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Here is to you, contestants! | Northwest Arkansas Portrait Photographer
Posted on February 26, 2009
How do I start? A couple of weeks ago I decided that I wanted to do something exciting and special by giving away my photography services in a fun contest. I was anticipating some excellent entries and had visions of how fun it would be to announce the winner. What I did not plan on was all of the craziness that has happened. Maybe that was naive on my part, I’m not sure. I do know how competitive people can get when it comes to winning awesome things (and I like to think that I’m pretty awesome!) and probably should have thought things through a bit more. I apologize for that.
I received a comment shortly ago that took all of the fun out of this for me. The commenter was upset because they felt that the contestant mentioned yesterday broke rules and should have been pulled from the contest altogether. They were also upset because of the new way to vote. While I can see where this person might feel this way, I just want to stress that there WERE no rules against this sort of behavior because I didn’t think to create one. That is why I decided to start the contest again. Technically no rules were broken because they didn’t exist, but I did agree that spamming was unfair to all the contestants and I wanted to make it fair for all. Again, I apologize because I feel like this was something I should have foreseen and taken steps to prevent.
So, the bad news is that I’m pulling the contest. The good news is that everyone is a winner! Yes, you heard right, everyone is a winner! Each contestant is going to get a session with yours truly, five images on CD with printing rights along with five 5×7 reference prints!! This is a value of $380. I feel that this was the best way to settle what has become a very confusing, stressful, headache inducing situation.
Does this mean that Raining Light Photography will never host another contest? Absolutely not! I love the idea of giving away photography now and then. I just think that the next contest will be nomination only and then I’ll either use a panel to judge on a winner, or I’ll just use a random generator to pick the number of the winning contestant. I’m all about simplicity and think that it would prove to be the easiest way to continue what I feel is fun, exciting, and something that I believe in.
So, contestants, thank you so much for participating in my first contest. I guess you can say you were the ones to work out unforeseen kinks! I do hope you enjoy your prizes and I am looking forward to working with you. You will be getting emails outlining your prize.
Cherron, I am so sorry it was so much more stress and obnoxiousness than you planned. That REALLY stinks.
Shame on all those drama-causing folks out there.
You were just trying to do something wonderful, and it got ruined by a few lame folks.
I still love ya!!
Wow, everyone wins? You’re totally awesome and all of the contestants are SUPER lucky!! You rock!