What’s Gotta Stay

I am happy to report that I received an email indicating I was selected for the Kodak Picture of the Day for February 3, 2008 (note the link will not go directly to the photo until Sunday). For those of you not into watching sports, that happens to be Superbowl Sunday, for which this photo was selected:

The Interception

This is one of the rare times that I will double post a photo; I have blogged this one previously. Here is a link to the photo on Flickr.

It’s funny how being selected for a small honor like this can be so fun. If you haven’t seen it previously, visit Kodak.com and look for the Picture of the Day link in the lower left of their home page. Anyone can submit photos, so really all photos are selected simply on a subjective merit of the editor. This is my second time being selected, which in no way dims the fun of being selected this time around.

The funny thing is you really never know if or when your photo might be selected. The first time I submitted, I uploaded my photo and expected that if I was selected I would receive an email in the next day or so. When I did not receive any notification in the next couple of days, I figured I hadn’t made the cut for that day and moved on. It was several months later that I received a notice that this photo would be featured for the day:

Best Friends

So I learned that they keep their favorites in a cache of possibilities for future selection, which is of course very smart if you think about it. There are likely a days they receive many great photos and other days where the options are slimmer out of the flow they receive. Of course who knows the criteria they use to select. I would imagine they are trying to show a good cross section of quality photos that appeal to their target market of families and consumers. With that in mind, I have tried to submit a few family oriented photos for possible selection.

When your photo is selected, it of course appears on the site, but what I consider the most fun is that the photo and your name is featured for the day on their animated sign on Time Square in New York. I was fortunate last time to have a friend in NY that took the time to snap a few photos and video of the sign for me.

I am trying to track down someone else to do this for me again as it is not only a fun thing to keep, but also share with the subject. I called the family of the football player, and they are very excited and would like a copy of a photo and video like this as well.

With my small sample size of two emails, the notification is obviously a form email, but I was particularly touched by the personal note added in the one received today:

I’m one of the editors for Kodak’s Picture of the Day and I’m writing to say Congratulations!

Your wonderful Pee Wee action shot “The Interception” has been selected to be our Picture of the Day on Super Bowl Sunday, February 3, 2008.

It will be displayed on kodak.com and every few minutes on the Kodak Times Square Gallery in New York City.

I couldn’t think of a better picture to feature for the day. Thanks for sharing it and your story with us, and I hope to see many more.

How cool is that? Thanks to Kodak for the selection and the editor Marianna for her kind words.

Now, to clarify, the point of my post is first of course to share the fun of being selected, but also to suggest that anyone reading this has the opportunity to be selected. If you haven’t thought of sharing any of your photos in the past, find your best options and get them submitted!

Tags: kodak, picture of the day