[Edit - title changed - I will still donate $200 to Cats Protection Society in Chch if I win the vote as well]
This is a strange request... Bear with me.
I want to win a photography contest and it's got 2 prizes. One judged and one by popular vote.
It's a R&R Sport contest and the URL is http://www.rrsport.co.nz/index.php/page/photocomp
The prize is $750 worth of wetsuit(!) My GF walked into the room a few days ago and said "Enter this contest - you have to win me a new wetsuit"
So I entered, I uploaded 2 photos AFTER reading the terms and conditions to confirm I was eligible. The T&Cs say that you're a pro if you make more than 20% of your annual income from photography. I sell a few photos (usually of monutainbikers - which is the link to here :-), but it's maybe $1500/year and that's a hell of a lot less than 20% of my income. In fact I spend a LOT more money pursuing my photographic hobby than I make back from sales.
The next day I have an email from R&R sport saying that they had deleted my photos as I was a professional and it wasn't fair to the other contestants.
Only problem, I'm not a pro. I email back telling them very politely that I am not a pro, but I was flattered they thought so. I politely asked for the photos to be reinstated. They reply with something along the lines of - Well, it's against the spirit of the competition but rather than argue about it, we'll put your photos back..
AGAINST THE SPIRIT!??! I run a website, and sell a tiny amount of photos each year. I don't have a company to tax dodge, and I spend more on photography gear each year than I've EVER made in sales of pics.
SO ANYWAY... Based on the tone of the email from R&R, I have don't think I have a chance of winning the judged contest, so my only hope is to win the public vote contest. They encourage entrants to get workmates, friends and family to vote for them, so this is legit.
PLEASE sign up and vote each day for all of the images circled in this the picture at this link... (Note this includes my girlfriend's pics as well)
http://neilnz.com/stuff/votes.jpg
And here's the payoff... I'm pretty annoyed at having my photos removed initially, so it's worth money to me to win this - so if I do win the popular vote, I will donate $200 to the Cats Protection League or Cats Protection Society here in Chch (I already have a $30/month auto payment to them). I will naturally provide proof of the donation.
Payoff 2: If I win the voted section, the next local MTB event I go to (excluding oceanias and NZ nats), I'll forget to put the ugly watermark on my images :-)
So my GF gets a wetsuit, I get a happy GF, and lots of cats get food.
Please, help me lose $200 winning this.
Remember, you can vote EACH day - and based on the votes for the guy riding the inflatable crocodile, you'll need to.
Please.
Cheers - Neil Gardner