OK, so I did this thing. February through March, photographers around the world submit some of their best work to the Shoot and Share Contest and tens of thousands of people vote on these images to find out who the “best of the best” are. Now, keep in mind that this is a completely informal contest; it’s not judged by professionals, instead this contest is open to everyone and anyone who wants to vote. Mostly it’s photographers who vote, likely those who’ve also entered the contest, however friends and family join in every year. I never ask you guys because, well, I don’t know why. Seems silly I guess. Maybe I’ll ask next year. Probably not. Anyhow, there are I think 16 categories (everything from brides and wedding details to families and pets), and every chance to vote includes a 4 image slideshow from the same category. You vote for your favorite of those 4, and move on to another set. This goes on and on and on until hundreds of thousands of images are narrowed down to the finalists and top 100 in each category.
Here are the stats:
225,207 total images submitted to the contest
74,000 photographers involved
32,622,327 total votes
So, that’s like a lot of people. And SO MANY photos. I voted a lot (it is a fantastic way to procrastinate) and rarely saw any of my own photos, which is actually really awesome because you get so much inspiration from all of the amazing pictures that are submitted. It is CRAZY how much photographic talent there is in the world. Anyhow, these are the images that made it into the top 30% or higher from the contest. If you see “finalist” in the corner of the image it means that the photo made it though all 12 rounds of voting. “Top 100” means it was one of the top 100 photos in the category it was entered in. Thanks for checking in and I hope you enjoy these photos. You may even see one or two from your own wedding or family session (after all, my kitty Cleo made it in!) xx, Amy
