First of all, A big thanks to all of our sponsors. Without you, this would not have been possible. Nor would it have been possible without our teams. Thank you for being brave enough to try this our first year! We are hoping to make this better each year so feedback is welcomed and encouraged!
Our sponsors this year were: Hutchinson Photography Club, National Camera Exchange, Hutchinson Center for the Arts, Northwest Camera and Repair, Vivid Image, Zellas, Divine Clean, Peter Wong Fine Art Photography, Singh-Ray Filters, Bryan Hansel Photography and Paint Addict Studios. I will post their links at the bottom of this post. Please check them out and if you see them, tell them thanks! A special thanks also to Minnesota Photography Club (Facebook page) for pinning our contest info to their page for over a month, where most of our contestants learned about this contest.
We had 26 teams register for the competition. We had over a thousand images to look through and we looked at each and every one. We had 4 judges participate in judging. Each judge voted for the one image they liked best (based on the PPA’s guidelines for judging). All of the votes were tallied and the order of votes determined our order of winners. We had one separate judge who voted between ties to determine which team won specific themes. Those will be listed here as well.
Each judge chose ONE favorite image from the entire submission base that really impacted them and those 4 images were then shown to Justin Strom, owner of Paint Addict Studios. Justin provided the prize for this and so he had the job of picking just one for the winner of the canvas. Those 4 top qualifiers were:
“Bathtub” by Gina Stocker
“Water” also by Gina Stocker
“Lights” by Shakun Maheshwari
“Golden” by Andrew Cumming
Justin chose “Golden” as the winner for Best in Show. Congratulations Andrew! Contact Justin at Paint Addict Studios for your free 16×24 canvas. You are going to love it!!!
There was a tie for 6th place so there are 11 teams listed as the top 10 teams. Here is the ranking and links to their submissions. The submissions by everyone were amazing, we were crazy impressed and hope that everyone chooses to do this again next year!
#10 Kettle River Krew
Sharon Petit with Donna & Darrell Crider
Minneapolis, MN
#9 Silver
Shakun Maheshwari & Maggie Merkow
Orono, MN
#8 American Solitude
Travis Miles, Ben Ricker & Tim Traefald
Hugo, MN
#7 Los Locos
Andrea Markworth
Hutchinson, MN
#6 Minnesota Exposure
Barb Thompson, Tomaz Alvarez, Nicole Engstrom
Minneapolis, MN
#6 Flutter Me Shutters
Katie Carlson, Nguyen Hoang, Megan Dargis, Barb McKeever
Minneapolis, MN
#5 Wildcat Photo
Andrew Cumming & Mia Finnamore
Minneapolis, MN
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134412211@N06/sets/72157656627020606/
#4 Northern Sky Force
Jutta Karin Shultz, Rick Anderson, Amber Leigh Ferraro, Tim Massaro
Grand Rapids, MN
#3 CCC
Scott Board, Cliff Parnell, David Grachek
Minneapolis, MN
#2 Hyperfocals
Thomas Eikhoff, Melinda Martin, Mark Goodman, John Bain
Minneapolis, MN
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/134951174@N04/sets/72157656276594439/
#1 JAGR
Andy Chow, Ron Traeger, Gina & John Stocker
Prior Lake, MN
Congrats to everyone!
The winners per theme were:
1. Mirrored- Hyperfocals
2. Cracked- Northern Sky Force
3. Water- JAGR
4. Instrument- CCC
5. Trail- Hyperfocals
6. Translucent- Minnesota Exposure
7. Monochrome- Flutter Me Shutters
8. Keepsake- Team Watertown
9. Crunchy- Hyperfocals
10. Fractal- CCC
11. Tiny- CCC
12. Sunset- Team Wildcat
13. Confined- Team Wildcat
14. Flying- JAGR
15. Chocolate- JAGR
16. Bathtub- JAGR
17. Sunrise- Northern Sky Force
18. Wilderness- Kettle River Krew
19. Night- Team Wildcat
20. Road- CCC
21. Insect- Flutter Me Shutters
22. Creature- Team Wildcat
23. Electric- JAGR
24. Window- American Solitude
25. Golden- Wildcat Photo
26. Downtown- Hyperfocals
27. Magnified- JAGR
28. Transportation- Hyperfocals
29. Paradise- Northern Sky Force
30. Tinted- Hyperfocals
31. Creepy- CCC
32. Puffy- True North
33. Paranormal- Los Locos
34. Staircase- JAGR
35. Purple- Kettle River Krew
36. Vintage- Flutter Me Shutters
37. Tree- Minnesota Exposure
38. Bridge- JAGR
39. Waffles- Minnesota Exposure
40. Bouquet- Los Locos
41. Tattoo- Flutter Me Shutters
42. Lights- Minnesota Sky Force
43. Camera- Digital Dames
44. Action- JAGR
45. Button- Wildcat Photo
46. Pastel- Hyperfocals
47. Shadow- Minnesota Exposure
48. Magic- Northern Sky Force
A sampling of the theme winners:
“Staircase” JAGR
“Paranormal” Los Locos
“Sunrise” Northern Sky Force
“Instrument” CCC
“Window” American Solitude
“Vintage” Flutter Me Shutters
“Transporation” Hyperfocals
That is just a sampling of the excellent submissions. Please check out the team links to see all of the great work submitted for this contest. Thanks again and we hope to see you next year!
Sponsor Links:
Hutchinson Center for the Arts
Northwest Camera and Video Repair
Peter Wong Fine Art Photography