Shoot Me for FREE!! Winners are…

I just want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who entered the contest. I had almost triple the amount of entries from last year. There were a lot of great ideas sent in. After just the first day of the contest, I could have had 2 winners and been done. I ended up separating a list of ‘Finalists’ before eventually picking out the winners. Among the many entries, there are a few things that are abundantly clear:

1) Apparently no one ever gets family photos taken. I must’ve received 25-30 entries from people who said something along the lines of “We don’t have any family photos since 1992.” People, get your butts in gear! In some cases, it had been as much as 20 years. I have no doubt that all of your families are just as cool and fun as you say, so do it! You’ll remember them for a long time.

2) The bar was raised tremendously. I had several great bribe attempts and a number of incredibly time-consuming entries. As I was reading through them, I was wondering how I could ever turn some of you guys down. For example, last year I had one video submission, this year I had 10. I had many entries from people who wrote pages and pages of stories. Some of these were about bad wedding photos, tragic family circumstances or just heartfelt requests for help. In keeping with the contest, though, I decided a while ago to go with the ideas and shoots that I liked the best. What it came down to is that there are lots of situations that I felt bad for, but the contest is based on creative ideas.

3) I’m too busy. I ended up turning down some of my favorite ideas simply because my schedule doesn’t really allow for more travel over the next few months. I just want to personally thank all of you who were so hospitable and creative for ‘destination’ shoots. Among them were trips to Trinidad&Tobago, Miami, Minnesota, California, Ohio and more. To you all who submitted from different locations, I promise to set aside more time to travel for next year’s contest, but this year it’s just not in the cards. Thank you!

So, onto the winners….
Much like last year, I set out to pick 1 winner, maybe 2. I ended up picking 3 again, and almost went to 4. So, here they are, in random order.

Winner #1 – Jenn & Rob

Idea: Post-Wedding Shoot
Location: Governor’s Island, NY
Why They Won: There was really no question about picking these guys. I’m shooting their wedding March, and they’ve told me ever since we met how they wanted to do something on Governor’s Island. It’s a good location and a great idea. The clincher, though, is that Jenn & Rob put far more effort into their entry than I imagined anyone would. They made a 17 minute interview-style documentary about the island. If you got some time to kill and want to see a sweet topless scene, watch till the end (I apologize that it’s stretched… I’m no video master).

Jenn & Rob from Tony Hoffer on Vimeo.

Winner #2 – Eastern University Lacrosse

Idea: Individual and Team Portraits
Location: Wayne, PA
Why They Won: Brandon, EU’s lacrosse coach, had a pretty sweet idea. Let’s take the team, put them in uniform and have them jump and dive all over the place. Make a calendar and a ‘football lineup’ type shot for the guys. Them winning really came down to 3 things: 1) I’ve been hoping to do more fun, commercial-lighting type work. 2) I’m considering this my alumni donation for the last 5 years. 3) I’m going to get to use trampolines.

Photo by Chiara Best

Winner #3 – Shhh! It’s a Secret!

Idea: Proposal
Location: ???
Why They Won: I was contacted, by an gentleman who shall remain nameless to shoot his proposal at one of my favorite places in the world. I waffled for a while about who to give the last spot to, but ultimately Amy really pushed hard for this one. So, anonymous person, thank my wife for it! If you heard the other idea, you of all people would certainly understand why it almost beat you out :). Look for this to appear on the blog soon, or not… you’ll never know!

Again, thanks to so many of you who entered. It amazes me that so many people I’ve never met are checking out this blog regularly. Thanks SO much for that. If you didn’t win, well there’s always next year :)