Congratulations goes to Lauren Hunt for shooting this year’s winning image. The voting was close but, as you can see, it is well worth the win. Nice job Lauren! Check out the updated 2009 Contestant Gallery to see the revealed names and check out the rest of her shots. I’ll be posting the official vote tally later this evening or tomorrow morning. Check back as you’ll want to see how people voted for your shots.

Until then, leave some comments and congratulate our new winner. If she’s up for it, I can send her a questionnaire to post here so we can learn more about the shot that won.

http://urbanphotosafari.com/2009/

I’ll have more detail on voting and some background on the gallery around noon on Thursday. Until then, visit the gallery and take a look at your efforts. As I mentioned before, some pretty amazing shots. To get started on voting, grab a pen and some paper and write down what images you like. Once your are done, you’ll be sending me another email (email link on the right) with your 10 votes. It should look something like this:

Contestant 01 - photo 02
Contestant 32 - photo 08
etc.

Enjoy! I’m goin’ to bed. I’ll be back in a bit.

Looks like I’m going to be burning the midnight oil putting the final touches on the gallery. It’s all coming together nicely though. So, go to bed and get a good night’s rest. I’m on my second Red Bull so, if you don’t see the gallery posted here in the morning, send the paramedics.

Dang, you folks shot some amazing stuff. Gonna be hard to drop just 10 votes this year. All the picks are in. Now it’s up to me to put them together and get them out there for you to view. Hang tight, I should have it ready for viewing by late Wednesday night, early Thursday. I’ll post here with the link when it’s ready to go.

Kevin Sisemore

Alistair Tutton

For the first time in Urban Photo Safari history, 2008 ended with a tie! Congratulations to both Kevin Sisemore and Alistair Tutton. Both images are stunning and worthy of the Urban prize. Speaking of which, do they have to split the massive bounty of $25 at Amazon.com? After much thought, I’ve decided to award two gift certificates in the full amount. I mean, they did break history after all.

As I’ve said before, there were alot of great images this year. Some clear winners and some just plain interesting. The main point as always is to have fun and learn a little more about taking photos. I hope you’ve had as much fun as I did and hope you’ll return next year.

I’ll post the full contest vote tally sometime tomorrow. The image names will change as well from “Contestant 01″ to the real contestant names. Until then, post some comments about your Urban experience. I’ve already heard one or two interesting stories. I’d love to hear more. Remember, next year’s newbies will be reading this. We want to get them inspired to get out and have as much fun as you did.

The voting round is complete. I’ll tally the votes and post them later this evening. Check back after 8 p.m. tonight. Until then…

Yikes. Okay, took me waaaay longer than I thought. There’s a story why but, I’ll explain later. For now, head over to http://urbanphotosafari.com/2008 to see all contestant images. All 61 of them! I’ve been at this for a while so, I’m taking the night off. To get you started here is what you need to do between now and Tuesday morning.

Take a look at the images and pick your ten favorites. Yes, a little nuts I realize with 61 contestants. We are rethinking how we’ll approach this for next year. In the past it’s been around 30 people. When it ballooned I was a little dumbfounded as to how we were going to do this. But, it’s been in place this way since it’s inception so, we’ll tinker with it next year.

So, again, pick your 10 favorites. Write ‘em down and send them to me in an email to deanolufson (at) yahoo (dot) com. The contestant names are hidden until voting is over. Write down the cotestant # and the image # (contestant 22 - image 03 etc.). Have them to me by Tuesday morning before noon. I tacked on an extra day for you to look through them considering it took me an extra day to put ‘em up.

If you don’t have your votes in, you’ll forfeit any votes you get and cannot win. So, grab a pad of paper, a cold beverage of your choice and browse through some great images. Everyone shot some pretty stunning stuff. Any questions? Shoot me an email.

Until tomorrow…

This always takes longer than I think it will. That and a couple contestants needed to rearrange a couple things. Either way, I thought I’d give you a preview. Help pass the time the Friday afternoon before Memorial Day weekend. Check the page at: http://urbanphotosafari.com/2008 and you can see the images as I build it. I’ve been adding images throughout the day. I’ll post again when it’s complete and give full details on voting instructions.

A lot of great stuff to look at. More later….