WeSay.com Editor's Blog

Digital photography - it's more than a technical revolution, it's a political one too

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:35:58 GMT

We all know we are in the midst of a revolution in photography. Kodachrome is gone. A 1-megapixel camera is no longer a sensation. You can now shoot 500 high-quality images on a memory card the size of a stamp.

And if that wasn't incredible enough, with one click, you can also transmit those images to a friend on the other side of the globe.

But there's a deeper revolution taking place as a result of this new technology. Nowhere was this more evident than with the recent protests in Iran.

Students on the streets didn't just have a camera cellphone in their hands. They had a sense of power - the power to show the rest of the world they weren't going to settle for a bogus election. A bogus election where millions of paper ballots were counted in a matter of hours and a dinosaur of a tyrant named Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was kept in office.

The protesters were determined to let their overseas friends on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube know that not everyone in Iran was supportive of the old regime.

Thus began the "Twitter Revolution." Eyewitness accounts from marchers who flocked to the streets in support of opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi blasted across the internet. As one Iranian wrote, "We students do not chant death to America. We want the American constitution."

WeSay is proud to hear that "Twitter Pics" and digital photographs were a large part of that uprising. (By the way that's our mission - to give a voice to citizens through photography.)

One of our members in Dallas sent us a gallery of photos showing Iranians demonstrating in support of their countrymen.

While things have settled somewhat in Iran, that country and the world have changed and won't be going back. Others will now see that they have this strength, this capacity to not only document oppression, but to disseminate what they record to the world, in an instant.

If you don't think this is a powerful weapon, then take a look at this image of a lone Iranian woman standing up to police. She's not only demanding her rights, she risking her life because she knows the rest of the world is watching...and standing behind her.

As Americans are about to celebrate the Fourth of July and the anniversary of their pursuit of freedom, here is this incredible photograph of hopefully another long-lasting revolution about to take place.

Summer photo contest - cool categories and cold cash

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:01:54 GMT

During those frigid winter months, as a photographer didn't you just yearn for the summer when the days were long, the light was bright and you didn't have to risk frostbite? Well, summer is here and WeSay will help you make the most of it with our Best of Citizen Photojournalism V Summer Photo Contest.

We had some very interesting entries with our last news photo contest, so we decided to stray from the usual path and come up with some crazy categories for this one.

The first one that is bound to catch your attention is "Hottest Sports Fans." Enough of the photos of those overpaid, overpraised and bound-to-leave-you frustrated athletes. What about all the fanatics supporting them in the stands? It's their turn.

We want to see the craziest, sexiest photos of sports fans you can find. From baseball stadiums to racetracks to beaches. Let's honor them for their selfless devotion, long hours baking in the sun and emptied wallets.

The next category is "Water Fun." You need water to survive. You need water in the summer to have a good time.

Summer is the time for "Festivals," our next category. Many outdoor concerts give you a good opportunity to get close to performers.

"Sports" is an obvious one, if you include baseball. But we're looking for other feats of athleticism - volleyball, surfing, kite-boarding, skateboarding, wake boarding - as long as its not boring.

Just when you are about to take that prize-winning photograph, it's bound to start pouring. That's okay, we're also looking for "Storm" photos and there's nothing more spectacular than lightning or a really nasty-looking cloud.

Finally, if you see a hot breaking news photo, a celebrity or just something interesting, as the web's leading citizen photojournalism site, WeSay will take it.

Grand prize is $300 cash. Second place overall gets a cool photo book from dotPhoto. There's $100 for the top prize in each of these categories and $25 for second place. 14 prizes in all - a very good chance for you to get something this summer besides a sunburn.

Contest ends July 31. Put on your sneakers and your shorts, get out there and enter your photos here.

One month, 1,000 photos, 13 cash winners

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:45:36 GMT

Those are the final numbers in the most recent WeSay Best of Citizen Photojournalism Photo Contest. And the big winner is ...   Goncalo Figueiredo of Braga, Portugal who submitted a gripping photograph of firefighters battling the flames from a car explosion.

Goncalo wins $300 for his grand-prize winning entry!   Of course, there were other great photos and we have plenty more awards and cash prizes to hand out. You can view all of the prize-winners here!

Don't worry if you didn't win this time.   We'll be launching our next photo contest June 17, so keep shooting those photos and congratulations to all of the winners.

Photographers earning cash from WeSay

Thu, 28 May 2009 12:07:08 GMT

Tired of all those news sites asking you to post your photos for free? We hear you. And starting today, you'll find more than 15 photographers who have earned cash in WeSay's Pay for Photos program.

While we can't pay every member who uploads a photo, we are paying many people who upload interesting photo sets that are news-related or cover current events.

That's a broad spectrum: fires, accidents, sports, local celebs, weather, or just something odd and unique that you happen to stumble upon. It has to be real, not altered in Photoshop or other editing software programs.

When you see the list of winners, you'll agree these are interesting photos. But you'll also see that not all of them are necessarily National Geographic-caliber photos. They're basically shot by serious amateur photographers who have now become citizen photojournalists by documenting an event taking place in their world.

Believe it, the staff at WeSay is happy to give this money away to acquire great citizen photographs for our site. Every month for the next few months.

Help make this program a success so we can keep it running. You can do this by a) uploading great photo sets b) telling you friends about getting paid on WeSay.com.

Here's the list of winners so far.

Celebrate National Photo Month at WeSay

Fri, 15 May 2009 08:52:19 GMT

May is National Photo Month. We're not exactly sure what that entails, but hey, we're all for it! What a great time to celebrate photography. Spring has sprung and after a long winter for many, it's a great time to get outside with your cameras.

Nasty weather makes for great photos for sure, but there's no doubting it's a more pleasant experience to photograph on a sunny spring day. In the spirit of all of this, WeSay is rewarding those of you who post some of your great shots right here. With CASH!!!

We are picking 15 photographers each month who post great photos of CURRENT events and paying them $25. Also, each month one member who submits photos our editors particularly like, will earn $100.

We have already selected the first group of photographers to get paid, but you always have a chance to win. We even pay some photographers more than once. All you have to do is join, upload images that show current events in the world today.

You can find out more about how to get paid for your photos at WeSay here.

WeSay featured on mega-site About.com

Wed, 13 May 2009 10:39:54 GMT

As a photographer, it's always rewarding when you receive recognition from another photographer. Same goes for web sites. Recently, WeSay received a nice write-up on About.com, a site with 38 million monthly visitors.

The review, by Liz Masoner, About.com Guide to Photography, was so well done, in fact, that she described WeSay in a way that made us say, "Wow, you really caught the essence of the site and frankly, we couldn't have said it better."

Here's an excerpt of what she had to say:

"Ever capture something with your camera that you felt was newsworthy but the papers ignored you?

"What about that fabulous firefighter photo you grabbed and then spent a week fuming because the newspaper ran an image of lesser quality?

"WeSay is working to bring the power of community photojournalism to the surface of world consciousness."

Yea, Liz, that's right. You tell them.

She continues:

"In a society where visual data is becoming more and more important, WeSay is ahead of the pack in putting a together a good way for the photographic community to join the global conversation."

Whoa. She nailed it right there.

Liz has an incredible collection of photography-related articles, suggestions and photos in her About guide. She presents it all in a very clear, clean and orderly manner, which is not easy to do with the enormous amount of content that is out there.

We strongly suggest you check it out. You'll learn something new. And you can see she has a nice way of putting things. At least we think so. Here's the link.

Another great photo contest

Tue, 05 May 2009 15:43:38 GMT

Hey photographers are you ready for this photo contest? The folks at WeSay got creative and came up with some great categories for our Best of Citizen Photojournalism IV Photo Contest.

First the fun categories: We get a ton of people posting photos of their girlfriends in their member profiles. Those are really not the photos a news/current events site would prefer. But, for the month of May, what the heck, send them in.

One of our categories is the Girl or Guy Next Door. We're already received some great portrait photos of some very handsome people.

Another fun category is Odd Things. And geez, we have already received our share of weird, odd, strange and peculiar photos.

And don't forget Spring Sports. Get in the car and drive around and find somebody who has shaken off the winter blues and started playing outdoors.

On a more serious note, we've included a category for The Recession. What do you see around your town that illustrates the state of the economy? Foreclosure signs? Tent cities? People on line for a job? Etc.

Then, there's Bad Weather. Now when a storm approaches, you can look at it as an opportunity to win some money.

Finally, we're always looking for great news photos of breaking news, sports, the environment and celebs, so you have a large catch-all bin for your images.

Grand prize is $300. We are giving away $100 in each category. Plenty of chances to win - 14 prizes in all.

But, you only have until May 31, 2009, so get busy. Victory will go to the quick. Enter here.

Get paid for your news photos

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:49:06 GMT

Dear photographers: start submitting news photos because WeSay is paying.

Joining in the spirit of President Obama to get our economy moving again, our latest Pay for News Photos photo contest promotion will send a check to 15 members each month. One will receive a nice big fat check of $100.

The promotion launched on April 10, and here are a few photographers we have already chosen for the cash prizes.

They include: • Reagan Johnson for her “Tax Day Tea Party.” • Jesus Carlos for “Euro Football.” • John Metcalfe for “Reno River Festival.”

You can see their photos and other member photos who are in the running here.

Don’t fret if you have sent in photos before or after these members. You are ALL still in the running.

WeSay editors will be making the final decision on the 15 winners at the end of the month.

Then we will choose 15 again in May…and 15 again in June. So there are lots of chances to win.

It is very easy to enter. There is no charge.

You must be a member (that’s free). Then upload your photos. The more they are related to news, environment, sports, celebs or just something far-out or weird, the more likely they will be chosen.

Even if you don’t win, your photos may be selected by our editors and featured on the homepage of WeSay, an international news photos site.

You can read the details here.

So keep your eye out for something newsworthy or interesting. Help us do our part to help the economy by earning a stimulus check from WeSay.com!

A few new features, including pay for photos

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:14:06 GMT

You may have noticed a few new features rolled out lately on the homepage. In case you didn't, we thought it was a good idea to outline them here. Gone are the Talk Back and Editorial Cartoon, but we've replaced them with more photo-related features.

Caption It: This is a chance to have a little fun with some of the more lighthearted moments captured in photos. We'll occasionally post a photo and you can post your own captions to describe it. Initially, we've instituted a vote system for the captions submitted and eventually we may incorporate that into your total vote count on your profile page. Or, we may award the caption writer with the most votes a special prize. We'll leave it simple for now and adapt as we go, but give it your best shot. Make us all laugh a little!
View Caption It now.

Member Spotlight: We have some great contributing members at WeSay so why not feature them on our homepage? If we select you for this feature, your profile image and link to your page will be displayed on the homepage. We hope it will help increase traffic to your photos. Inside the Member Spotlight feature, past winners will be archived. It's just a way to bring to front some of the more active members of the community.
View Member Spotlight now.

Photo of the Week: Pretty obvious what this is all about. We plan to feature one WeSay member-submitted photograph each week. You know you're good if one of your photos shows up in this space. Again, we'll have an archive of all the winners here.
View Photo of the Week Now.

Pay for Photos: We recently kicked off a brand new program that will pay selected WeSay members for their photos.
Go here to find out more about this!

Photo contest winners announced

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 09:53:12 GMT

We have announced the winners of the Best of Citizen Photojournalism III Photo Contest. More than 3,000 images were submitted in all, but our judges looked specifically for photos that fit our themes and made us, and our visitors, say "WOW!".

Congratulations to Lakshmi Narayan Yadav for winning WeSay's Best of Citizen Photojournalism III Photo Contest.

Go here to see Lakshmi's grand-prize winning photo, as well as a complete gallery of other winners.