Isara Student Photo Contest

[PK]

Two years ago Isara had a "Writing Contest" which was a huge success and a lot of fun. Now we're having a Photo Contest in an effort to get students to look at their world from a different perspective.  Photography is a great opportunity to teach students to look closer at their world and what's around them. To help them open their eyes by opening their lens.

Topic:
"What does Thailand mean to you?"

Deadline:
The contest deadline is September 30th, 2008 and is for students ages 10-19 in Nong Khai, Thailand.

Prizes:
First Place will receive 3,000 baht ($95) for them self and 25 helmets for their school (cost $100).
Second place will receive 2,000 baht and 15 helmets.
Third Place will receive 1,000 baht and 10 helmets.

The judges will include Thai and foreign photographers, including our own Joey Lawrence (http://www.joeyl.com) who recently did a photo shoot with the rapper 50 Cent.

Winners will be announced on October 5th. If it is successful then we will take the contest national.

[Ming]

Pk hand out the paper about the Contest to all the schools today.

Very interesting project. Good luck!

[Ginafish]

Great idea! I hope to see a gallery of photos after Oct 5th! It will be interesting to see the different variations on this theme from the 10 year old's perspective to the 19 year old's.

The prizes look great!

[PK]

We just got word that the very talented photographer, Joey Lawrence, will be helping judge the finalists.

He recently did a photo shoot with the rapper 50 Cent. Check it out!
http://joeyl.com/blog2/in...&year=2008&day=16

His blog said he's going to the Philippines to teach in some rural villages. Maybe we can convince him to come to Nong Khai.

[ZeroG]

Joey L is amazing! If his stuff doesn't inspire you, nothing will.

Good luck to all students. I can't wait to see the entries.

[KitKat]

Exciting news and a great idea.      Joey Lawrence  is amazing!   

Good luck to all the entries!     

[Sean]

This is an awesome idea

I didn't know the guy from Blossom did photography

 (j/k im sure im not the first)  Very nice website Joey L's got, very nice photos.



PS.  My money's on Chompoo

[ZeroG]

I've spent a lot of time at Joey L's website and he has some great pointers on taking pictures of people at the end of his FAQ (under Information). He even shows how he gets those awesome images out of photoshop, but the DVD costs $200 USD .

[Chompoo]

Joey L's photos are really great!! I just bought a new camera and I am trying to do it like him haha.

This is an awesome idea. I am excited to see photos from students and can't wait to know what does Thailand mean to them.





PS.  Sean, I still keep your money. 

[M3R1IN]

"our very own Joey L?" please explain...
Amazing work what tone and feeling the photos display... totally awesome
This is such a good Idea PK that will definitley get the Thais to look at their world and their country differently....
Hopefully it will help them realize the need to respect the environment too.

[ZeroG]

JoeyL's work was a subject of a thread almost two years ago. JoeyL's only post as a member of isara appears in that thread. The last picture posted in thread is also in the trailer for a new movie called I.O.U.S.A. It is actually at the middle point of the YouTube trailer so that is the image you see.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/HBo2xQIWHiM&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/HBo2xQIWHiM&rel=1</a>

He even did a video for These Silohuettes. JoeyL is my hero.

[PK]

Joey was only 16 years old when he took that photo. Incredible!!  And ZeroG was two years younger when he posted that same photo in Joey's topic.

Hard to believe that was two years ago. Time flies.

[Soulessaint]

What a great contest. Good fortune to all of the contestants!! Be blessed. Gbya

[KitKat]

I'm very excited about this contest and can't wait to see the student's photos.   What an exciting challenge for the students of Nong Khai.

[Ginafish]

How's it going? Any submissions yet?

[PK]

A few, but not many.

Unfortunately all the schools are in the middle of final exams so, understandably, promoting the contest wasn't a very big priority for the teachers.

One thing I have noticed is that a lot of times school officials won't bother passing along information to students (scholarships, contests, etc.) because there's no benefit for them selves to do so. It's the typical "What's in it for me?" attitude that keeps help from getting to those who need it. Very sad.

Last Thursday I went around to a few of the smaller schools and encouraged them to submit a few entries. Let's hope they follow through.

[Ginafish]

HA! Maybe you should offer the officials coupons to the restaurant next door. One meal for every 10 students that submit photos... BriberyEncouragement on many levels might work...

[PK]

Well, the deadline has quickly come and gone. We might get some late entries in the next day or two but, as of right now, we only have about 30 pictures. Most of which arrived late this afternoon when the headmaster of a school (where Wes built the playground) came by with a CD of pictures his students took.

A lot of the pictures need to be scanned in so it might take a while to get the pics online. So let's plan on voting next Monday.

[PK]

Time To Vote:
We received more than 50 photos for the contest and have selected the ten best for you to vote on. Please visit the Voting Topic to vote for your favorite. Voting will close at midnight on Sunday, Oct. 19th.

Please go check out the photos!

Vote Here:
http://www.isara.org/foru...-photo-contest-vote-here/

[PK]

We have the winners!!! Thank you to all the students and to everyone who voted.

#1 - Thai/Laos Sunset


#2 - The Land of Smiles


#3 - Students Visit a Temple


The students have been notified and we'll be awarding them their cash prizes and helmets for their schools next month. Stay tuned.

Thanks again to everyone who supports Isara.