Capture My Chicago News

ALERT: Release Party Details

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:47:06 +0000

Hey folks! We have some fun news to share with you. We are excited to announce the Capture My Chicago book release party! It's going to be the coolest book release party the Chicago area has ever seen. Everyone is welcome. Bring your friends, family and camera! It's going to be a great time for the community to come together to celebrate the unveiling of the book. It will be the first public viewing of the book, and the first time everyone gets to see who made the book. That's why we're calling it a release party, you see! Prize winners will sign books as well to make your copy even more unique! Books will be available to purchase at the release party at the retail price. If you want to take advantage of the pre-sale discount, be sure to check our purchase page and get the book shipped free to your doorstep. Note: all books ordered online are put in queue to be shipped out immediately upon arrival of books from press. We expect to receive the press shipment the day before the release party, which means online orders will begin processing and get on their way as quickly as possible! This means books ordered online cannot be picked up at the release party. What: Release Party When: Wednesday, December 09, starting at 07:00 PM Where: Borders Books and Music, 830 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL. Now go RSVP to the party!

Cover News

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:24:30 +0000

We're excited to announce the Capture My Chicago cover winner! Congratulations to Rubin Roche, who submitted the winning photo (cover image below). For a limited time you can still save on the book and get free shipping on as many copies as you'd like. Hurry, this offer ends soon. Click here to buy now and save! We're hard at work on the layout and expect to send the book to press in the next week. It's looking really spectacular! Stay tuned for more updates!

Seasons Wrap and Vote Week Start

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:57:21 +0000

A week ago we asked everyone to drum up their best photos from fall, winter and spring to be sure all seasons are covered in the Capture My Chicago book. What a response! More than 2,000 photos were submitted in total. That's really something! Thanks to everyone who submitted. The results are fantastic! Go poke around each challenge below. Fall Challenge Results
Winter Challenge Results
Spring Challenge Results There are a ton of photos to vote for in the three challenge results, but it may be a good idea to save all that voting until after Vote Week has begun. You see, there are only a few hours left to submit photos, so your time is better spent submitting like crazy between now and when the counter (top right) reaches zero. What should you submit? Whatever you think hasn't been covered yet, or whatever you think you have a better shot of. Once Vote Week is here, the counter resets to 7 days left and submissions are closed. Voting raises to a whole new level. This would be a good time to check your vote graph (on your Me page). We challenge everyone to get to 100% by the end of Vote Week. We've passed the 1.5 million vote mark... let's see how high we can push that number by the end of Vote Week. Also, you should note the discount is ending on the Capture My Chicago book and DVD at the end of Vote Week. If you haven't done so yet, now would be a great time to load up holiday gifts for everyone you know. On top of the pre-sale discount ($10), we've giving contributors a $5 coupon so the savings are extreme. Plus, right now we're offering free shipping. And the great thing is, there's no limit to the number of books you can order with this limited-time offer ($10 + $5 + free shipping). Order your copies now! One more quick note: We should have a release party to announce in the near future. Be sure to keep checking back in the next week or so to get the details. Now get to submitting your very best photos in the last few hours of the submission phase!!! Then vote like mad once Vote Week begins!

Spring Results

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:49:36 +0000

Almost 600 spring photos were submitted to this challenge. Thanks everyone! Here are our favorites. Now go vote for 'em!

Winter Results

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:41:26 +0000

More than 700 winter photos were submitted to this challenge. Thanks everyone! Here are our favorites. Now go vote for 'em!

Fall Results

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:30:50 +0000

More than 850 fall photos were submitted to this challenge. Thanks everyone! Here are our favorites. Now go vote for 'em!

ALERT: The Final Days

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:53:55 +0000

Hey folks! We have a few housecleaning items everyone needs to be aware of so we thought we'd wrap them all up in one giant alert. First, do you realize there are less than 5 days left to submit photos?!? That's not long at all! We've opened three new challenges to be sure we get a good mix of photos for the book: Fall, Winter and Spring. We are especially interested in photos that show local flair for what Chicagoland truly is in fall, winter and spring. What is iconic autumn in the Chicago area? What makes you think of the holiday season here? What does a Chicagoland spring look like? When you upload photos, you'll see a spot to enter photos for Fall, Winter or Spring at the bottom of the upload form. To enter a photo you've already uploaded, go to your photo's edit page and enter it at the bottom of the page. To get to the edit page, click on the "Edit Photo" button on your photo's normal view. At the end of these challenges (October 9th), we'll feature our favorites from each season. Getting featured is good because it means your photo will get more views, and thus, more votes. So upload your best photos that show the Chicago area in winter, fall or spring! Another important item... Once the counter at the top right reaches zero, submissions will close and Vote Week will begin. Vote Week is pretty self-explanatory. It's a week where everyone needs to garner all the support they can for their photos. It's a week to camp out on your computer in front of Capture My Chicago and try to get your vote percentage graph (on your user profile page) up to 100%! We should top 1.5 million votes... It's going to be a mad dash to the finish! Before the counter reaches zero and Vote Week begins, we need everyone to shore up their captions. Remember, these photos will be put in a hard-bound fine-art book. It's going to sit on coffee-tables all over the place. We're going to try to use captions "as-is" for the most part, but if your photo has a caption that just doesn't make sense, or doesn't really describe the photo, or has a bunch of errors in it, or is way too long... well we might just have to skip it or edit the caption.. and we really don't want to do that. Bottom line: take a look at your captions and whip them into book-form shape! (To edit a caption click the "edit info" button on the photo's page.) Speaking of the book, the counter reaching zero also marks the end of the contributor discount on the book. If you've submitted a photo or voted for more than 150 photos, we gave you a coupon code worth $5 off every book you order. We are also offering the book at a pre-sale discount ($10 off) and throwing in free shipping for a limited time. Be sure to head to the order page and click the "buy it now" button before the chance to save is gone. Now go submit your very best stuff! Only a few days left!!!

Chicago Olympics Challenge Results

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:45:40 +0000

Obviously, the IOC's decision is not what we all expected. There's no reason to hang our heads, however. We gave it a good run and tried out best. Congrats to Rio. Now that the big day is behind us, here are the photos that capture Chicago's bid for the Olympics. From more than 250 submissions, here are our favorites.

Photo Challenge: Chicago Olympics

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:30:51 +0000

You've got it marked on your calendar, just like us. October 2nd, 2009 at 11:57 a.m. It's going to be a big moment for Chicago. We're all eager to see if the IOC has decided to bring the 2016 Olympics to our beautiful city. We thought it would be great to see what Chicago looks like leading up to and during the announcement of the decision. So, we're issuing a photo challenge! Capture My Chicago, Olympics-style! From decision-day parties to festivities leading up to the big day, submit your best shots of all things Olympics in Chicago. At the end of the challenge (Sunday, October 4th), we'll feature our favorites. Getting featured is good because it means your photo will get more views, and thus, more votes! How to submit a photo to this challenge: When you upload photos, you'll see a spot to enter photos for this challenge at the bottom. To enter a photo you've already uploaded, go to your photo's edit page and enter it at the bottom of the page. To get to the edit page, click on the "Edit Photo" button on your photo's normal view.

1 Million Votes

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:10:36 +0000

The millionth vote has been cast! User Linda Fogarty cast vote number 1,000,000 when she voted for this photo. We featured Linda on the CBS 2 News at 6 pm last night. Hooray! Now let's see who can reach the next big milestone: 1.5 million votes!

Million Vote Challenge

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:51:52 +0000

We're almost at the 1 million vote mark. Wow! To spice things up a bit, we're going to feature the user who casts the millionth vote. So, get your clicker fingers going and vote like crazy! See you at 1,000,000!!!

Outlying Areas Results

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:18:01 +0000

We asked you skilled photographers to get out there and capture rural and suburb areas to show us a different side of Chicagoland. What a response! More than 1,000 photos were submitted to the Outlying Areas Challenge. Thanks to everyone who took the time to submit photos to this challenge. Here are our favorite and high-scoring photos from the challenge. Now go vote for them and let us know which ones should be in the book!

Milestones

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:41:05 +0000

Hey gang! We crossed a few neat milestones over the extended weekend. We are so excited about the Capture My Chicago turnout. After about three weeks, you folks have contributed tons of amazing photos and cast thousands upon thousands of votes to shape what the book will look like. You are awesome! Over the weekend, we crossed the following milestones: First, the 500,00th vote was cast by Diane Bronstein. Way to go, Diane! Second, user Jeremy Cordell submitted the 10,000th photo when he submitted this high-contrast BW shot. 10,000 photo submissions in roughly three weeks! That's truly remarkable! Lastly, new user Eduardo Artiga became the 1,000th photographer to register and upload a photo. As it stands now, more than 1,000 photographers have uploaded more than 10,000 photos to be considered in the Capture My Chicago book, and local folks have voted more than 500,000 times to determine which photos will make the book. Amazing! Another piece of exciting news... We're giving all Capture My Chicago users coupon codes to share with your family and friends so they can save on the book, too! It's like you've had an "in" with your contributor discount, and now you have a way for your friends and family to get a deal as well. Because the book is on sale for the pre-sale price and we're offering free shipping (limited-time offer), this is the perfect opportunity to let your friends and family know about the great deal they can get on the Capture My Chicago book. Check out more details on the About the Book page and share coupons with everyone you know! One more thing: The Outlying Areas Challenge is done. We had a ton of great submissions come in. Look for the wrap-up sometime tomorrow.

Photo Challenge: Outlying Areas

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:46:16 +0000

It's time for a photo challenge! You folks have been submitting a ton of photos - more than 500 per day! That's incredible! Many of the photos pouring in are quite spectacular and do a tremendous job of showing off how great the city of Chicago really is. Thank you to everyone who's been submitting such awesome Chicago photos, and please... keep it coming! For our first photo challenge, we'd like to focus in and highlight some of the suburb and rural areas that make Chicagoland so unique. As announced a few days ago, we expanded our scope to include many of the outlying areas around Chicago. For the next week, get out there and capture suburbs of Chicago and the rural areas around the city. Yes, we want shots from out in the country, too! If you have any photographer friends or family who live outside the city, this is a great opportunity to get them involved. Share the project with all the rural/suburb folks you know and tell them about our first photo challenge. Of course, suburb and rural photos can fall into any of the eight chapters. Maybe you have a great rolling field photo to submit to Scapes of All Sorts. Or, perhaps you have a shot of the classic suburban golden retriever you could submit to Pets. Or better yet, maybe your grandma has a keen eye for photography and happens to take excellent portraits of your farmer grandpa that would be a perfect fit for Friendly Faces. Whatever the case may be, round up your best suburban and rural photos and submit them to this challenge. At the end of the challenge (Tuesday, September 8th), we'll feature our favorites. Getting featured is good because it means your photo will get more views, and thus, more votes! How to submit a photo to this challenge: When you upload photos, you'll see a spot to enter photos for this challenge at the bottom. To enter a photo you've already uploaded, go to your photo's edit page and enter it at the bottom of the page. To get to the edit page, click on the "Edit Photo" button on your photo's normal view. Oh and one more thing... a few days ago we put up the challenge to get to the 250,000 vote mark. It sure didn't take long to get there. Lucky user Martin Nieto cast the 250,000th vote. Go take a look at Martin's profile and vote for some photos. That's it. Now go capture Chicagoland from the suburbs and rural areas!

Quarter Million Vote Challenge!

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:40:07 +0000

After a little over a week, you folks have contributed quite a bit to the Capture My Chicago project. We've received more than 4,000 photo submissions! In fact, just yesterday more than 700 photos were submitted. That's incredible! What's also incredible is the vast amount of voting going on. We are now very close to the 250,000 vote mark. For kicks, we're going to do a mini-challenge to see who casts the lucky 250,000th vote. We'll give a shout out to the voter who happens to cast the vote. So, vote like mad this weekend and see if you are lucky number 250,000!

You're on TV!

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:04:34 +0000

We're sure you've noticed, but we thought we'd make an announcement about it. About what? About the feature we're running every night on CBS 2 News at 6 p.m. of the day's top-rated photo. Cool huh? Everyday we're going to grab the best photo of the day and feature it on the news. You wanna be famous? This is your chance! So be sure to vote like crazy to shape which photo will get picked each day, and be sure to watch CBS 2 News at 6 p.m. to see the result. Have fun submitting your shots and voting for your faves! Check us out on Facebook and share Capture My Chicago with your friends and family! Make sure they watch the news for your photo, too!

Seeding Winner

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:21:49 +0000

The seeding phase is going very well. Thanks to everyone who has been submitting some truly remarkable photos. Keep 'em coming! Very quickly we hit the 500 photo mark – about 24 hours in, actually. And, after a day and a half of voting, more than 10,000 votes have been cast. That's amazing! As we start public promotion of the project, be sure to share the project with your friends and family. Ask them to vote for your photos and submit their own! Now, on to the prize we offered a few days ago... We have a winner! Congrats to Brian Hagy for submitting the lucky photo, seen here: Untitled. We picked a random photo from the first 500 submitted and Brian's shot was lucky #193. The $50 Amazon.com gift card is on its way. That's all for now. Be sure to keep up to date on project news by grabbing our RSS feed. You can also find us on Facebook. Now get back to uploading and voting!!!

Seeding Phase and a Prize!

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:44:27 +0000

Welcome! Thanks for checking out the Capture My Chicago project. We hope you enjoy your time here. As you can probably gather, the Capture My Chicago project just got off the ground. We are reaching out to a select few photographers to help fill out the eight chapters before we publicly launch and begin heavy promotion of the project. If you're here, it's probably because we reached out to you and asked for your help in getting things going. You'll probably want to know a few key things before you get involved. First, this contest is all about getting published in a hard-bound, fine-art book. The unique thing, however, is the best photos are not determined by an editor stuffed away in a high-rise building. The best photos are determined by vote. You get to pick which photos should be published! Note: there are a few prizes for editors' picks as well. The second important thing to know is that we don't take any rights from you. You own your photo. We don't. When you submit a photo, you are agreeing to let us use it for this project only (for the book and promotion of the project). That's it. Ever! We encourage you to read the full rights info. It's super simple. Finally, you need to know what's in it for you. Simply put: exposure. Once we start publicizing the project, thousands of Chicago-area folks interested in Chicago-area photography will be browsing/voting for photos on Capture My Chicago. We expect to generate millions of pageviews when it's all said and done. We want to put your photography in front of that audience. You can link to your website, Flickr page or portfolio on your Capture My Chicago profile. We also let you link to a purchase page on each photo if you sell prints online. Also, if your photos are published you are properly credited and your website will be listed in the book as well. In that way, Capture My Chicago offers a way to put your photography in front of thousands of folks in the form of a hard-bound art book. How awesome is that?!? We also have some cool prizes to give away. One more thing... To help spur on the seeding process, we're going to give away a $50 Amazon.com gift card to one user who submits one of the first 500 photos! Free money is always cool! So what are you waiting for? Start uploading your photos now!