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11/22/2008
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If you've held a camera you've probably had the experience - the stars align and
what you got on film or pixels looks better than the real thing. Maybe the
light was just right, something rare and unique went down, your careful preparations
paid off - or maybe you just got lucky. You got your money shot.
In the day only the pros got truly great shots. Digital technology has
ramped the learning curve and dropped the price of admission to the point where
Joe Rider can capture some rad moments. We've seen this on our bulletin
boards and in our gallery - and the results are getting better all the time.
This got us to thinking about rewarding some of these amateur lensmen and women.
We got on the phone and spoke to a few of the coolest companies in the business
and put together some fantastic prizing. Then we asked four photographers
to judge the contest; Sterling
Lorence, Ian Hylands, Stephen
Wilde and Harookz.
Each of these shooting stars will judge a month of the contest and then together
with our very own David Ferguson they will choose the Money Shot winner.
But hang on - I'm getting ahead of myself. You probably want to know
how this is going to work.
Here's the brief version. Submit photos to a contest page in our gallery
(you'll have to register for our bulletin boards to do so but that's easy).
The first gallery will open on February 1st and close on the 12th (after that
each entry period will be only 7 days). By Monday morning Sterling Lorence
(the February judge) will have chosen a winner. That will happen for three
more weeks until we have four winners. At the end of February (actually
it will be March 4th) we'll have four winners and Sterling will choose one of
those four to be the monthly champ. February is sponsored by Dakine
who have generously donated a pair of Cross X gloves and a Nomad pack for each
weekly winner and their awesome Sequence pack with camera block for the monthly
winner.
This will all happen four times. March is sponsored by Syncros,
April's prizes are coming from Race
Face and Bontrager
will be decking out the winners in May with Big Earl components.
The four monthly winners will be asked to submit one more photo each at the
end of May. That photo will decide who walks away with a 2006 Rocky Mountain
Slayer - decked out with Syncros components, wheels and tires a Fox Van RC2
fork, Magura Louise FR brakes, Race Face cranks and a SRAM XO drivetrain.
Calling it a CDN$6000 machine with that spec would be pretty accurate.
There you have it. Get shooting. Of course there are some rules.
nsmb Money Shot 2006 Rules
Who can enter?
This is not a pro contest. If you have sold more than five campaigns
to print publications you are not considered an amateur in the eyes of Money
Shot. Each campaign can have multiple images but if for example
you sold a photo used for an ad and another used in a story in the same magazine
that would count as two campaigns. One story with 5 images counts as one
campaign.
If you've sold the odd shot but something else brings home your bacon you're
in. If you aspire to be a pro but you are just getting started then giddy
up - this could be your start. Primarily though we're looking for shots
from Joe Shooter - a rider who also likes to take pictures of his or her riding
crowd. This is a world wide contest - no matter where you live we hope
to see your shots in vying to be the Money Shot.
What about the photo itself?
The photo itself shouldn't be watermarked. Once entered into our gallery the
shot will be nsmb watermarked on the bottom left corner. The rights to
the photo can't belong to someone else. You can shoot digital or film
and you can do some post processing using Photoshop or any other program - which
includes assembling a sequence. Be aware of the judges though. Pro
shooters tend to be purists and since they are the judges you might be advised
to get more jiggy with your camera than with your mouse. You can shoot anything
that has a mountain bike theme. It doesn't have to be a rider going off
a jump but it could be. You could shoot street, night riding, slate park,
bike park, an epic, stunts, post ride beers, dirt jumps or a section of trail
without a rider. Stretch yourself - creativity and originality will be
rewarded. I'm not going to say anything else about judging criteria.
We're just going to ask the lads to choose the shot they appreciate most. Photos
that have appeared in any print publication are not eligible. This
is a contest for shooters not riders so the prize goes to the person behind
the camera.
The shot doesn't have to be new or recent to enter but there's a chance it
would help you in the eyes of the judges.
To claim your prize we'll ask you for the original large file version of your
winning shot as well as non-exclusive usage rights both on the site and in print.
Can I write something too?
The great thing about our gallery is that it gives you the opportunity to tell
the tale behind the shot; who was riding and where, how did it all come
together, what sort of rider/person is your subject, what did you have for breakfast.
All good. We want to know how the image came to be. After that our
bulletin board members will be able to comment as well.
How big can the file be?
You can upload files as large as 3mb but smaller is better. In terms of
dimensions the system will size your photo down so the largest dimension is
800 pixels. If your image is cropped into a square it could be 800 x 800.
Feel free to upload some other images before you upload your contest entry to
try things out.
How often can I enter?
You can enter as often as you like - using as many photos as you like. A single
photo can only be entered once during the whole competition. Your photos
will become part of our permanent gallery. Once you have won a week you
won't be eligible to win again that month. If you don't win the month you can
enter again the next month - and keep going until you win a week. Once
you've won a monthly prize you'll move onto the final and you will no longer
be eligible for the weekly prizes.
This Money Shot was taken by David Ferguson. Click the image
to see a larger version in our gallery.
Spread the word folks. And stay tuned for updates about nsmb Money Shot
2006.
If you have any questions about the contest check
this thread on our bulletin boards.
Click here to have a look at our new photo
gallery.
Cam McRae
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