The Crestock Photo Contest 2007: Round 3 Final Winner Announcement

A shattered lightbulb is NOT a demon. A cute fuzzy dog is NOT a demon... very very disappointed with your choices. Shame on you.

I new that picture will get the 1st prize from the first second.
Bravo! Great job!

Calling a racing grayhound a cute fuzzy dog??! Call the doctor kim.

hey...kim...maybe you dont understand, SPEED DEMON is a figurative speech only pertain to someone or something moving extremely fast... DO YOU THINK YOU CAN CATCH UP TO A LIGHT BULB BURSTING, CAN YOU SEE HOW IT HAPPENS???? you know nothing...so just chill

My question is more to the effect of - if 50% of the vote is on popular vote, and the other 50% is by judging - how is it that a photograph that only recieved 2 popular votes, got a runners up, where other photographs that got up into the 80 votes didn't even show up in the runners up list. It almost looks like the popular vote was meaningless and all that mattered was the judging...which is fine, but what is the point of the popular vote then?

In response to kim's comment above we have to agree with 'photographer's' explanation for the lack of real demons in the top entries; the full theme description for this round was: "In this final round we're looking for photos that convey a real sense of speed – be it a person or object perfectly 'frozen' in mid-air, or long shutter speeds and motion blur used to exhilarating effect. And remember: it does not have to be traffic-trails or falling waterdroplets; originality counts too!". This is what the judges – and presumably the public too – were voting for.

The Crestock Team

The question about the 50/50 voting split is a very valid one. Since the number of public voters is naturally much larger than our number of judges, the 50/50 split is achieved by calculating public and judges' votes as percentages of the total before they are combined.

In this particular round the public vote was relatively split, no entries achieved a particularly high percentage of the popular vote. Some of the entries above received an astonishingly high percentage of the judges' votes, pushing them up on the list of top entries.

I would like to congratulate all the winners and runners up. Everyone who entered and ran properly deserves a large "good job." To those who who cheated, the shame is upon you, not the photographers who gave their all. And to Crestock, the way this contest was run left a lot to be desired, an unfortunate thing for a company that wants to be a leader.

I knew your picture is gonna be the biggest threat for me in the competition. Job well done. Cheers!

big congrats to ecoshow,,,,as well to the other entries who made it to the runner-up positions...im really happy even just to be on the runner up spot as it prove wrong all of those distractors and people who made false accusations against my entry.Mr. Ecoshow..we'll be expecting more amazimg pictures from you then....enjoy your prize sir!well done!

EcoShow, I thought your photo would win! :) It's fabulous! Great work!

First of all congrats to all of the winners and runners up (except for one). Cheers to Nico....I voted for ya!

Of course the biggest shame to this entire contest is the fact that Gutarman was even in the finals. Even the CEO said that his image was "the leader when it came to voting and comment fraud" and called it "mediocre". Well I guess it was worth all of his effort...to even have that LESS THAN AVERAGE photo in with the likes of "Leader of the Pack" or "In the Zone", just to name a few, is an insult.

Guitarman, you should take no pride in your placement. It's funny how the entire time you never denied having your friends voting for you or did you see anything wrong with it. So please let me tell you what is wrong with it. This is a contest where people are suppose to vote for the best photo..not just their friend's image. Did your friends look at the other images and pic yours out of the entire lot? Or was it "He's my bro, I'm voting for him." Did you just ask them to look at all 600 entries and let them vote freely? Yeah, right.

There is no perfect photo contest. Being a judge is a hard job. And everyone should stand behind the decision as strongly as if your own image had won. But to have a contest where someone can so blantantly cheat and then be rewarded is a real shame. I've won my fair share of international contests so trust me I know the hard work that goes into capturing a true winning image. When I don't win..and there are many....I don't get bitter. Infact, I'm stoked for the other photographers who do. I know how hard they worked for their success. I don't see them as competition but inspiration to keep on doing my personal best.

Guitarman, I have a Canon Mark II and if you really don't care how you get it I'll give you my personal address and you can come over when I'm not home and steal it. Because that is exactly what you tried to do to every photographer in this contest.

Perhaps the CEO would like to comment on how "the leader in voting and comment fraud" and a "mediocre" image took a placement away from one of many of the other images that truly deserved it.

I believe that Crestock made the right choice on winner. Although I wish my image was up there. The greyhound was a speed demon. It was an excellent image for the theme. perfect choice.

Hats off to getting the correct winner..

ASIS DA CONGRATULATION. X'ELLENT PHOTOGRAPH

We agree that the winning photo is fantastic, but we should clarify shockpic's comment: Crestock didn't choose a winner, we chose the judges, who chose their winners or favourites individually and whose votes counted 50%. So our direct influence in determining a winner was largely limited to counting the votes, apart from approaching judges that we thought would be right for this contest.
Thanks to all the judges for taking time to participate in this contest!

The Crestock Team

What a mixed bag.

The first round had a theme so broad as to be meaningless, and was marred by massive and obvious cheating in the public voting. Let's face it, quite a number of the entries that got the most votes from the public in that round were C-R-A-P. And, despite their 'awful warnings', the administrators didn't seem to have the wit or the will to remove them. So, these dreadful images proudly stand as 'runners up' on the results page. Yuk! What a poor advert for an image library.

The second round had a far more specific theme but, as someone else has observed somewhere on tis site, the judges seemed to lack any sort of imagination. All they could see (with the exception of one bit of smoke) were semi-naked young women as fitting the bill. Isn't anything else sexy? Come on, you guys and gals, you're supposed to be creative types.

Finally, in the last round, (and despite the still blatant cheating) they got it right. Congratulations to Eco ... a deserved winner. He submitted brilliantly executed photograph, technically awesome, and one that fitted the theme perfectly. It deserved to win.

I feel sorry for your attitude!yes you are right that i was branded by the CEO as "a leader in voting and comment fraud" which is really an UNFAIR COMMENT coming from the CEO . And the question is why do i still have 90 votes at the end of the competition and why was not my entry removed if the commitee really found fraud.who ever you are who is a sore loser..yea.give your real name and address and not hide on any alias as you are really a very sore loser!Grow up and improve your attitude ..because that is the reason why you are a sore loser!

Again, it was the judges not the votes who decides the winner and the runners-up.as you can see that even an entry with less than ten votes made it to the runner-up spot. did your entry made it even to the runner-up spot.?

its a shame other people would not accept defeat and are just plain show-off.

well, conceited people have difficulty accepting defeat...do not brag your camera 'coz there are other better cameras than yours...besides it's not the camera that counts...it's a shame you've got a good camera but needs improvement in your skills and ATTITUDE...probably next time you'll be in the line of winners. you're brave to make sarcastic comments but a COWARD and scared to hide as an anonymous person

you seemed to know lots about competitons, then why don't you open up a competition and let your camera be the prize and do not allow votes or let the contestants vote amongst themselves no outsiders or you choose the winner then you'll be happy...no sore losers... no sourgraping... no pathetic people like you

Just a word of sincere thanks to Crestock, the judges and all of you that participated in the competition and commented on the entries. Considering the fantastic images that were entered I am honored to have won. The camera is a magnificent prize. There are so many other images that could also have been worthy winners. Congratulations to the all of you with images in the final selection.

Nico Smit

Congrats. Ecoshow on your win, that was truly a great photo. To Crestock thanks for putting on a great contest with great prizes. I am honored to get an honorable mention with my snowmobile shot out of all those entries. Also goes to show that 35mm is still alive because I shot my shot also with 35mm.

competition has ended and still lots of people unable to accept the outcome,Speaking for my entry which was ridiculed and unfairly treated and still was able to make it to the runner up which i am humbly accepting and is happy.You dont have to like my picture but respect the judges decision.People ..please read what has the Crestock team written ...it was the judges who chooses their winner and favorites.voting actually was not significant as some of the entries who has the highest votes did not made it to the runner up spot while those whose got few votes made it.so what im saying is for those are still not at peace with the results,probably look at your own work and think how you can make it better for the next competition.losing does not mean others are better...its just probably luck or we have to do better next time.let us try to demonstrate the spirit of sportmanship in these competition. .Happy wih the results and I have a clean conscience.you can eternally falsely accuse me of wrong doing and i can't do anything about that anymore...you'll just be forever a miserable loser.

does your sarcasm level up to the quality of your photo? then i feel sorry for your entry...your uncalled for comments to ridicule photos show how bitter you are...in life

I do not call a racing grayhound a cute fuzzy dog - I call the cute fuzzy dog in the car mirror in the runners up a cute fuzzy dog... if the word demon was not part of the description necessary for the contest, I would understand some of your winning choices.
Also, it is obviously that quality of image was not a factor since, although being a great shot, the grayhound photo is flat, lacks depth of field and really is technically poor. I'm not saying the photographer didn't get a great shot - I'm saying he got lucky with his shot.

I'm not a photographer and did not submit to this contest so this is not bitter babble - I license photography for a living - for an extremely well known agency. I feel you've missed the boat on this particular theme.

It's all bad.... except running camels... I cannot believe you choosed this dog... or this three legs horse ... oh man....

A very, very, very good winner.

To eocoshow- congratulations, you have a shot that really did meet the theme. I didn't like the choice for 3rd place, as stated above a 3 legged horse? Almost all the entries in this contest were really good photos I thought. I would have selected some different runners up, but overall, given the tough selection, the judges made some decent choices.

I wish I had won, or at least been a runner up, but am quite happy to have received some positive comments on my photo. And, hey, I got some votes, I can't complain about that. I'm really glad my photo was selected to make it into the voting round.

It's time to be adults and accept the outcome. Even if you're not happy with the results. What do all these negative comments accomplish? Not much.

Again, congrats to the winners, runners up, and to all who entered.

Second place photo and a few others are far better than the first prize photo - I don't understand how the judges are judging or if this was just a scam to get people to donate nice photos for Crestock to sell. And I apologize to the first prize winner for my comment - please understand that I don't dislike your photo, and that I also admit that the 2nd place photo is definitely better than my own submissions.

Can I offer a suggestion for next year. For popular vote, maybe it should be limited to only people who submit a photo are allowed to vote for a photo - this would at least eliminate both cheating, as well as having friends and family vote for a photograph, not on it's merit, but because they are friends and family. It's like what one of the comments said once - friends and family will always tell you that your a great photographer and that your photographs are the best they've seen...thus, it really is the strangers opinion that matters.
Congratulations on the winners, and the runners up, - like everyone has said, there were lots of fabulous photo's in this competition - some better then others, and some expressing the theme better then others...but still great photo's. Just think the popular vote really needs to be re-thought.

The entries here are all wonderful in their own way. Personally, I find some of the interpretations of the theme a little hard to swallow, but it all lies in the eye of the beholder. In general a great photo always wins through, regardless. I think everyone is in agreement that the winner is streets ahead of most of the runners up. The light bulb image (whilst amazing) is a bit of a reach for me. Well done to Ecoshow though, and may we see many winning images from him in the future. Maybe he'll have more luck uploading to Crestock than I have....

I was relief to see the top 3 images. I think the image in first place deserves the honor, especially when it fits really well with the theme. I personally love the 3rd place most just because of its beauty. The second one is an eye catching photo though i dont see much of the speed demon in it.
About the controversial image of guirtarman, I was also surprised by the number of votes and all those sweet comments it got. At the end of the day, its not an ugly foto, for me it's an acceptable one, but what it got is out of mind. There were also a photo of a bird which got many votes at the beginning, anyone knows what happened to it because i think it was removed for some reasons

Firstly, yes I am a member here, and yes I'm doing this anonymously because I can't be bothered with reprisals and recriminations, and the tone of the postings above is generally poor.

EcoShow - WELL DONE and a justifiable win. Your image captures the essence of the theme beautifully, much more than mine did, and I have no problem at all that I lost to such as this. In fact I think I even voted for it !!!

I have a little difficulty accepting the 2nd place image, nice as it is, on thematic grounds, and third place is such a wonderfully dramatic image that I wish I had the full size version on my laptop.

The runners up are, by and large, valid within the contest, however there are at least three that simply shouldn't have made it through the original vetting, let alone in to the runners up list.

With NO DISRESPECT to the photographers, and based purely on the theme of the contest, I feel that Magic Fire, Archie the Wonder Dog, and Rush should all have been culled early on. And I'm very sorry Guitarman74uk, but your image is reasonably mediocre and could have been much better executed. Congratulations on the status that you have achieved, and by all means revel in it, but realise that even you are being fooled into thinking this was a good image, and that the judges have failed you in their dereliction of duty.

Judges - While I agree with you that the 1st & 3rd place photographs were great, and I can accept the 2nd placer though I personally don't understand it, the list of runners up that you have accepted only demonstrates that perhaps a serious lack of understanding how to judge photography exhibits is apparent.

Crestock - many of the images that you allowed to remain in the final judging round were, frankly, invalid for such a contest as this. With so many incredibly good images to choose from, why did you leave it at 600 odd to be judged. Why not knock it down to the 100-200 exceptional images instead of diluting the competition with fluffy puppies and 2sec exposures of railway station concourses? Is the whole purpose of the competition to pull in more potential stock shooters to bolster your numbers of photographers and available images?

Have you considered putting up a quick tutorial teaching the users how to vote on an image? So many of the comments were based on “I like this” or “I wish I could take a photo like this” etc. Let’s get a little more professional in how the competition is run – if you want to vote or comment it should be after you’ve completed a quick online tutorial explaining the appropriate way to judge an image in a contest.

I'm going to be withdrawing my account from Crestock very shortly. While I have made some great sales through this marketing vector the lack of integrity of both the Crestock company and the judges that Crestock chose doesn't inspire me with confidence in Crestocks ability to adequately manage my imagery in the future. I think that the manner in which this contest has been conducted is not the best that Crestock can do, and certainly does not live up to the quality aspirations that Crestock endorses so vocally.

Perhaps I was a bit naive, but I didn't expect anyone to really do any cheating here. I was hoping this contest would be based solely on merit. I echo others comments that the way this contest has been conducted leaves a lot to be desired.

Nonetheless, the winning picture and the third place winner are indeed quite good, although several of the runners-up are rather underwhelming.

I just have to laugh at you guitarman....

What like 30 of your votes were found to be frauds and you're still proud of yourself! Well ignorance is bliss!

Congratulations to the winner and runners up. There were so many wonderful submissions

Thanks to Crestock for the competition. I only wish that in future photo competitions, the public voting system should be radically changed or removed completely.

And congrats to Eco. That crazy pooch deserved to win.

First...and most importantly...well done to the winner. I think that this is a great shot that really comes alive and bursts out of the page...

I am a little less enthusiastic about some of the runners-up (third place is awesome...however). The wonder-dog photograph is just plainly ridiculous and the fraudulent voting issue is just pathetic. As much as I want to upgrade from my humble camera, I would want to win a competition like this through my own merits as a photographer as opposed to manipulating the votes.

I achieved a Best Pic of the Day on 3 May 07 with something as simple as a Canon 350D...so the camera is not really the be-all-and-end-all either!

why dont we all by a canon mark II...so all of us will be happy....and the next contest there'll be no more price just votes. and the only voters allowed is the ones who joined the contest. this will really determine best timely caught images... and the price is the VOTES ONLY.

Great Photos,I like the camels most

Congratulations To All The Winners!
cheers and have a great day ahead of you ;-)