Behind The Photo contest

The Behind The Photo contest continues with Edition #9!

Yes, we have also decided to pack up and move.

So from now on, we will be pitching our tent and running this contest on the HIVE blockchain. The very last post related to this contest we will make on the STEEM blockchain, will be an announcement echoing the move (linking to here) for those who want to continue to participate and those who want to follow and read the stories behind.

If you are following the contest and have friends who follow along but for whatever reason miss this post, please do tell them where we are. :-)

In the previous edition, we had a lot of participants again! The stories told were really great and so were the photos, which made picking three winners very difficult. There was also a lot of support and interaction between participants in post comments, which is great to see as well. If you haven't looked into any of the previous entries, go to the @behindthephoto blog, where we re-buzz all valid entries. Also, if you haven't checked the STEEM chain, that's where we made the Edition #8 winner announcement post. Since we started edition #8 there and the prizes were announced in STEEM, we felt we had to finish it as we promised.

Unfortunately, we had to disqualify more than 10 entries for not complying with such as simple rule as to include a link back to this post... Please make sure you take a look at the rules further down this post if you decide to participate. We don't want to disqualify anyone, but the rules have to apply equally to everyone entering.

We also still see recycling/reposts of old content unfortunately. Don't. Just...don't.

If the rules are unclear in any way, please leave a comment or get in touch on discord. We are easy to find and we don't bite. :-)

This has been posted in the GEMS community, which you can read about and join here. You don't have to post your entry there, it's not a rule for the contest, but we encourage you to do so, since our sponsor @appreciator (a co-founder of the GEMS community) will pay special attention to entries posted there.

For those of you who haven't read the background for this contest, here's a quick re-cap.

There's a lot of great photographers (both pro and amateur) on this platform. But sometimes we feel that we want to know what the story behind a particular photo was. The "why"-s and the "how"-s and the "when"-s and so on. We thought that the story behind could be just as interesting (if not more) than the actual photo itself. Also, being amateur photographers, we felt that it would be great to "pick the brains" of all the pros. To perhaps learn new techniques, tricks, planning, gear and everything else they know so much better.

That's how the idea of "Behind The Photo" was born. This contest is not about the photo itself, but about the process before or during the photo was taken. (If you decide to enter this contest, you can of course include the "final" photo if you want. :-) )

We would like you to share and document your journey towards the photo - with text and/or photo(s) or even video(s). We would like to know your thoughts, ideas, decision process and the story behind. For example:

Was it spontaneous, in the moment? Then show/tell us about why. What prompted you to take the photo?
Was it planned? Then show/tell us about your preparations.
Who or what were you going to photograph? For what? This contest, a magazine, for this platform?
When did you take the picture?
How did you take the picture?
- Camera, tripod, lenses, filters, etc.
Did you have to travel to where you took it?
Did you have to wait for the right moment?
Where did you take the picture?
- Was it during a vacation, or while walking to the supermarket?
- Was it deep in a forest, waiting for animals to walk by, or with your dog in your backyard?
- Was it outside in freezing snow and ice, or inside a warm and comfortable high-end studio?
Did you do any post-processing?
- What software did you use? Filters, cropping, retouching, colours etc.

All of these are ideas which we think could help you make a good entry for the contest and we would like you to use as many of them as you can.

In the first edition, we made a "quick and dirty" example, just to show you what you could do. Or not. Because we are sure you can do better, that was just an example. The link to that and the first edition post is here.

If you want to check out previous editions' winners and their excellent entries, here are the links:

Edition #8 (winner post is on steempeak)

1st place @wwwiebe - Behind the Photo - Crappy Camera Pictures - Pottery

@wwwiebe showed off his son's pottery and told us about the (very) old camera he used for that.

2nd place @edje - Behind The Photo (nr8): Not so Casual Study of My Skills

@edje took a walk in the (very empty) park to test his new phone's camera with some educating results.

3rd place @irvinc - Behind The Photo contest - Edition #8

And finally, @irvinc told us about a hummingbird, nesting in his own backyard.

As in the previous editions, the stories behind all the photos were above all interesting, go and check them out!

You can also check our previous edition winners' post which were no less fantastic:

As any other contest, we have rules:

One (1) entry per account.
Text, video(s) and photo(s) must be your own. This will of course be checked, and any form of plagiarism will result in automatic disqualification of your entry and will be reported to @hivewatchers.
Your entry must be in English. Feel free to use additional languages, but the translation must be equivalent to the English version.
You must use the tag #behindthephoto as one of the first five tags. (It doesn't have to be the first tag.) This way, we, other contestants and interested parties can find your entry easily.
The title of your entry must have the words "Behind The Photo" as a part of it.
Your entry must include a link to this post (for example at the very end of your entry).
Your entry can be in the form of writing, photos or even videos.
If you want to do a collaboration with a friend (like the example we made) that is totally fine. Just don't tell the same story! Be nice and credit each other!
Re-buzzing this post is not required, but would of course help, to let others know about the contest.
You do not have to post a link to your entry in a comment below, as we will be checking the tag.
We reserve the right to exclude any entry which we deem to be low-effort. I.e. one-picture entries with a couple of sentences, or a two-minute video will NOT cut it.
NO cross-posting of your own entry. Cross-posted entries will not be eligible for sponsored upvotes and/or prizes.
You are only allowed to re-use ONE photo which you have posted previously. If you use a photo you have posted before, your entry must otherwise contain completely new content. (Such as telling the story behind the photo you had posted before.)

Timeline:

This edition of the contest will be active from the moment THIS is posted, and will run for seven (7) days. For those of you using the Peakd front end, we will add a countdown timer to this post.

Please be aware that late entries will not be considered. After the seven days, we will take a couple of days to decide and announce the winners. Only entries posted after this post and before the 7-day deadline will be valid entries.

Prizes:

1st place: 50 HIVE
2nd place: 30 HIVE
3rd place: 20 HIVE

Apart from the prize pool, with a total of 100(!) HIVE, there is a possibility that our sponsor @appreciator will upvote some of the good entries. Any such sponsored upvotes are completely at @appreciator's discretion.

Jury: @nelyp and @johan.norberg

Sponsorship: We sincerely thank @appreciator for sponsoring this contest!

So, get creative, tell all your friends, post a link in your discord servers, spread the word and share this contest in any way you think is appropriate. We have an account specifically for this contest, so if you like the contest and want to be notified in your feed, you can give @behindthephoto a follow. @behindthephoto will re-buzz all valid entries, so it's an easy way of following the contest and to find all the entries.

Behind The Photo contest - Edition #9