Spring is Here.

The next two runner-ups were Bill Parker's Signs of Spring in WNY gallery, and Tom Kuenzi's Sprung!! gallery. Both Bill and Tom's galleries received the same number of votes from our photo interns.

Now, I know I said that the top two vote-getters would get the gift certificates - but maybe it's the sun in the sky, or the fresh smell of cut grass in the air, or being too lazy to figure out a tie-breaker...but I think both these gentlemen deserve a gift certificate.

Therefore, all three of our contestants - Darleen, Bill, and Tom - will receive a $25 gift certificate to a local restaurant for their troubles. Thank you for the photos!

I am open to more contests, and ideas for contests, amongst our interns...please share your ideas with me and I will be happy to help promote anything which spurs interest in our Spotted internship.

• This leads me to another topic that I've been meaning to address.
  
  I feel like I have been a bit of a grump with all of you in the program lately, and I do not mean to be. If you are reading this blog, odds are good that you are one of the people who are genuinely interested, active, and involved in the Buffalo.com internship program. You're not the people I want to be grumpy with. You're the people who I want to be happy!
  
  Unfortunately, we have been losing interns lately, either to attrition or other commitments, and it's been more difficult to get people out to as many events.
  
  Plus, due to some pretty major new projects that we will be rolling out this summer, we have been unable to do a lot of intern recruiting. We've also been unable to be as hands-on with the program as we have been in the past ("we" meaning Deanna and me). This will be worth it in the long run - there are some very cool things coming down the pipe in the near future - but it means that, for the long-term health of the site, things have suffered some in the short-term. I completely acknowledge this state of affairs.
  
  I do want to say thank you to everyone who has stuck with the program - we haven't had a lot of new blood in the last 6 months, so the people out shooting or writing stories are people who have been committed to the program for more than their required term of service, that's for sure. Please hang around...good stuff is on the way.
  
  
• In another blog post, Dan Ruggiero raised a great point - there has not been a lot of diversity on Spotted in the last year or so. Buffalo has a fairly diverse community, and a lot of our events really seem to focus on specific events in specific parts of the city or region.
  
  I agree with Dan completely on this point, and this is something that we want to change this summer. I think this is very doable. That being said, I will reiterate my request from a week ago - to grow as photographers and writers, to grow as a Web site, for that matter, we need to step outside of our comfort zone from time to time. We need become more representative of Western New York. I have some ideas on how to make this happen, and I will take a lead in making sure this is, indeed, the case.
  

Spotted photographers: "Spring has Sprung" photo contest

Buffalo.com photo by Ray Milkowski.

Hey photographers...want a chance to win one of two $25 gift certificates to a local restaurant?

Here's how:

I am putting an event into Spotted called Spring Has Sprung. Everyone has permission to post a gallery to this event.

Your gallery can consist of any type of spring shots - people, parks, pets - anything that says "spring" to you. You can shoot this wherever you think you'll find good spring-style shots.

Post your gallery of spring photos. On Friday, April 24, we will pick two winners based on YOUR VOTES - I will send out an email on that day with a poll embedded and you will pick the winners.

Each gallery will need to have a minimum of 40 photos and adhere to the 60-40 rule.

This contest is a bit of a test to see if there will be interest in this sort of thing in the future.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Good luck!

A couple notes of interest

Buffalo.com photo by Marc Wierzbowski.

This info was passed along to me this weekend, so I thought I would share...

• Betty Wagner found some info on a new Buffalo Digital Video group that is in the process of being formed...any of you who are interested in video projects or collaborating with some of your peers in the area may find this interesting.
  
  Writers, this includes you - if you are interested in writing screenplays or writing for television, etc., it would behoove you to make friends with some people who are savvy with the camera. There is nothing more valuable in terms of experience than writing for the genre that you would like to pursue, and this could be a terrific networking opportunity.
  
  
• The Puppy Love community gallery is officially closed (well, you could technically still post photos there, but you can't win any of the prizes anymore), but if you still would like to share your pet photos - specifically those of the feline variety - check out this application that Darleen Stry found for the 2009 Hilton (NY) Apple Fest cat and kitten photo competiton. If you win, I would like 5 pounds of Red Delicious as a finder's fee, please.
  

Penguin photo contest!

Just got this from the Aquarium of Niagara...thought some of you might be interested...

Aquarium contest seeks amateur photos of penguins

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y., Feb. 25, 2009 – The Aquarium of Niagara is sponsoring its inaugural Amateur Photo Contest as part of the upcoming Penguin Days weekend. Area residents are invited to submit their original photographs of penguins, whether from the Aquarium of Niagara or other places.

The first place winner will have a chance to meet a penguin at the Aquarium. The second and third place winners will receive art created by the Aquarium’s penguins. The winning entries will be displayed during Penguin Days, the Aquarium’s annual celebration of penguins, which will be held March 28-29.

Each entrant may submit between one and five photographs, either in color or black and white, before March 20. Slides will not be accepted. All entries will be returned after April 30.

To receive the official rules and entry form, contact the events department at 285-3575, ext. 206, send an email to aquariumnf@aol.com, or stop in to the Aquarium at 701 Whirlpool St.

Get your pet's pics in The Buffalo News with Puppy Love contest

Buffalo.com photo by Ben Kirst

Get your pet's pic in The Buffalo News...how you ask? Just read on:

"We all love our pets, and in February, the Pets Place banner in The Buffalo News Classifieds is getting Puppy Love.

Post your pet photos to our special Puppy Love community gallery, and your furry friend may end up in The Buffalo News! We'll be picking pets to show off in the photo banner in The Buffalo News classified section.

Visit the Puppy Love gallery to post your pet photos, or to check out the area pets we love so much.

Want a new friend? head to The Pets Place at Buffalo.com to get a new pet for your home.

The Puppy Love contest begins on Tuesday, Jan. 27 and will run through Saturday, Feb. 28."