Congratulations to Wendy Bridgewater who entered this, the Best Overall Photo in the 2010 Photo Chute!

1008 Ben & Wendy, 1985

Full results will be posted shortly.

Thanks to all who were involved with the Photo Chute on any level! See you next year!

The votes are in!

So who will win?

You’ll have to wait.

It’s going to be great!

Photos of Ice

Are very nice!

And photos of snow

Make my heart glow!

And skiers are cool

And so is old school!

At the Awards Party

You’ll get to see

All the awesome photos

And who knows?

You might even win

If you put your vote in!

And if not it’s ok

Because it’s a great par-tay!

With a bluegrass band,

And beer specials at hand!

So bring your dancin’ shoes,

And have a few brews,

And find out who’s the Best,

And see all the rest!

The 2010 Photo Chute

Awards Party will be a hoot!

This Saturday night

oh what a delight!

I’ll see you there!

Until then, take care,

meg

So that’s it! The entries for the Photo Chute are in!! Now it’s time to Vote for your favorites!

There are two very very easy ways to vote and if you put your name on the your ballot and/or your online photo votes, you’ll be entered into the Viewers’ Appreciation drawing! You could win something cool simply for voting so why wouldn’t you??!!

• Vote Online! Starting at noon, Thursday, March 11 you can vote online simply by commenting on any photos you like on the View and Vote page! (Please only vote once per photo.) You can comment “vote” or something more unique like “I’d like to buy this photo!” If you want to be entered in the Viewers Appreciation Drawing, then make sure your name is clear on your entry, (so if your web-name is something like SkiMaster27, please sign your comments like “I vote for this photo – Steve Wilson”
• Vote the old fashioned way! Get your paper ballots from the Valley Reporter, The Big Picture or print some out from your own computer by clicking here. You can view the photos in person at the Big Picture when you drop off your ballots (yes – again you can vote for as many photos as you like, but I’m a master “stuffed ballot” spotter so don’t push your luck!!)

To win you have to be at the Awards Party, March 20th at the Big Picture. But you were already planning to go to it! There’s going to be a great slide show with all the entries, then a bunch of door prizes, all of the Awards will be given out (including the Viewers’ Appreciation Award!!) and then Wiley Dobbs is going to rock into the night with their super stylish blend of bluegrass and jazz and their own original sound – you really won’t want to miss this!

So exercise your right to vote and help us choose the winners for the 2010 Photo Chute!

Ordinarily a headline like this for one of my blogs would have some satiric reason behind it, but I’m sad to say this post is actually of a more serious note.

A problem has arisen regarding the use of Flickr to facilitate the entry and viewing of all Photo Chute Entries. It appears that Flickr Community Guidelines do not allow contests of any kind, even if the contest inspires more people to take photos and utilize their site.

To any folks who have entered the contest, you should hear from me very shortly. If you want to get in touch with me, please email me at megsevents@gmavt.net.

My deepest apologies to everyone entering and interested in the Photo Chute. Please stay tuned – I am working on a solution and will have updates soon!

Thank you,

meg

As if you needed any more excuses to go hang out at the coolest bar in the Mad River Valley, the first round of Photo Chute Entries are now hanging in the Big Picture!

And starting Thursday, March 11, paper ballots will be available, both at the Big Picture and in the Valley Reporter.

So how do you vote? You can vote two ways: online and on paper. You can vote for as many photos as you like, but please only vote for each photo once. If you vote Online – go to the Flickr Photo Chute Page. All comments will count as votes. You can comment “vote” or something more specific like “This is such a super cool photo!” Paper ballots can be found in the Valley Reporter and at the Big Picture starting March 11. They will be collected at the Big Picture.

Why should I vote? Um… because you can win some really cool prizes for voicing your opinion! (If you vote online, please be sure to leave your name on your comment if your Flickr Name isn’t your real name.) You will have to be present at the Awards Party to collect your booty!

Remind me about the Awards Party… Sure! The Awards Party is March 20 at the Big Picture and will feature a smattering of door prizes, a really cool slide show of all the entries, the announcement and awarding for the Photo Chute Winners, and to top it all off, the super cool tunes of Wiley Dobbs, an awesome original jazzy bluegrass band.

May I suggest making a night out of it? Head to the Big Picture this weekend for a movie or dinner or music or some combination of all of that, and while you’re there, peruse the entries and drop a few votes into the ballot box. Remember that not all the entries are displayed yet, so  go online to the Flick Photo Chute page and vote for them there too!!

So if you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t noticed the three feet of snow covering the Mad River Valley, let me tell you: it’s absolutely beautiful!  Three feet of snow can surely provide some very picturesque images, and conveniently there’s still plenty of time to enter photos in the 2010 Photo Chute! Entries will be accepted until March 10 so you have almost two weeks to get out and take some killer shots!

Here’s the latest Photo Chute News:

• The date of the Awards Party has been set for March 20 at the Big Picture! I am still working out exactly which band will rock the house, but I can guarantee that they will be completely Awards Party-worthy! I wouldn’t have it any other way!! And remember: you do have to be present to win.
• I just got my hands on some  super cool prizes and will be gathering even more over the next few weeks! I will be sure to give you some choice hints so you know what you could walk home with, but the stuff I have right now would make anyone happy to win and it’s only going to get better!
• Voting is open! Votes will be tallied simply by counting the comments on the entries to the Photo Chute Flickr group. You may vote for as many photos as you like, but please only vote once per photo. You can comment “vote” or write an actual comment like “This is pretty much the coolest photo ever!”  This format will naturally favor photos entered earlier than later so be sure to get your entry paid asap so you can upload photos and maximize your chances!!

Finally a technical note: It seems that some people have not received their emails with invitations to join the Photo Chute Flickr group. Yikes!! If you are one of these people, please email me directly: megsevents@gmavt.net and we will get that all fixed for you!

Happy Shooting Team!

Great News!

The Photo Chute is alive and kickin’!

‘What is the Photo Chute?’ you ask.

The Photo Chute is a community-centered, winter-themed photography contest aimed at giving our talent-rich community members a great chance to show off their skills!

Anyone can enter! No age limits, no professional status required! Grab a camera, any camera – your snazzy SLR, your pocket-sized digital number, your iPhone, a disposable, or even dust off your father’s old film camera and take that puppy for a test drive!

This year’s categories will include the usual suspects: Action, Landscape and Humor. Joining them as this year’s Creative Category: Vintage! (ooh! doesn’t that just get your brain storming?!)

The only entry restrictions are that they are winter-themed and are your own original work. When the photo was taken doesn’t matter! So dig out some of your oldies, scan them into your computer and enter those!

This year’s contest has all sorts of new improvements to it. Take this awesome blog, for example. Bookmark this or subscribe to the RSS feed so you can stay dialed in to all things Photo Chute!

Other improvements:

• Pay your entry fee online You can still send your entry fee via the snail mail, but online purchasing is so easy and convenient that it had to happen!
• The Photo Chute Flickr Group This year you can simply upload your photos while you’re in your pajamas! You must have a Flickr group to participate, but if you don’t already have one and you like taking photos, you’ll be glad you joined!
• Online Voting No more paper cuts! This year we will be collecting votes online for everyone’s convenience!

Entries are currently being accepted! If you don’t already have a Flickr account, don’t hesitate – join today! Then pay your entry fee and you’re in!

Check out the Photo Chute web page for more information. We are still nailing down some very important details (like what you can win and where the party is going to be,) but trust me: this is gonna be good!

Feel free to contact me if you can questions or comments!

See you through the lens,

meg