MACRO CONTEST
I'll keep this short and sweet. =Lalianna-Nyrobi is holding a contest with two categories: "True Macro" and "Closeup." The prizes are pretty good and I know a lot of you guys are just itching for a new contest, so would highly recommend that you check out this contest.

=Lalianna-Nyrobi's contest journal: Macro Contest

Opening Credits
Hello everyone. Admin Tim here. For those of you bothering to read this, thank you! I've been away for far too long and I found the time and will to update the club tonight. There's been a lot going on and I'll fill everyone in with the past, present, and future.

Prelude
A long time ago in a city far away.... One fateful evening I decided I would try my hand and creating a DA club for macro photography. I loved macro photography (and still do!), but there were not really any clubs devoted to it. There were lots of great macros here and there, but not a concentration anywhere. So began macrophoto.

The early days
I wanted to get some club members, so I asked everyone I talked with on DA to take a look at the club and join if they were interested and let their friends know if they thought it worthwhile. I got a couple people to join and started posting submissions to the club. It was an exciting day if I got to post a single photo to the gallery. I watched the pageviews near 100! I was so excited when someone I didn't even know watched the club...

The macro bubble
It wasn't long before I didn't know anyone who was joining the club. They weren't even friends of friends anymore. It was awesome! I started getting a lot of submissions to the club and the journal of member icons was rapidly growing out of hand. The gallery was getting a bit crowded as well. So begins the first contest! The first contest was held in Feb. of 2005 and was themed "Good 'n Green". You had to submit something that was green! The contest got a whole 38 entries. The contests got better and better from there on out.

The macro burst
As with most things that grow quickly, they eventually meet their decline. Looking back at the club journals, updates got less frequent after the first year. I got burnt out on the club after a while. It was a lot of work keeping up with you guys. Replying to notes, counting votes, thinking up new ideas to keep you coming back... I definitely let the ball drop several times and went MIA for a month or two. This latest absence has been my longest. The last update was September 23rd, 2007. It's been right about seven months...

So by now I'm sure you're wondering what took me so long? Well, I've had several big events in the past seven months. The biggest of which is that I proposed to my girlfriend and she is now my fiance! She is studying abroad in Scotland currently and won't be back until the beginning of June. I went and spent three weeks with her over her winter break and proposed in a castle in Stirling, Scotland. That was rather nerve wracking to get all that together and to afford it all. For those of you who don't know, the woman I am marrying is ~dannigurl.

I also recently moved from my apartment to a house that I am renting and will be buying soon. That wasn't particularly stressful, but if you've ever moved, you know how it is. It takes time to organize and pack everything and even longer to unpack.

The other big event in the last 7 months was totaling my truck in December. I was out with my friend going to the junkyard to pick up a front axle for his truck on a snowy Saturday morning. The junkyard was about 30 minutes outside of any reasonable civilization and the further out we got, the harder it snowed. When we finally got there, I found myself unable to stop and went sliding down the road. I almost kept control of the vehicle, but finally lost it and spun around backwards, slid off the side of the road, and rolled the truck on its side. Luckily, my friend and I got out with just minor aches and pains, but the truck didn't fair so well. The driver's side door was smashed in about a foot from hitting a giant fence post and the entire driver's side was scratched and dented from other fence posts and some heavy duty barbed wire fence. The initial damage estimate for the truck was over $11,000 because the engine was flooded with oil and had to be completely rebuilt. That totaled the vehicle and I ended up with a check for a decent down payment on a 2008 Lancer GTS. It's nice. So that caused a slight amount of stress, mentally and financially.

The macro aftermath
So after all this, I still want to try and get the club back in order. I know I won't be able to keep up with the club being so big and time consuming now. So I've been picking away at macromacro.com for a while now to try and get it up and running to aid me in administration duties. I want the site to work in tandem with the DA club to start off with and once it is ready, make the web site the main club and have the DA club as a secondary site. I know there are a lot of people who are opposed to this, but it's either that or no club at all. I think the site will do well enough and hopefully exceed my expectations like the DA club did. The new site won't be ready for at least another month or two, but I wanted to let everyone know what the plans are.

The macro cleanup effort
I would like to get the DA club at least somewhat active for now to rekindle interest before the website is launched. But to do that, I'm going to need some help. Is there anyone out there willing to take the reigns of the DA club and get a contest going and make regular updates to the club? This person should have a passion for macro photography and a gallery to prove that interest. The club will take at least a couple hours a week to do administration duties, so this person should be able to devote that time to the club to give the club some attention at least twice a week. This person also needs to be a mature individual. The ability to write decent English is absolutely required. If you're interested, send the club a note.

Closing credits
From a long shot idea in my dorm room to a pretty popular club over three years later, I have to say it was all worth it. As of this writing, the club has 257,274 pageviews, 111 gallery submissions, and 3,757 watchers! Here's to a great three years (when I was around) and three more!

Any and all comments, questions, and suggestions are appreciated.

Autumn Food Contest (Sept 23, 2007)
As of right now, the vote for the next contest is at a dead tie with 83 votes each for Autumn and food. So rather than choose one, I say let's do both. Autumn Food!

Weekly Update (September 23, 2007)
*Sigh* I spent a lot of time this week focused on my girlfriend. She just left yesterday to study abroad in Scotland for 9 months. So that's what took me so long. The contest votes have been tallied and posted below. Thanks to everyone who entered and voted in this contest!

Colorful Contest Winners (Sept 23, 2007)
Congrats to the winners!\



Autumn Food Contest (Sept 23, 2007)
Since the results in the poll for the next contest topic were tied for Autumn and Food, I have decided that they will both win. The theme for this contest is Autumn Food. Think of any Autumn seasonal food in your area. The food doesn't have to only be available in the fall, but try to stick with popular Autumn foods.

Since the results in the poll for the next contest topic were tied for Autumn and Food, I have decided that they will both win. The theme for this contest is Autumn Food. Think of any Autumn seasonal food in your area. The food doesn't have to only be available in the fall, but try to stick with popular Autumn foods.

Examples:





Submissions: Sept. 23rd - Oct. 14th

Voting Round 1: Oct 15th - Oct 21st

Voting Round 2: Oct 22nd - Oct 28th



The overall winner will recieve a one month subscription.

The top three entries after voting will be entered into the club's gallery.



Please refer to the Contest Guidelines for general rules pertaining to submissions. Please be aware that your submission must have been submitted to DA on or after the first day of the contest.

After reading the guidelines, please use the following link to submit your deviation:

SUBMIT ENTRY FOR AUTUMN FOOD CONTEST

This contest is titled Colorful. Pretty easy. Look for things with bright and bold color(s). One color is ok, multiple colors are better. The subject can be anything you like, as long as the color of it really stands out.

I would suggest using very bright lighting for this contest. It's very sunny outside (at least here in Indiana...), so a nice nature photo would be great. Also, keep in mind that desaturation of the background or recoloring of the photo is not allowed.


Examples:




Simply click on the link next to the image you wish to vote for and send the resulting note. A huge thanks to *rawimage for telling me how to make links directly to a note with a subject filled out!




Submissions: August 4th - August 25th

Voting Round 1: August 30th - Sept. 9th

Voting Round 2: Sept. 10th - Sept. 17th



The overall winner will recieve a one month subscription.

The top three entries after voting will be entered into the club's gallery.



Please refer to the Contest Guidelines for general rules pertaining to submissions. Please be aware that your submission must have been submitted to DA on or after the first day of the contest.

After reading the guidelines, you may submit your entry by sending a note with the following information:
Subject: Submit - Colorful
Body: Link to deviation (example: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/23109592/)