Best YA Book Trailer of 2010 is....

Two Hundred and Seventy four votes later and tons of love I can finally announce the winners

OMG it feels weird saying this but thank you all who voted for Clockwork Angel and Linger and Beautiful Darkness! YOU ALL ROCK!

So to celebrate I am giving away this:

RULES:

All you have to do is be a follower of my blog (here) and Twitter(there)

Extra Entry if you tweet/blog/etc about it.

And leave a comment with your email

See? EASY!

I NEED YOUR HELP! TropFest 2011

So I found out there's thing called Tropfest in Australia (and other international cities), a contest for filmmakers. For the hell of it I just decided 10 minutes ago to enter this....



Needless to say, while I can take pictures and shoot video, all my videos are based on other people's stories, because let's face it... I don't write. Tried many times. So I want your help...

I am having a contest. Write a short story that includes a key. Can be any kind of key. Can be a small detail or the main focus of the story as long as the story is short. the video cannot be longer then SEVEN minutes.

In addition to me filming your story for this entry, I will send you prints galore from the shooting and have your name all nice and shiny big in the credits. And probably other goodness I'll think of later.

This is a challenge for me since I haven't really done anything like this but figured it would be fun. So I can't do it without you! Let's make something awesome together!

Entries for the contest end December 20th.

Send in submissions to Vandsmedia[at]gmail.com

AUTHORS! Want a book shoot?

So last time's winner... the lovely Karen Mahoney's book shoot will well, it now has special plans so sadly you have to wait.

BUT in honor of my book trailer-ness anniversary CONTEST I am opening up this post for authors who want to win a book shoot.

Like this:

or this

Rules are you have to send a teaser in comments (or privately via email: vandsmedia[at]gmail.com). Must be at least agented.

Teasers must be descriptive, teasing, and visual or pertinent to the book. Nothing too abstract. I should be able to read and visualize a scene or character.

+ 1 ENTRY if you get a friend to follow my blog.

+1 ENTRY if you tweet/blog/shout it out somewhere.

ANNIVERSARY celebration!!!! CONTEST!!!!

I have been sooooo busy these past few weeks shooting some of my fave books that it totally slipped through my mind( and fingers) that it was my book trailer anniversary. June 16th last year I debuted PROPHECY of the SISTERS book trailer.

After watching countless book trailers online I asked what if. Kinda like this ideas authors get when they start off writing their books.

What if...

I made a book trailer?

If people watched it?

If people liked it?

If I do another one?

If that author over there wants me to do one?

OH CRAP! and sure enough that one trailer that stemmed from pure inspiration spurred on some great relationships with authors, bloggers, publishers and readers, most of all.

I've had such great moments this year and as I post some myself and as others share in this craziness of a year I'd like to show mu appreciation and gratitude!

Soooo.. A CONTEST!!!! yes???

Ok so here's how this will go...

I call this PICK YOUR PRIZE contest!

This is how it works:

• Comment on this post +1
• or any other one - +1

• Tweet this contest- +1
• Blog- +2
• Subscribe- +1
• Comment on any of my trailers +5 :D

PRIZES that you can pick from include:

• A header design
• A button design
• A print of your choosing (5x7)
• A book shoot picture (authors more deets on that coming soon)
• A promo material design ( bookmark, business card, etc)
• Maybe other stuff added to the list I can't seem to think of at 2am.

So READY? GO!!!

And make sure to come back and check out some of my nutty stories this year.

Contest open to International unless it involves shipping..

Open until July 16th!

NEW CONTEST!!! For Authors!

A few weeks ago or maybe a month or two ago I did a spontaneous photo shoot for my friend Victoria Schwab whose book will come out sometime next year called The Near Witch.

This was the result of it:

Now the fun thing about that for me was that she sent me a little tease I went out and shot something that related to it. It was a fun experiment of sorts for both me and Victoria and since I love doing character based shoots I thought I want to do it again.

I've done a few so far and I really enjoy them!

So here's the contest:

**Tell me your book Title, your genre, your character (girl, boy, animal?, both?). Basically gimme that "tease" I can go off and shoot on.

For every tweet, shoutout, person you bring here and follow me you get +1 Entry!

If you blog about me, my blog, or my contest you get +5 Entries!

Entries DEADLINE: March 5th(ish) I might extend it!

Open to: At Least Agented Authors.

The winner will not only get this shoot done but will also get a digital file to use for themselves.

Keep in mind I am somewhat limited on what I can do. No aliens, please!

Also, if you want to keep the teasers secret from the world feel free to email them to me at vandsmedia[at]gmail.com

A year in photos.... and a Thank You Contest!

This has been a great year and I have so many people to thank for it. Mostly my family for being my stronghold. I wouldn't be doing what I am without their support. Especially my mother who despite everything is still my biggest fan.

I would also like to thank all of my clients this year who have taken a chance on me and have given me such a blessing by letting me photograph them or for them.

I also HAVE to thank my friends, Kami and Margie who are pimpsters and my biggest fans. They have relentlessly be on my team. I have had such a blast shooting for them!

To all the cute kids I have photographed and all the weddings and couples... thank you!

Thank you to all my new fans... I owe you cupcakes and cookies! :D

To all my blog followers who still come back and check up on me... I promise more and more photos this year. Hope I entertain more than the last.

I am looking forward to getting to know all you new people and new clients. I hope I get to work with my old clients again. And most off all I hope I can continue to shoot and capture what I love most!

And with that I am giving you ALL a chance to win a 8x10 print of your choice. Visit my Flickr and tell me which one.

For a chance to win recommend someone to my blog. If they follow, and you have to specify who recommended you or who you are recommending, you get an entry. So that means unlimited entries, really!

You have till the end of January to enter and recommend and spread the goodness around!

And authors if you have been thinking about booking me keep an eye out on the blog for some coupons this January...