Any of my clients are familiar with PASS – the gallery system I use to share photos with my clients. Well the creators of PASS hosts an annual ‘Shoot and Share’ contest for photographers. I submitted a few photos, just for the heck of it, never thinking anything would come of it! 26,000 total photos were submitted to various categories and as voting started, I was in awe of the beautiful photos submitted by my fellow photographers/peers. Time went on, voting continued and after a month of voting the contest ended. I received an email saying one of my photos made it into the top 10 and I thought it was a mistake. I really did! I couldn’t believe it! This was not a contest where I was able to share my photo and ask for votes–photos came up, 4 at a time, and the voter would pick his favorite of the bunch, this was completely random and kept it from becoming a “popularity contest”. This process was addicting, and after 1.67 million total votes were cast, I was absolutely humbled and honored that a photo I took made it that far!

A week or so ago, they started announcing the top 20 photos. Starting with 20th place, then 19th, then 18th, etc. When they announced 10th place, I was sure mine was going to be it. But time went on, and we were down to 6th place. Anticipation was building!

After I got home last night, I checked my Facebook to see a friend of mine – at a photography conference in California – sent me a photo of a magazine with MY PHOTO on it! 1st place! The Shoot & Share magazine was released at the conference and announced the top photos of each category! Never in a million years did I imagine my photo would be voted 1st place by my peers! These are people with far more experience, people I look up to, and friends of mine! With a community with over 10,000 people on Facebook, I still can’t believe it happened!

Thank you for everyone who has helped me come to where I am today with my business! And most of all – thanks to Brandon & Erin for letting me take Caden’s adorable 1 year photos – which – without him, this photo wouldn’t have existed!

Here’s the original photo! For the photographers that would like to know the details:
Nikon D800 with 85mm f/1.4 lens
ISO 800, f/2.0, 1/3200 sec. All natural light.

Thankful for Amanda who first informed me and sent me the photos!