Photo Contest: Open for All People Over 50!

by Nina

Baxter Bell, Age 54, by Melina Meza

The YFHA photo contest (see Photo Contest!) is now open to men as well as women. To be eligible, your photo must meet the following specifications:

1. Portray a woman, a man, or people over 50 doing a yoga pose (of any level of difficulty), meditating, or practicing a mudra. No restorative poses or chair yoga at this time. Any body type or race (diversity is encouraged!). 
2. Be a digital photograph (or scan) in a reasonably high resolution and in focus.
3. Have a reasonably attractive physical surrounding (either outside or inside). So no messy rooms, even if we sometimes do yoga in messy rooms. Pets are allowed (though I have a limit on how many cats I can take). Urban environments are as good as nature shots.
4. If the photo is a single person doing a yoga pose, the alignment must be one that I consider to be healthy. And no body parts can be cropped off, unless in an artistic fashion.
5. Be aesthetically pleasing.
6. You must either be in the photo or have taken the photo (that way, I can have your official permission to use it).

Here are some examples of winning photos submitted to me: 

Perry Chattler, Age 60

Vincent, Age 51, Copyright by Sara Bennet 2013

Richard Rosen, Age 67, by Melina Meza

This is a rolling contest  and there is no deadline. I'll keep taking and using photos as long as I'm blogging. So take your time and submit a quality photograph rather than just sending in whatever snaps you have on your phone. I'm going to use the same standards for photos of men that I use for photos of women. Typical reasons a photo is rejected include:

• Photo is too small (resolution is too low), so it will be blurry on the blog.
• Photo is out of focus, partly out of focus, and/or lighting is poor, so person is in shadow or whole photo is too dark.
• Figure is too small within the background, (you will look like an ant on the blog, even though, yes, that mountain is really pretty).
• A body part or parts is awkwardly cropped off (where are your feet and/or fingertips?), or your face isn't showing in a pose when it normally would (the pose was taken from an odd angle or you are wearing a hat and sunglasses).
• The facial expression seems unhappy, uncomfortable, or pained.
• The environment is messy (props, plastic water bottles, bits and pieces of other students in the classroom).
• Alignment of the pose looks unhealthy in my opinion, for example, the head and neck are not in line with the spine.
• The photo doesn't feel inspiring or uplifting to me. (Hey, if we want to get positive images of older people doing yoga out there, the images need to feel positive.)

Although I don't by any means require professional photos, typically a quick snapshot done with your phone in a classroom or out on a hike—unless it is really special—isn't going to make the grade. Trust me, I've seen a lot of them at this point. So if you want your images to be seriously considered, take some time in creating them and take multiple shots of a single pose to get a good one. Arrange the setting and move that plastic water bottle somewhere else. Have someone look at your alignment and give you some cues. Take off your hat and sunglasses and smile. Or, at least relax your face.

To submit your photos, you can either email them to me (see Contact Us) or submit via our Yoga for Healthy Aging Facebook Page. There is no deadline because you will not be competing against each other. Multiple submissions allowed. All photos that meet the specifications will be winners!

The prizes? I will use these photos in our posts, with your name, age, and a web address, if desired. I hope there will be a huge number of prizes.

And you should feel free to “borrow” these photographs and give them even more exposure, as long as you give appropriate credits.

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