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Below are the some of the photos that you submitted for possible inclusion into the Hollows Insider. The contest is long over, but I am, and will forever be, amazed and humbled at your response.
Thank you for all your enthusiasm. I wish I had a copy of The Hollows Insider to give to all of you.
First Photograph! Something easy for this first one. I'm looking for a picture of a casino boat at the quay. Ideally it will be cold, as the paper runs in December, and I'll let a bit of photo shopping slide if you want to get creative and get Saladan's name on the boat somewhere. The caption under the photograph is going to read "Saladan's floating casino before it exploded." This can be taken at night or day, close or distant to show the Cincy skyline if you you are lucky enough to live there. Perhaps one taken inside the boat. Be creative! And no worries! If you don't have access to a floating paddle boat to take a picture of, I'm going to have lots of other opportunities that are not so location specific.
Here are my favorite boat pictures. :-) These are wonderful, guys! I am astounded at how you came through for me. Thank you!
Click for larger photo:
Congratulations everyone who is in the running, and a huge thank you for everyone who send in pictures!
Winner of the Saladan boat contest is K. Flanagan/A. Avery with her very creative, landlocked photo of the destruction of Saladan's boat. K chose the picture of Rachel realizing that Ivy has a big problem. This is a turning point in Rachel's POV, and one of my favorites.
Second Photo: It's Halloween in the Hollows, and I need a picture of people doing something at a party: bobbing for apples (tomatoes), dancing the limbo, jumping out of a coffin and scaring people, anything other than poising for a picture. If your picture includes tomatoes, that's a plus. If it's clearly a staged photo to show off costumes, it will not make the cut. The caption is going to read, "Partygoers at the 2005 Festival, bobbing for tomatoes, enjoying the day, watching the parade, or whatever you're doing in the picture. If it's taken in the day on the street, even better. The idea here is to show Inderlanders having fun doing something at a party.
Here are some of my favorite Halloween pictures! (click for a larger view) Soon as I know from my publisher whose photo is chosen, I'll let you know.
Winner of the Inderland Halloween photo is J. Pace!
Third Photo : Get your Inderland garb on, this one is going to be tricky! It's July in the Hollows, and Piscary is dead. Cincinnati is in mourning, and living vampires everywhere are in a state of concerned waiting as they wonder who is going to take his place. The caption under the picture is going to read something like "Concerned vampires waiting for news at Mike's coffee shop, downtown Cincinnati." So grab your friends and your camera, and go have a latte! And have fun!
Here are my favorites from the mourning vampire contest. I will admit that I was totally floored by what some of you did. This is outstanding! Thank you everyone who entered. :-)
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Winner of the "mourning vampire" photo contest is Amy! Congratulations! I have to thank everyone who entered as this was probably the hardest contest to judge. They were all fabulous. Ziegler chose the picture of Ivy pulling an aura on Devon. (That's one of my favorites, too.)
Fourth Photo : Something a little easier. I need a picture of the front of a mall, busy or deserted, it doesn't matter. The caption will read "Mall where Were brawl occurred last night, now peaceful." If you get inventive and want to take a picture of you toting your boyfriend out of the mall in cuffs, I'd go for that, too, and change the caption. (laugh)
Here are my favorite mall shots! Thank you everyone who entered. This is getting better and better! I am still pinching myself that you're as excited about this as me. ;-)
Click on the thumbnail for a larger picture.
Winner of the "peaceful mall" photo is C Garcia! Congratulations!
Thank you everyone who entered! The turnout for this one was intense! Garcia chose the picture of Rachel and Ivy arguing.
Fifth Photo : It's June in San Francisco, and Ku' Sox has been a bad boy, damaging buildings as he ravages the streets calling Rachel out. I am looking for a shot of a broken structure in a city for this one. If your photo is in San Francisco, tell me in your email just as a bonus, but it's not necessary to win. Right now the caption will read "San Francisco building (bridge, whatever) damaged by demon-caused quake." I'll accept a little photoshopping if you want to add some Inderland graffiti or some such. Just as a reminder, this has to be a photo that you took, not lifted from the web.
My favorite photos showing "demon damage!" Thank you, everyone! I'll let you know which one my editor likes the best!
Click on the thumbnail for a larger picture.
And we have a winner! Photo chosen to represent Ku' Sox's damage is J Linetsky! Congratulations, J! He chose the page with the close ups of Ivy and Rachel at the tomato cannery.
Sixth Photo : This one is going to require your friends,(the more, the better) and I think it's going to be the toughest photo to come by. I may extend this into next week. If you can't drum up a crowd, I'll also consider a close up of someone with a protest sign.
It's April, and citizens of Cincinnati are protesting outside the front of a city building. Pre-Turn documents concerning bio-engeneered drugs have been unearthed, and conflict has developed over what to do with them. SGR (safe genetic research) wants to study them to help cure diabetes and leukemia, historians want to put them in a museum, concerned citizens want them destroyed. Caption will read "Protesters at City Hall show their teeth as proponents clash."
Submissions are closed, and here are my favorites! Thank you everyone who entered. The response has been overwhelming! You guys are the best! And no one got arrested for protesting outside their city building. -laugh- Soon as I hear from my editor who's photo as been chosen, I will let you know!
Click on the thumbnail for a larger picture.
Choosing the winner here was very hard since everyone went to such lengths and took such great shots. But there can be only one . . . (laugh) And the winner is S Clark for her two, very concerned looking protesters. Congratulations S! S choose the page from Blood Work that shows Ivy waiting for Rachel outside a charm shop. I liked this one for the same reason S did, the fabulous city scape.
Photo Seven: Something for you guys who live in, or have visited, Cincinnati! It’s the dead of winter, and the banshees are starving. A pair went to Fountain Square for the New Year festival and trashed the place, soaking in the fear as the fires burned and people fled. What I’m looking for is a shot of the fountain taken the morning after, and the caption will say “Little remains to show last night’s damage thanks to work crews.” This is going to be difficult because it’s supposed to be winter, and I’m sure they’ve got their spring flowers in now, but perhaps a close up of the fountain or taking it in a way to avoid the spring trees might work. And as always, I’ll accept pictures that you have taken in the past. (I know I have one of me freezing my butt off in front of the fountain in winter. ha!)
Submissions are closed. I'm sharing the entrants with my editor, but due to the limited number of entrants, we may choose a stock photo or one I took. If so, I will draw a winner for the BLOODWORK page and the copy of THE HOLLOWS INSIDER at random from the entrants.
At long last, we have a winner! M. Gaskins submitted the winning photo in the extended fountain contest, and has her choice of the remaining pages of Blood Work up for grabs. :-) I have to give you all a huge thank you for the wait on this as it was difficult to balance the beauty of the shot with the feasibility of getting it to translate well to the page. Thank you everyone who entered, and congratulations, M!
Gaskins chose page 16 as her favorite from Blood Work. I really liked this page as it shows Rachel's magic as well as her innocence as Ivy saves her from a dangerous blast of magic from someone else, knocking her to the pavement even as Rachel invokes her own.
Photo Eight: Dig out your photo albums, this one is going to be tricky as well. It’s late October, and Takata is putting on a benefit concert to help the homeless. The caption will read: Concert goers enjoy the music while helping the homeless.” I will consider wide shots of a concert showing lots of people as well as close ups of someone wildly screaming out lyrics. (I’m wondering if a picture of a football crowd (or any crowd for that matter) might work, too with a little photo shopping?)
Submissions are closed for this as well, and wow, did I get a great response. My favorites are here. Thank you everyone who entered! You really came through! I'll have the winner for you shortly!
Winner of the concert photo is B and T Rowe for their shot of concert enthusiasm! Congratulations, B! B. Rowe chose the page of Ivy kicking out a door as her favorite page from the upcoming Hollows graphic novel. I liked this one myself because of the dry, seldom seen humor coming from Ivy.
Photo Nine: It’s election year, and Trent Kalamack is running for Mayor of Cincinnati! The caption will read “Kalamack supporters prepare for tomorrow’s rally.” and I’m looking for a group of people doing exactly that, writing up posters, preparing flyers, wearing election hats, etc. :-) A posed picture of supporters won’t do. It has to look like a shot snapped on the fly. Think newspaper, and have fun with this one!
Submissions are closed, and here are my favorites! Thank you everyone who entered. The response has been overwhelming! You guys are the best! Soon as I hear from my editor who's photo as been chosen, I will let you know!
Click on the thumbnail for a larger picture.
Winner of the concert photo is J Croteau! Congratulations, J! Your photo had the perfect blend of campaign office that we were looking for! J chose page number five from Blood Work. I like this one as I felt I asked a lot from the artist, wanting to see Rachel stretched forward through a car, and then the additional complexity of Ivy's hunger shadow draped across her. Mmmm, one of my favorites!
I'm looking for something a bit different for the last two photos. I need two close-up pictures of smiling faces, more specifically, a reporter's mug shot, the tiny, face-only picture that you sometimes see with columnist's articles. It will be black and white, but you can send color photos. They need to be fairly sharp, so photos you take with your computer probably won't make the cut.
Picture Ten: Devin Crossman is in his late 20's, to 30's. He's a reporter for the Hollows Gazette, and he is the narrator for the book. He's smart, clever, and a bit too inquisitive. He makes a lot of mistakes, and I'm not saying how it ends, but it's not good for Mr. Crossman. -grin-
Here are my favorite "Devin Crossman" photos! I'm sharing them with my editor, and I'll let you know when we have one selected.
The winner here is S. Wilburn! Congratulations, S, for your winning photo of Devin Crossman! S chose picture fourteen as her favorite from Blood Work. This was one of my favorites because it showed a close up of a ley line charm, something that I've always had a hard time describing. Thank you everyone who entered, and congratulations again, S!
Picture Eleven: I'm also looking for Sara Jane's sister, Winnie Gradenko, fellow reporter for the Hollows Gazette. She's a farmer's daughter, tough as nails and has a smile that could make the sun come up in the morning.
Submissions are closed, and here are my favorite Winnie photos! Thank you everyone who entered. The response has been overwhelming!
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Picking the winner for Winnie's photo was extremely difficult, but we finally have a winner. Congratulations, L. Szpunar for her farmer's daughter with a core of steel! Thank you, L, for your patience on the wait, and than you everyone who entered!
Szpunar chose picture number four from Blood Work. I liked this one because of the unique perspective on Ivy and the pixies fighting over a pea pod.