The Travellerspoint Travel Photo Comp

This year we are organising the first travel photography competition on Travellerspoint. Firstly, I'd better warn you that it's not going to be particularly well organised. This is because we plan to print the top 12 photos in a 2007 calendar and we are up against it for time. We think it will be worth the rush though

So, to get a good selection together I have already gone thorugh ALL the featured photos in 2006 and picked my favourites (about 50). To be fair to those members who might have uploaded photos before 2006 or might have great photos that they haven't uploaded, we are inviting you to enter this contest as well. All you need to do is ensure that your favourite pictures are uploaded and then send me a message with the links to your favourite 3 photos. Only photos in landscape format will be considered due to the layout of the calendar. I will review and decide whether any of the photos make it into the shortlist. The quality of the shortlist will be very high, so don't be disappointed if your photos don't make it in.

Once we have the shortlist completed, we will put it to a member vote to decide the very best photos. Naturally there will be some prizes for the winners and a particularly appealing prize for the grand winner.

The calendar that we produce will be ready for pre-order as soon as we have finalised the photos and the plan is to have them sent out by the end of October. All profits from sales of this calendar will go to a good cause (what exactly is still being decided). There will be more details on the calendar later, but the main reason I am posting this is to invite anyone who wants to submit their photos to do so now.

I'm afraid the timing is VERY tight, so I will need to receive all submissions by Friday this week (25th August).

[ Edit: Edited at Aug 18, 2006 7:16 AM by Peter ]

Questions:

• Is there a minimum resolution photos need to have (if not the uploaded version, then at least available with the member if the photo is chosen) to ensure good enough quality for print?
  
• Could there be some legalese about which exact right travellerspoint gets on the photos? (Not really worried about that, but having in writing that the calendar will be the only use that the photographer grants the right to might be useful. I know the current terms & conditions say travellerspoint can reproduce and modify uploaded content in any form whatsoever, but at least for me that's uploaded content, not the high resolution versions.)
  
• How far does "landscape" stretch? 3x2 and 4x3, I assume (with 4x3 being cropped to 3x2, or the other way 'round?). Would 2x1 qualify?
  
• Do the photos need to be without borders? (I assume they'll be printed that way for consistency, but a shiny border often makes a photo look a lot better, which could sway the member vote.)
  

[ Edit: Edited at Aug 18, 2006 7:32 AM by Sander ]

Quoting Sander

Questions:

• How far does "landscape" stretch? 3x2 and 4x3, I assume (with 4x3 being cropped to 3x2, or the other way 'round?). Would 2x1 qualify?
  
• Do the photos need to be without borders? (I assume they'll be printed that way for consistency, but a shiny border often makes a photo look a lot better, which could sway the member vote.)
  

This does sounds like a great idea, but i'd also be quite interested in hearing what TravellersPoint's stand is on the photographers copyright.

With regards to the questions posted above, i would have thought that all images should be 4:3 and with no border at all. Consistancy is probably what is wanted, and the calendar design should be uniform throughout, therefore border choice (if any is applied) should be performed at the design stage. I am a judge on a popular photographic competition and we have VERY strict rules on borders!

Such a pity there is such a short time frame cos l think there could be some VERY interesting shots from the TP meet in Dublin!!

I suspect that if this competition will be a success, there'll be another competition next year that the Dublin meet photos could be considered for.

Regarding the questions:

Quoting Sander

Is there a minimum resolution photos need to have (if not the uploaded version, then at least available with the member if the photo is chosen) to ensure good enough quality for print?

Yes, there is a minimum acceptable quality, but because we will be printing at postcard size, it won't be all that high. At the moment, the plan will be to contact the winners and request a high(ish) quality copy. If it can't be provided, we will move on to the next photo in line Basically, if your photo can be provided at 300dpi at postcard size, we will be happy.

Quoting Sander

Could there be some legalese about which exact right travellerspoint gets on the photos? (Not really worried about that, but having in writing that the calendar will be the only use that the photographer grants the right to might be useful. I know the current terms & conditions say travellerspoint can reproduce and modify uploaded content in any form whatsoever, but at least for me that's uploaded content, not the high resolution versions.)

We will write up an agreement that the photographer would need to sign. It would be an agreement to have the photo printed in a calendar and nothing beyond that, save perhaps some promotional graphics used to sell the calendar. The photographer will also need to confirm that they have the rights to the photo in the first place.

Quoting Sander

How far does "landscape" stretch? 3x2 and 4x3, I assume (with 4x3 being cropped to 3x2, or the other way 'round?). Would 2x1 qualify?

4x3 would be standard, but photos will be cropped to fit a standard size (roughly 4x3, but the calendar design will dictate that). You are more than welcome to submit a 2x1 photo, but bear in mind that it probably will be cropped and I will take that into account when deciding whether it should be considered by the members.

Quoting Sander

Do the photos need to be without borders? (I assume they'll be printed that way for consistency, but a shiny border often makes a photo look a lot better, which could sway the member vote.)

Without borders would be best. That said, there are 1 or 2 photos in the group that I have selected that have borders and I'm not going to be too concerned about them. To be honest, I think because we display photos with a standard border already, any extra borders don't actually help the look of the photo; if anything it makes them look a little silly.

Any more questions, please ask!

Quoting Peter

I will review and decide whether any of the photos make it into the shortlist.

• cough, cough*, weren't there others also included in deciding the short list??

Quoting Sander

I suspect that if this competition will be a success, there'll be another competition next year that the Dublin meet photos could be considered for.

Yes, definitely! And next year it would obviously also take on a slightly more structurized approach Peter and me had this idea a while ago and during recent talks decided we were REALLY keen on seeing this happen. There are a few great causes that we've been talking to and we just couldn't wait

Quoting Sam I Am

Quoting Peter

I will review and decide whether any of the photos make it into the shortlist.

• cough, cough*, weren't there others also included in deciding the short list??

Well yes.. err Q_, how's that selecting going ? .. hint hint

No seriously, Q_ will hopefully help me whittle things down as well, but for the sake of speed, I will try to get it down to a good level so it's not too much to go through for him either.

Quoting Peter

Quoting Sam I Am

Quoting Peter

I will review and decide whether any of the photos make it into the shortlist.

• cough, cough*, weren't there others also included in deciding the short list??

Well yes.. err Q_, how's that selecting going ? .. hint hint

No seriously, Q_ will hopefully help me whittle things down as well, but for the sake of speed, I will try to get it down to a good level so it's not too much to go through for him either.

Sorry, had one hell of a week. Long story.... I'm working on it. ;-)

Can you PM me your email ? I'll send you a word file with the links to my selection.

[ Edit: added last sentence ]

Pssst....Peter....did we select a worthy cause yet ?.....