Travelographer of the Year contest

10/12/2010 08:31:01 PM · #1

My wife bought me a subscription to Popular Photography a while back. Since she ordered the subscription the emails associated with it go to her. She forwarded me a contest email.

The Travelographer of the Year contest sponsored by Popular Photo, American Photo, Olympus, and a St. Lucia Resort.

There were 6 categories: Great Outdoors, Bucket List, Street Scenes, Cityscapes, From Above and Underwater.

At first I thought it was one of those "image harvesting" contest where they get a bunch of entries to use for other purposes. This contest was even listed on a web site warning about such things. But the rules says they receive a "non-exclusive" right to the images to use in promoting the products and future Travelographer of the Year contest. So, I thought I'd give it a try. The contest was interesting to me since I travel a lot for my work and I use the travel opportunities for photography when I can. Many of my DPC entries are from these trips. In fact, what few ribbons I have come from images I've shot in 4 different countries.

The category winners each get an Olympus EPL1 camera and 14-42 lens. The grand prize winner gets the camera and a trip to St. Lucia.

I entered 5 images in 3 categories, Great Outdoors, From Above and Street Scenes.

Well, I didn't win the grand prize, but I did win, not one, but 2 of the categories: Great Outdoors and Street Scenes. For which I received 2 Olympus EPL1 kits! Both arrived yesterday. Popular Photography and American Photo will publish the winners in their Nov/Dec issues. The American Photo issue hit the news stands today. Below is a scan of the contest results page.

A higher res version can be viewed by clicking on "View full-size image"

The winning images were also DPC entries

Street Scenes taken with my Lumix LX3 P&S at Disney Land. There were 600+ entries in this category

and

Great Outdoors taken with my Canon 5DII in Sens, France. There were 1100+ entries in this one.

I haven't seen the Popular Photo issue yet, but I suppose it will receive the same treatment.

If you read this far, thanks for letting me show off to people who appreciate this kind of thing! ;-)

LVicari

Canon EOS-50D

Canon EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM

10/12/2010 08:39:25 PM · #2

SweeeeT!!!! Huge congrats.

kleski

Canon EOS-7D

10/12/2010 09:00:21 PM · #3

That's awesome David but you'd think they would give you a bit extra for winning in two categories. Again, congrats to you!!!

briantammy

Olympus PEN E-P3

Konica Minolta MF 85mm f/1.7

10/12/2010 09:30:11 PM · #4

so cool! that's better than 2 blue ribbons!

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S21, S21+, S21 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

10/12/2010 09:30:39 PM · #5

Gawd, that's awesome. Put me down for one of the Olys, that's a good man :-)

R.

Melethia

Canon EOS-80D

10/12/2010 09:34:51 PM · #6

Outstanding!! Not once but twice - and even more impressive given the quantities of entries! Congratulations!

Nuzzer

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM

10/12/2010 09:40:03 PM · #7

yep, congratulations and well deserved I must say!

Cory

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

10/12/2010 11:58:21 PM · #8

VERY well done.

Now, have you considered sponsoring a challenge here with one of those extra cameras you have? ;)

MikeO

Fujifilm x100

10/13/2010 06:33:45 AM · #9

Contratulations David, that is some acheivement.

Canon EOS-5D Mark IV

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

10/13/2010 07:38:30 AM · #10

Man, am I jealous!

jeger

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM

10/13/2010 07:44:14 AM · #11

Huge congratulations David!

CJinCA

Canon EOS-7D

10/13/2010 08:25:51 AM · #12

WOW, CONGRATULATIONS! Terrific images and well deserving of the wins!

one2one

Olympus E-5

Olympus 7-14mm f/4.0 Zuiko Digital Zoom

10/13/2010 08:58:04 AM · #13

I'm reporting you for using Canon equipment in an Olympus sponsored contest. ;P

Nice job and congrats.

MelonMusketeer

Nikon D7000

Nikon MF 50mm f/1.4

10/13/2010 09:20:23 AM · #14

It's great when something that you love to do gets more than just a "Wow" ! You have dedicated a lot of time and talent to your photography, and it's good that it is paying off for you in recognition as well as some great perks. Ride the wave and enjoy it!

JaimeVinas

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM

10/13/2010 09:29:59 AM · #15

way to go Dave! I really like that people shot.

hawkeyefilms

Canon EOS-550D Rebel T2i

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

10/13/2010 10:14:33 AM · #16

Thanks for the morning smile. Way to go, I'm sure you are very pleased with yourself right now. Well deserved!

geinafets

Canon EOS-50D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

10/13/2010 11:27:46 AM · #17

Wow, what an accomplishment! Congratulations!

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

10/13/2010 11:29:27 AM · #18

Originally posted by coryboehne:

VERY well done.

Now, have you considered sponsoring a challenge here with one of those extra cameras you have? ;)

That's a great idea, too bad I already sold one of them to

Signal2Noise! ;-)

I want to give this micro 4/3 system a whirl as a valid travel outfit. It is always a hassle lugging my Canon system around the world. I need a dedicated piece of carry-on luggage to bring even a part of my system. I bought the Lumix for this very reason. While the Lumix LX3 is impressive for a point & shoot, it is still limited by the small sensor size for the kind of image quality I expect.

The sensor size on the micro 4/3 is 1/4 the size of the 5DII sensor, but roughly 10x the size of most P&S cameras. The reviews on the 4/3 systems from Olympus and Panasonic Lumix lines are nothing short of spectacular. The cool thing about micro 4/3 is that the lenses and accessories work on both systems. The Panasonic Lumix 20mm 1.7 is considered a "must have" by most 4/3 enthusiasts. It's not cheap, $330 from B&H, roughly the same price as a 50mm 1.4 Canon lens. I'm using the extra cash to buy this lens and a flash for the Olympus. The flash looks cool, too, with the built in wireless functionality.

The electronic view finder and the Olympus 14-150mm (28-300mm equiv.) are next on the list if all pans out.

The whole system would pack in my computer case and weigh less than 3 pounds.

My next few challenge entries will be with the Olympus while I get familiar with the system.

Thanks for the kind responses. Winning in this contest is exciting!

citymars

Nikon D700

10/13/2010 11:34:33 AM · #19

Big congratulations, David!

TrollMan

Fujifilm X-T4

Fujifilm XF 35mm f/1.4

10/13/2010 03:22:06 PM · #20

Wow! Congrats David. Awesome. Great shots.

Artifacts

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

10/13/2010 04:00:14 PM · #21

Congrats on not one, but TWO big well deserved wins.

It is refreshing to be reminded that there are top flight photographers at DPC who achieve national and international recognition for their work.

Its amusing, however, that one of the winners only rated 46th in a DPC challenge. :)

DrAchoo

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

10/13/2010 04:45:57 PM · #22

Ya, this is great news! DPC makes its mark once again. Congrats on the victory!

10/14/2010 08:54:09 AM · #23

Originally posted by Artifacts:

Thanks, I was actully hoping for a Posthumous ribbon on that one. While Don left a comment, he too busy that week to hand out those elusive ribbons. ;-)