We had the most INCREDIBLE turn out for our first photo contest with the Nielsen Photo Group!  The New Beginning photos that were submitted were simply AWE-some!  What better way to start the New Year than be inspired by your peers!  If you haven’t had a chance to see the winners photos, you MUST check these out!  They are incredible!

GRAND PRIZE WINNER and BABY CATEGORY!

Leah Robbins
A giddy little girl celebrates her first birthday!

Leah wins;

• A Seat at Me Ra Koh’s CONFIDENCE Workshop (value: $999).  Brian and I can’t wait to have YOU!
• SONY a65 DSLR with DT 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Standard Zoom Lens, 24.3 MP Digital, Translucent Mirror Technology. Sony’s latest DSLR! Be one of the FIRST to own it! (value: $999.99)
• Full Registration for the WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International) conference, which is held annually in Las Vegas! (value: $399)
  Full registration includes one free guest. The WPPI tradeshow has over 300 exhibitors showcasing an assortment of photography and imaging products. There are also over 75 wedding industry speakers presenting on wedding and portrait photography, lighting, Photoshop and much more! This expo is sure to jump-start your creativity!
• Two V.I.P. Tickets to The Nate Berkus Show (taped in New York City).

CATEGORY WINNERS! 

CHILDREN Category

Shante Gillette
Water approaching. (Image 1 of 4)

RELATIONSHIPS Category

John Krauss
Happy and content while rocking away under the guise of Fidel.

ELEMENTS Category

Nicole Rae
Without thought or regard… carefree. (Image 1 of 6)

CAMERA PHONE Category

Sean Conaty
July ’11.

KID’S CLICK Category

Family’s tentative first steps into the cold, foamy shoreline of New York’s Coney Island Beach.  This little photographer won a Toys R Us Gift Certificate for the special KID’S CLICKS category! (value $250)

PEOPLE’S CHOICE WINNER

Maggie Habieda Nowakowski
Nature’s Miracle.

All Category Winners receive;

• $250 B&H gift card.
• Autographed copy of Me Ra Koh’s best-selling book Your Baby in Pictures (value $19.99)
• One year subscription to PDN, the #1 magazine for professional photographers (value: $65)
• PDN PhotoPlus Expo Gold Pass (value: $50)
  PhotoPlus Expo is the largest annual photography tradeshow in the U.S. Category winners will each receive a 3-day pass to the expo plus priority admission to the keynotes, special events, a swag bag and much more!
• Go Pro! All winning entries may be submitted to sell as stock images!
• Winning images will be published in Rangefinder magazine and seen by over 60,000 subscribers.

I wish all these winners could hear the oooh’s and aaahhh’s that our family made when we looked at their images!  Simply beautiful and inspiring work!!!

Thank you so much to EVERY ONE who entered!  Wow, the judges had a TOUGH time choosing!  I’m so glad I don’t have their job!!!  All of you did so great!

Deep appreciation to our incredible photo judges; Julie Holder (recently the photo editor at the Nate Berkus Show and now the photo editor of Rolling Stone!), incredible photographer Matthew Jordan Smith (you must see his work!), and wonderful Jacqueline Tobin, executive editor at Rangefinder magazine!

Hold on to your seats! 

The New Beginnings Photo Contest is the first of many more to come from Me Ra Koh Media and The Nielsen Photo Group!  We had so much fun with this contest and had such great response that we are going to start a new one with a new theme next week!  Juicy details to come!! Stay tuned!

A BIG thank you to our wonderful sponsors; SONY (the Grand Prize winner got a new DSLR thanks to SONY!), Amphoto Books, PDN, Rangefinder magazine, WPPIonline, PDN/PhotoPlus!

xo,

m