Help!
Last week I encouraged all my bird photographer friends to submit one of their Great Bird Pics to a contest – any contest. I had just received an email announcing the Project FeederWatch 2021 Bird Photography Contest and thought that might be a good place to start. It’s important to read the rules carefully before entering your bird photography in a contest. I did so myself and had to think long and hard about the following rules:
2. Acknowledges and agrees that the Contest Entities may exploit, edit, modify, display and distribute the Submission and all elements of such Submission, including, without limitation, the names and likenesses of any persons or locations embodied therein, for any purpose, in any and all media now known or not currently known, throughout the world in perpetuity without compensation, permission or notification to entrant or any third party;
3. Grants exclusive permission to Wild Birds Unlimited, Inc. to reproduce any portion of the photo image(s) for any purpose, and to make these photos available for use by Wild Birds Unlimited franchise store owners in local advertising and marketing. Furthermore, grant creative permission to alter the photograph(s) as needed for marketing purposes. Entrant does not grant permission to resell the photograph(s).
Did I read that right? – Cornell and Wild Birds Unlimited may “exploit, edit, modify…for any purpose…” my photograph! They can send my photograph to any franchisee to use in their marketing efforts! They can “alter the photograph….” That’s a lot to swallow. But after some reflection I thought, “Why not?” I can have my Great Bird Pics sitting on my computer (and website) or I can have it sitting on a bag of bird seed, or in a flyer, or on Cornell’s BirdSpotter website. So I’m going to do it – send in a photo to the contest. The problem is, which one?
I went through my files and selected 47 possible entries. I narrowed it down to 18 after looking at the pictures of past winners on the BirdSpotter website. Then I had to make some hard decisions to get it down to five – now I need your help! Which of these five pictures should I enter in the contest? Take a look and vote for one:
A Common Yellowthroat with grasshopper.
Long-tailed Duck with the Big Red lighthouse reflecting in the water around it.
Pileated Woodpecker expelling wood shavings from its new home.
Semipalmated Sandpiper on pier.
Sanderling hunkered down.
Thanks for your help. If you are viewing this while still in the email, you can Reply to send me your feedback. Or you can click on the picture of your favorite and write a quick comment on the Individual Picture Page.
Stay Safe. Go birding. Take Pics. Share Here. Repeat.
Mike
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