The Shoot & Share Photo Contest is a wide-known contest in the photographer community I first learned about two years ago. It’s a contest FOR photographers, voted on BY photographers. It’s an opportunity for photographers to come together, share what they love, and acknowledge those whose work stands out!
Every photographer (amateur or professional alike) is allowed to submit a maximum of 50 images each year. There are no photographer names associated with the images and each image has an equal opportunity to be voted on and is judged on its own merit. In other words, this is not a popularity contest guys, it’s all about the photos and the stories they tell. The best part is that everyones gets to vote as many timesas they’d like. The voting is really fun and can be quite addicting once you get going!
Last year, I entered 25 photos and didn't have any of the images place. I don't get easily discouraged, so this year I went for it again! Again, I entered 25 images and I am SO proud to announce that seven of my images placed in the top 30% or higher!
With hundreds of thousands photos submitted, 81 million and votes cast, to have ANY of my images place is a tremendous accomplishment. But to have SEVEN images place, one of them being in the TOP 10%, just blows me away and seriously almost makes me cry. I am especially proud of this accomplishment because the images are voted on by other photographers and compared to last year especially, reaffirms my growth as a photographer. It reaffirms that my efforts to become a better photographer have been successful and it fuels the fire to continue the path of self-improvement and professional development. I don't think that artists are ever completely satisfied with their work but if you have the drive to grow, to get better, you will!
So without further ado, here are the NikoBella Photography images that placed in the 2018 Shoot & Share Photo Contest: