Your January contest entries - Part One

Classic media ploy - you show a picture of a bird blowing steam as a teaser to the photo contest but then it's not shown as one of the the photo's "in" the contest?! No wonder no one reads the "Globe" anymore!

Hmmm ... I'm not quite sure what the readership of the Globe newspaper has to do with a photo contest on Boston.com, but you don't have to worry: Traffic and readership online is soaring.

As for your anger over my "ploy": I use non-contest photos on the homepage because I don't think it would fair to other contestants to feature one entry in a competition in such a prominent spot. Kind of an unfair advantage, don't you think?

Can you still enter the contest?

I'm just wondering why a picture I uploaded and tagged a month ago isn't showing up. When I search for it using the tags in Flickr, I can easily find it.

Sure, Danielle ... You have until midnight tonight ... The same deadline for me to get my car inspected. Just click on the big red "Cold" over in the right column for instructions.

And don't worry if you miss this contest; we have one every month. The theme for February is B&W.

I was thinking the same thing where is the pic of the bird.????

I too like 'hopelessly..' clicked on this link to look at the bird and was disapointed at not seeing one. Not saying it's a ploy, not disagreeing with the point about biasing the contest, or whatever -- but just disappointed at being "misled", though it may be inadvertently.

Should one be worried if the photo entered is not appearing above yet?

That is kind of dumb, I really wanted to see that bird photo.

Fesc, don't worry ... I'm posting the entries in the gallery over the next few days. I'll let everyone know when they are all posted.

And for all of you obsessed with the red-winged blackbird: It's been on the site for a month. You can see it by clicking on the red "Cold" link in the right column.

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, i wanna see the bird with the smoke! waaaaaaaaaaaaah...............
just look at the small pic in the front page. or google it, it's easy and free: http://inlinethumb35.webshots.com/33122/1113906798053437245S425x425Q85.jpg

And it wouldn't seem very impartial to promote the contest with one of the submissions to it.
The bird breath photo was taken by a pro and wouldn't be eligible anyway.

Ploy? Missing bird? Some kind of conspiracy? Come on people, the bird was obviously a promotional photo and a darn good one. Inspirational? Definitely! Scheme? Please!

Great choice using the red-winged blackbird photo to promote your contest! It is a darn good one as well as inspirational!

Teresa, I agree with your comment above: "I don't think it would fair to other contestants to feature one entry in a competition in such a prominent spot." However, every month the slide show takes a very long time to build out, and as an example, the 23 photos which made it there on Friday are going to get extra time which the remaining ones don't. I've always dismissed this since a pro narrows them down but I can't help but feeling they should all appear at once, or have the pro narrow it down before putting together the slide show if the former is too much work. What do others think?

I wanted to see the bird photo too - so when I clicked, I expected to see it too -- so maybe the slide show could have started with it and have it identified as NOT a contestant photo. It's a good compilation of images... but no real need to be defensive TH -- "obsessed" has a bit of a snarky tone doesn't it?

I agree with some of the people here, I even scrolled through all of the pictures to see that picture of the bird. Sigh

I totally agree with SF48! seriously.

Personally I don't see why the bird picture is not in the contest. It obviously is a clear winner.

You all need to chill.

Ok, just great! Let whining turn something so positive into a negative. Just enjoy the art and stop fixating on stupid stuff.

Hopelessly lookingforinfo is a pretty twisted individual. He used to get beaten with a rolled up newspaper as a child. Don't let him get to you.

Screw the bird ... my photo got in ... yahoo!

Hi Teresa,

Is the red-winged blackbird photo by Robert Bukati, with AP in Maine? I seem to remember it appearing a few years ago; what a photo!

It's about COLD yet a few in the 23 shown have no place to be there? They show nothing in regards to Cold am I missing something? I think the finals ned to go all up at once not a portion be fair to all I guess.

I see what you're saying Teresa Hanafin, but it's still pretty misleading. Thats' an extraordinary shot of the bird. People naturally want to see it. Next time, maybe there's a better way to promote the contest than a professional photo?

Where's the bird pic?

I don't understand all the bird comments. It was so obvious, it was never part of the contest. Although, I do agree with V Diddy, that some of the photos having nothing to do with the cold. Being new to this sight, I feel like I am missing something also.

Teresa: I'm on your side. You're doing a great job with RAW.
Jeez, folks, Teresa had this pic up a month ago and it is a great example of what the Jan theme is all about. Good luck to the entrants, I didn't get my camera out this month.

I also agree about the bird.

The pic of the redwing blackbird was taken in Maine by Associated Press photographer Robert F. Bukaty.

why do I not see my photo in the entrys? it is tagged with boston.com contest January and it is the only one tagged with that??

Scam. Bait and switch.

Bob Bukaty, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and staffer at AP, took the redwing blackbird photo. It has run in the Globe and many, many other newspapers.

the bird picture is there. youll see it by clicking "more photos in raw". a member of the associated press took that picture. its not in the contest because its by a professional photographer. relax people.

I am in lock step agreement with #1. That was incredibly tacky maneuver and I have a name, Teresa Hanafin, to go with that pedestrian move.

Not the type of exposure you wish I'll reckon, make it right. Fix it, apologize, and hope everyone won't brand you with a bad reputation! Good luck.

I don't agree that it was tacky at all. I think Teresa has a very valid reason to put that picture up rather than one from the actual contest. The best way to calm everyone down is to put a disclaimer on the page that the photo is linked to saying that the photo is not part of the contest.

I don't understand why everyone is complaining about the bird photo. EVERY contest has an example photo. It would make no sense to have it included in the entries. Teresa does a excellent job with RAW, and everyone who posted complaints about the bird photo should move along.

This is a contest site not a whiner line.

Seriously! All this over a bird pic? I think some people have an unhealthy obsession with that image.

More important is the fact that there are still only 23 pics showing up in the flash gallery... any idea when the rest (hopefully mine included) will appear?

What's with everyone bitching about the bird? You're all nuts.

The first 23 photos selected are all so gorgeous! Can't wait to see all the submissions!

Hi, Matt -- Sorry for the delay ... I had intended to add to the gallery over the weekend from home, but I had house guests and just couldn't find a politic time to sneak upstairs to my office to work on the photos ... but I'm on it now and will add photos to the gallery as quickly as I can this morning. There are some great ones coming up.

Great photos! I enjoyed looking at them.

I WANT THE BIRD PICTURE !!! WHERE IS IT???????

Everybody shut up.

Back on topic.

I browsed through the entries on flickr. and I have to say, there are some spectacular pictures. Best of luck everyone.

I seriously can't believe all the complainers and whiners. Unbelievable. I hope they aren't getting to you, Teresa, because there are a whole host of people who appreciate what you are doing and how you are doing it.

Nice pictures. But of course the negative comments come in by those "experts" at everything from law, philosophy, to medicine and now photography. Keep it focused and simple folks and think before you write. You're not a rock star with a political opinion that the rest of us need to read. This is the result of "reality" TV and now every person of American society thinks he/she deserves a stage to babble about.

Enjoy the picture of the bird. I shot him with a pellet gun and ate him about a year ago. No more steamy breath for him!

Just make the March theme bird watching and all will be well again.

people need to CHILL. (haha pun not intended) it was clearly an example photo.... Teresa is doing awesome.

how do you vote?

Ah, batgirl -- we're not ready for voting yet. After I finish posting all the eligible photos, a professional photographer will narrow the field to 50 -- then you vote. Should be later this week.

Too bad about the bird. I just wish he would have quit smoking ;-)
IMHO whoever took this picture is a photographic genius!

Came here for the bird... feel LIED to....

Teresa, would you please consider posting all the entries at once, rather than how you have been, piece meal? It does seem, whether or not you are, like you are picking and choosing the ones you like rather than treating all the entries on the same level. True a pro narrows the field, but it's rather dishearting to contantly check to see if your photo has finally been plucked off flickr and published to RAW.

I see my entry on flickr when I search Boston.com contest and January and can only assume I have followed directions thus, am eligible for the contest. However I feel that until it's posted here in the blog I feel I am not in the contest while others are. The public does vote and thus the reveil should be done all at once. Those 23 photos now have a 3 day advantage over me, and the 37 others at least a day.

Sure, fesc, I'm willing to consider that. You're right that I don't favor one photo over another when I'm posting them ... That wouldn't be fair.

And I can assure you that the timing of these postings has never affected the outcome of the contest, even when you all were voting from the very beginning and no pro was involved.

Now that a pro IS involved, it's even more remote of a chance. After the pro narrows the field to 50, I do post all of those Final 50 entries in a gallery all at once. Then they are loaded into our Voting Machine and are randomized with each refresh to further minimize bias.

The reason I post this gallery a handful of photos at a time is to provide you RAW Dawgs with some instant gratification. I do it whenever I have time, between meetings, etc.

But I'm willing to do whatever you folks want. How about if I post an entry about this issue (just in case not everybody sees these comments) and get some input from others as well?

This may be the longest RAW thread yet. While it is encouraging that more posters are getting involved, many seem to forget what this blog is about: showing, sharing and critiquing photos. Stay on topic about photography, sprinkle in a little courtesy and patience will enhance everyone's experience.

Presenting... the bird!!

http://collections.pictopia.com/perl/gal?process=gallery&gallery_id=S420071&provider_id=227&ptp_photo_id=syn:ap:100093

The blackbird photo is amazing and I can understand the comments requesting where/how to find it. For those of us who visit RAW regularly we appreciate the lead photo and the purpose of it's placement...for others it could be confusing. However, what I find difficult to take is the rude and accusatory messages/tone of several of the bloggers...very unnecessary.

It may be worth considering adding the lead photo to the heading of the contest page with the entries following thereby welcoming the new visitors and giving them a reason to stay and hopefully consider participating.

Tom; your photo is wonderful!!!!
Best wishes and love from Harriet

If you were worried about featuring one picture over another, a simple, simple, simple, simple script would load a random image on the home page. Everyone's photos get equal exposure on the home page and you don't end up cheesing off people by featuring a spectacular photo which isn't in the gallery.

Now go talk to your IT department before you do February's gallery.

#59 saves the day! Thank you Rachel!

Where's the redwinged blackbird?
Bait and Switch! Feh!

Maybe that bird was hanging out with Michael Phelps. Looks like he was hitting a bong too!

Great photos! And there are some birds in there!

Is that Lucy Vincent Beach I see near the end of the the photos?

Very nicely done.

I am disappointed that after 5 days we still have less than half the photos in the slide show. Teresa, I realize it may be a lot of work, but Boston.com should allocate sufficient resources if this is going to be successful and fair.

Can you share any kind of stats as to the RAW traffic versus other portions of Boston.com? Is it getting sufficient hits to justify more time?

My entry isn't posted here, though the tags are correct, etc. Could you let me know how to get it to show up as an entry. I entered the contest a couple of weeks ago. Thanks

Hi, Disappointed: I understand your frustration; I share it. But to be fair (to me ;-) it's actually been less than 4 days, and one of those days was a Sunday. On two of the other days, I had half-day commitments, and always have other meetings sprinkled in throughout my work days. I am the director of community publishing, so I have other responsibilities beyond RAW. I just should have started building this gallery sooner. My bad.

As for more resources: From your lips to ... Sorry, you're stuck with me. RAW's traffic is among the highest among other Boston.com and Globe blogs -- most of which are done by a single person -- but it pales in comparison to other sections of Boston.com, such as News or Sports or Business or Lifestyle. And with the economy the way it is, I'm not counting on more staff any time soon.

In the meantime, you can rest assured that this gallery I'm building now has very little effect on the contest. I do it simply so that all of you have a place where you can easily click through to see each other's photos in a large format -- a better experience than you get looking at a contest tags search on Flickr.

Believe me, it would make my life a LOT easier if I didn't build this gallery, but many RAW denizens have told me they like and appreciate it, so I'm going to continue doing it.

The Final 50 gallery and the Voting Machine are where many people tell me they make their final choices. So don't worry about those who get their photos posted in this gallery first having some sort of unfair advantage. The voting patterns of the past 6 months show that they don't.

If I ever see that BIRD I'm gonna deep fry it ...

Despite the number of negative and ridiculous comments here, there are so many good entries. And for those of you who want to see ALL of the entries at once and not as Teresa has time to post them, all you need to do is log in to Flickr and search the tags. It is quite easy, although there will be a few other photos sprinkled in there that are not part of the January contest.

And I thought the whole point of RAW is to help us become better amateur photographers rather than winning a monthly contest. I thoroughly enjoy all the informative information that appears on the site. If the downside is sometimes the contest isn't happening on the exact same date each month, that's okay. It's a hobby and one I hope to get better at. I consider this a good resource.

And thanks Teresa for all your hard work.

Getting heavy traffic is a good start, but how much revenue does that bring in? Without added revenue, it would be difficult to justify for more resources, especially in this economy and for newspapers.

Google has figured out how to run ads that are relevant to the search results. But the current ad on this page is for credit reports. Not sure how that is relevant to photography. Perhaps ads from the local camera stores, photography schools, etc. will work better for everyone.

This is off topic. But there is no way for a poster to start a new topic, one of the items on my wish list for this blog. Hope you get more resources soon.

I think everyone needs to stop complaining about this contest. You’re the ones who are ruining it for everyone. We should be talking about the great photos and sharing advice with each other, rather than whining about your photo not being uploaded yet. Mine isn't there yet, but I have enjoyed seeing everyone else's creativity. Like Linda said in entry 71, this column is about becoming better amateur photographers or just having fun and getting your photos up on a website.

Teresa, thanks for all your hard work and for creating such a wonderful tool for us amateurs to share our photos with each other. It is great to see all the amazing pictures and to get ideas from each other’s work.

Amen, John! Same here. I love looking at the other photos and although mine isn't showing yet, I am also not having a hissy fit.

Teresa - nice job on this site. I've been reading through the various articles posted and there is a wealth of information in those links.

As with most things in life, there is always room for improvement. Keep up the good work.

OMG! All this chatter about one photo? Wow, the people who really, really feel betrayed and manipulated by the Globe because they made an assumption about a photo are laughable! Get a grip and enjoy the fact that we are given the opportunity to show off work from a hobby and even more enjoyment from seeing the photos. Oh, and thanks Teresa!