We are another week closer to Luminance 2012, PhotoShelter’s conference happening this September 12-13, and we want to make sure that all in attendance are surrounded by people who love photography.

Luminance speakers are leaders from Facebook, Google, Lytro, Behance, 20×200,Christie’s, Hipstamatic, and many more. If you’re a photographer, technologist, designer, or care about the direction of photography, this event is right up your alley.

So we asked, “Why do you love photography?” and every week we’re picking 3 winners to win two tickets each to the event, plus the #ilovephotography party.  We will be announcing the winners every Thursday on The PhotoShelter Blog.

We combed through all of the entrants up to August 8th, and after rounds of deep thought and careful readings, we have come up with our top three photography-lovers. In no particular order, we’re all set to share them with you now.  Here are this week’s winners:

1. Kiana Lewis:

“One reason I love photography is it makes me think of my mother, whose my best friend and the sister I never had. I have and have had numerous interests over the years, all of which my mother supported, but photography is one that has been a consistent part of my life since knee-high to a grasshopper.

It all started when I was a little girl in grade school. Every single field trip (vacations also) I went on, my mother would purchase a disposable camera for me to take; if she was able to chaperone, she’d buy two cameras, one for me and her. In looking back, I remember being super anxious to get my film developed. We could never make it to our local Rite Aid fast enough! With each drop-off, I was consumed with vicious anticipation and curiosity. What would my images look like? Would all of my exposures come out? Which ones would I choose for my photo album? Which ones would I sticky tack to my wall?

I don’t think my mother actually knew she was helping to create a passion within me that would never die; I’ve only fallen deeper in love with photography. Unknowingly, she taught me that I could capture a single moment in time that would last forever, with just a click of a button.

Photography is love. Photography is life. Photography is my life.”

2. Kelly Rembert:

“I love photography because I have been taking photos since I was a little girl and I still feel the same way I felt about photography when I was a kid as I do now I love it and it will forever be my passion.

I love photography because it allows me the creative freedom to manipulate an image into whatever creative vision is floating in my mind at that particular moment when I am taking a photo or editing it. Also, I love it because it allows us to hold on to memories and feelings.

The art in itself is the keeper of history and it allows us to show its beauty,ugliness,strife and victory. Photography allows me share what I think is beautiful or interesting in my eyes and capture it with my lens for the world to see.

As an amateur photographer I would love to see the business side of things and also I would love to talk to and network with professionals in the industry. I want to take my passion and make it into a business after graduation next spring.“

3. Heather Nilson:

“I love photography because the phrase “to capture an image” means a lifeline for me. My visual memory is so weak that it has actually been something of a lifelong handicap. I can understand and retain the written word with ease. I can analyze scientific evidence and research to my heart’s content. But spatially, I’m barely functional. I can’t recall a view, a house, a car, or a face. I can’t close my eyes and picture even well-known and well-loved faces, such as my mother’s. I can’t recognize people I’ve met even more than once. This has caused inconvenience and embarrassment in many social situations. Worse, large gaps are left in my memory of my life experience. Many of the amazing things that I’ve seen and felt, during travels and during my daily life, are dulled to a vague blur because I can’t recall them.

In spite of this, my response to visual beauty is strong enough to give me a physical feeling of heartache. Looking at a still picture seems almost miraculous to me–the ability to actually capture a vision. A photograph is a STILL IMAGE, captured so that I can stare in wonder, and I can return to see it any time I want. Images held still by technology–how incredible; I’m so grateful I live in the age of imagery.

I have had to work very hard to understand elements of the visual world that someone with a “normal” spatial ability and memory might take for granted. The rules of composition are ways of ordering visual input; they mean much more to me than guidelines for making pictures look pretty. The camera doesn’t come between me and an authentic experience. The lens draws me INTO that experience. It makes it real for me. I have had more adventure behind (and because of) my camera in a few years than in my whole life before photography, when experiences went by in a blur that I couldn’t hold on to.

Photography has been more than a prop to build up my weak visual memory. It has actually allowed me to develop my spatial ability until it has become a strength. Concentrating on learning photographic technique and developing my vision has actually changed the way my brain functions. I notice and retain visual input much better now. I have actually accessed memories that I thought were gone forever.

Photography can do what many art forms do–capture emotions and communicate them to others. On this level alone, photography is important to me. But on a deeply personal level, it means that I can go out into the world and experience the adventures that I’ve always wanted to relish, but which would not have stayed with me if I were not experiencing them through the lens.“

Once again, we would like to thank all of our enthusiastic entrants on their fantastic posts and contributions.  Remember, you still have a chance to enter for next week, this contest is on-going and the rules are still the same.

Enter for your chance to win! We’ll be picking 3 winners every week until the big event.

To enter:  

1. Share this link on your Facebook page, tweet @photoshelter, or hit the ‘Like’ button on this blog post to help spread the word and let people know you’re excited for the event. Then,
2. Post your response to “Why do you love photography?” as a comment below in this blog. Be sure to enter your full name and website in the comment fields provided so we can contact you.

Contest Rules:

1. We ask that contestants share this blog post link on their Facebook page, on Twitter by tweeting @photoshelter, or by hitting the ‘Like’ button on this blog post.
2. Contestants must submit their response to “Why do you love photography?” as a blog comment on this post.
3. PhotoShelter will announce the winner every Thursday on PhotoShelter’s Facebook and Twitter page. We’ll also shoot the winners an email to let them know it’s their lucky day.
4. Contest ends on Thursday, September 6, 2012.

Good luck!

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