So I have some goals this year, and within those main goals I’ve got action items I want to accomplish to push me toward achieving those goals. One of those action items was to actually submit some of my photos to a photo contest of some sort.

Check it off the list!

Y’all, I am so excited about the Shoot & Share 2015 Photo Contest.

Now let me clarify – I am not excited because I expect to win anything. In fact, it’s the opposite. I’m excited that I simply submitted images at all. I cleared the hurdle of all of the negative self-talk (“Why spend the time pulling/submitting images? You’ll never win anything anyway…”). I took the leap anyway. Despite of the fact that so many of the full-time, established photographers I look up to submit their images to the contest as well.

For me, it’s not about winning. It’s about being brave enough to put my work out there to be “judged” by fellow photographers. So that’s a win already.

Another reason I’m excited about the contest is the way it is formatted: free to submit up to 40 images, and no identifying information is tied to the photos in any way. It’s anonymous. In the voting process, 4 images within 1 of the 21 categories will pop up on the screen – you click the one you like the best, and that’s it. The next set of four images pops up. It’s simple.

At the end of voting, each person who submitted photos will get to see how their photo stacked up votes wise – which is valuable information, even if it’s not exactly specific feedback. A way to ease myself into getting constructive criticism on my work.

You don’t have to be a photographer to vote, so feel free to click on over and check it out! Warning though – it’s addicting. You may want to set a timer for yourself so you don’t look up 3 hours later and think it’s only been 30 minutes!

Let me know if you have as much fun voting as I have been so far!