Archive for the ‘Contests’ Category

Fabulous Finds Friday {Fotoclips}

July 9, 2010

Happy Friday! Is it hot enough for you? This heat wave is killing me! I do not function well in heat. So I can only hope it will rain sometime soon and break this horrible humidity. Alright enough of being a crabby pants…LOL!
Before I get started sharing my fabulous find with you, I wanted to take a minute to announce the winners of the vacation photo contest.

**Drum roll please**

The two runners up for $50 gift certificates are:
Christine K. & Jody B.
And the grand prize winner for a $100 gift certificate is:
Kristen D.
I’ll be in touch soon with your prizes. Thanks to all who entered and thank you to those who voted to help me pick a winner!

Now onto my fabulous find, Fotoclips. What is a Fotoclip you ask? Here you go:

“Fotoclips are tiny clear plastic fasteners which serve one simple purpose in life: to help you build things with your photos. Each box comes with 110 clips: 100 “2D” clips that hold two photos together, and 10 “3D” clips that allow you to attach photos at an angle to other Fotoclips.

Take a box of Fotoclips and a pile of photos, and you’ve got all the ingredients you need to build a photo lampshade, a photo wall, a photo skirt, curvy durvy photo sculptures, pretty much anything you can dream up.

Get several boxes and build a room divider, or cover your room with photos, floor-to-ceiling. Or give a box to all your photo-loving friends. At just $10, they’re easy and thoughtful gifts.” (description and image from the Photojojo store.)

Now, you are likely wondering how you can get your hands on some of these awesome clips. Well, you can get your own set(s) at the Photojo store, along with many other really cool photography gadgets. Happy shopping and have a great weekend!

Posted in Contests, Fabulous Friday Finds | No Comments »

Vacation Contest Finalists

July 1, 2010

Alright guys, I need your help. I have the vacation contest narrowed down to three entries but I can’t seem to choose a GRAND prize winner. So, I thought I would get some help from all of you. Please take a moment and cast your vote in the poll below. Feel free to share this on Facebook, Twitter or via email. Please note you can only vote once per IP address (PLEASE play fair!) and voting will close July 8th at midnight EST. Thanks for your help!

Here are the three finalists:

Posted in Contests, Studio News | No Comments »

Vacation Photo Contest

June 1, 2010

I am preparing for my upcoming vacation and thought it would be fun to have a few contests to celebrate. So here’s what I’ve come up with. I am looking for a photo that says vacation to you. What does this mean exactly? Well, let me clarify . . . it doesn’t need to be an image of you on vacation (however that would work too) but rather an image that when you look at it, you think ….ahhhhhhhhh vacation. I don’t want to taint you with my thoughts because I don’t want to influence your creative process. Images are going to be judged on creativity as well as photography skills (i.e. focus & exposure). More than anything though the image should tell a story. The viewer should be able to look at the the image and immediately think – vacation.

Now for the prizes*: There will be two contests, one for June and one for July. Each month there will be two winners, each will receive a $50 Beth Benoit Photography gift certificate. Then, there will also be a grand prize winner chosen from all the entries who will receive a $100 Beth Benoit Photography gift certificate. So I will be giving away 5 prizes total.

Are you excited yet??? Well, get those cameras out. I can’t wait to see what you come up with. Have fun! Send your entry to: beth@bethbenoit.com

*The rules and stuff….
One entry per person.
Images must be taken by the person who submits the entry.
Participants must grant permission for their image to appear on this blog.
A model release will need to be submitted if there is a person in the image. (Contact me for a copy of the form.)
June’s entries must be submitted no later than June 30th at midnight EST.
July’s entries must be submitted by July 31st at midnight EST.
Winner’s will be announced on July 2nd and August 3rd.

Posted in Contests, Studio News | No Comments »

Decorating with photos

May 7, 2010

Friday is upon us once again. And I finally had a chance to sit and read the ever growing magazine pile on my desk. Most of you probably don’t know this but, I am a self-professed magazine junkie. I am a very visual person and find so much inspiration for all things in magazines. I subscribe to about 5 magazines and get countless catalogs as well. I pour over each and everyone, ripping pages and taking notes. I know it sounds kinda silly but it really helps to inspire me. I have even started a large binder for all my clippings and have them arranged by category. It’s nice to just flip through the binder before a session, or when I need some decorating inspiration, a craft idea or whatever I am in the mood for.

Anyway, before I run off to begin my super busy weekend I wanted to share an article I just read in Country Living Magazine.  I know my clients often have tons of favorite images from their sessions and are always looking for ways to display them. So when I saw this I just had to share. The article is called fresh exposure and can be found in the May issue of the magazine. In the article, they feature 5 creative ideas to display your favorite images from a new book written by photographer Monica Rich Kosann called Living With What You Love.

You can read the article online here, as well as enter for a chance to win a copy of the book. So you should definitely check it out!

Or if you are like me and just can’t wait you can purchase a copy of the book here. Have a great weekend!

Posted in Contests, Photo Display Ideas | No Comments »

What’s that Wednesday {Depth of Field Contest}

May 5, 2010

*Yawn*, Happy Wednesday morning everyone. I’m beat, Scott and I spent last night with Scott’s Aunt & Uncle in Boston. (Thank you guys for a great night!) We had a yummy dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then went to Fenway to watch the Red Sox beat the Angels! Needless to say we got home very late and of course had to be up very early. But it was totally worth it! Oh and a big shout out to Grammy & Grampy for watching the kiddos! Thanks guys!

Now onto today’s, What’s that Wednesday post. Last week we had guest blogger Lindsay Lehmann here to discuss depth of field. If you missed that post you can check it out here.  She and I also challenged you guys to try and create a photograph using DOF to enhance your image. I sweetened the deal by offering a $50 gift certificate to the best image. Sadly though, we only had one entry. I have to say I was surprised and a bit disappointed. But the image we received was a GREAT example and I am very pleased to tell Kellie … you won! I’ll be in touch soon with your certificate and thank you for participating. Check out her image below!

I also promised to critique the images. While critique can sometimes be hard to take, it is very helpful in the learning process. (Or at least it has been for me.)  So anyway, to critique Kellie’s image, I had to first review her meta-data or camera settings. Here’s what I found:

Honestly, the image is  a good example of DOF and was a perfect entry. The exposure looks right on however the image was slightly out of focus. And really that is just being very nit picky. It definitely was acceptable focus but I prefer super sharp images. When I reviewed her settings I found the reason. Her shutter speed was only 1/50 which is a pretty long exposure to hand hold and explains the camera shake. Kellie, next time try to keep your shutter speed at least double your focal length to avoid camera shake. In this case, the focal length was 39mm so 1/80 shutter or faster would have produced a sharper image.

Thanks again Kellie for participating! Hope you had fun!

Posted in Contests, Photography Information, What's that Wednesday | No Comments »

Happy Valentine’s Day!

February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Hope you are all spending the day with the ones you love. I will be. (I even have a date with my hubby today! Woohoo!) But before I rush off, I wanted to announce the winner of the “spread the love contest”. Thanks to all those who entered. The winner is: JoAnne Lambert. Congratulations JoAnne, I’ll be in touch with your gift certificate very soon!

I am also very excited to share an awesome promo video that my friend Adam of Seriously Addicted Pictures put together for me. (Thanks Adam, you rock!) It’s a behind the scenes look at what a couples session is like. And being Valentine’s Day and all, it only seemed fitting to reveal it today. So please, take a peak and even leave a comment. I’d love to know what you think.
Have a great day! Enjoy!

Posted in Contests, Couples, Studio News | 5 Comments »

Spread the love contest!

February 5, 2010

Since my last contest was a big hit and lots of fun, I decided to run another one. With Valentine’s day fast approaching, I thought “spread the love” was an appropriate name for this contest. I wanted to mix it up a bit, so here’s how it works:

This contest will run from now until Saturday, February 13th at midnight EST. Winner will be announced on Sunday February 14th. The prizes will be based on the number of contestants. So the more people that enter, the more prizes I will giveaway. Hence the name, spread the love. So, please tell everyone you know, post on Facebook, Tweet etc… about this fun opportunity because the more people who enter the more chances you have to win.. To enter* you simply need to leave a comment below stating where or how you “spread the love”.

The Prizes, if we have:
1-20 contestants I will giveaway one $50 gift certificate**
21-40 contestants I will giveaway two $50 gift certificates**
41-60 contestants I will giveaway three $50 gift certificates**
61-80 contestants I will giveaway four $50 gift certificates**
81 or more contestants I will giveaway five $50 gift certificates**

*One entry per person, please.
**Gift certificates are valid on prints & products only. Not valid on sessions fees.

Now go spread the love! And don’t forget to leave a comment after you do. Good luck!

Posted in Contests, Studio News | 10 Comments »

Winners Announced

January 18, 2010

Thank you everyone for the overwhelming response to the new site & blog! I feel so fortunate to have such wonderful clients, family & friends. I decided to draw the winners via video so you could all be in on the fun. Click play below to watch! Enjoy!
P.S. Don’t mind the lousy video quality. Guess I need to invest in a better video camera soon! LOL!

Posted in Contests, Studio News | 3 Comments »

The New Blog Contest

January 11, 2010

Well the big day is finally here and I am so excited! I feel like I have been working on this project forever, and I am so glad all the details came together and it’s finally ready to share. As you may have noticed this is a brand new blog and not just a redesign. Why does that matter, you ask? Well if you subscribed to the old blog via RSS feed you will need to resubscribe to this one to keep receiving my most recent posts. Not to worry though, it’s easy peasy…just click on that little black box up near  the Facebook button and you are good to go. If you hadn’t already subscribed now’s a great time to start. Hint, hint! ;)

Not only is the blog all new, but I’ve completely redesigned my website as well. So if you haven’t already seen my brand spanking new look please check it out here. Take some time and peek at all the new galleries updated with my most recent work. Also you’ll notice a new, easier way to book your session with me and a brand new FAQ info page with an awesome newborn video.

2010 is going to be an amazing year, I can already tell. And because I am so excited for all the new changes I want to celebrate with you. So I figured what better way to do that than with a fun contest. Here’s the deal: to enter the contest you will need to either join my Facebook Fan Page (As easy as clicking the shiny blue icon above to join. Please note that this is the fan page not the group. You must join the fan page because I will be closing my group page soon. ), tweet about my new site and blog, or post a link in your status on Facebook. Then come back here and leave a comment in this post stating which of the above you have done. And yes, because I know you are wondering, you may do all three to get three entries in the contest. Just be sure to leave three separate comments, one with each item you completed.

So what do you get for all your hard work, well I will randomly choose three winners from the comment section. The grand prize winner will receive a $100 gift certificate and the two runners up will each receive a $50 gift certificate. (Gift certificates may be redeemed for prints & boutique items only. Not valid on session fees.) Contest begins now and will close on Sunday, January 17 at midnight EST. Winners to be announced Monday, January 18th. So get to work, you don’t want to miss out on this opportunity!

And what would a blog post be without a picture? Here’s one from my latest newborn session. Enjoy!

P0405e

Posted in Contests, Newborns, Studio News | 32 Comments »