STA TRAVEL COMPETITION..

I came runner up for STA Travel's Snapped Competition in May 2009. I uploaded 3 photographs to the website (complying with the terms for unique angles, etc), was selected as a finalist and encouraged to enlist all my friends on Facebook and wherever I could grab them to vote for my entry.

The Competition: Submit 3 unaltered images of your travel experiences that meet our photographic brief. One lucky winner will be sent off to Europe, while the other winner will be whisked away to Asia, where they’ll continue to capture imagery for us and document your experiences while travelling. Imagine your photos strewn across posters, brochures, books, shop-windows...

Make sure your 3 photos meet the following criteria:

• Real eg, not staged or posed images
• Taken from a unique perspective
• Spontaneous
• Taken of specific things, for example: Places(monuments, buildings, signs, statues);Culture (people, traditions, rituals, religion);Travellers (feelings, experiences, adventures)

I came in 2nd to a Victorian girl called Nonie Tuxen, but I've already been to Europe. So essentially I won what I wanted!

Here is the trip summary for Roam Cambodia, provided by GAP Adventures that I won as part of the prize. Cambodia's scenic beauty and the diverse legacies of its history make this country truly fascinating. Marvel at the ancient temples of Angkor and face the horrific reality of the Killing Fields, relax on white sandy beaches, wander the busy waterways of Vietnam's Mekong Delta and brave Saigon's jam packed streets to discover an incredible corner of Indochina.

How cool to be recognised for my travel photography, among other talented photographers. Of course, it was a lesson in PR as much as it was about photography. Enlisting votes proved to be a massive undertaking that required constant spamming of friends and acquaintances for the week-long poll. Yet, it paid off for which I am grateful.

Of course, being the traveller I am... I'm flying into Bangkok a few days early to settle into the climate and see a few other things not provided in the itinerary. And then... I'll be spending an extra week island-hopping in Thailand's south, which'll all be updated here, and on the STA Travel website, I presume.

BLURB MEET-UP..

Yesterday, I was first to arrive at the first ever Blurb meet-up in Sydney. Attended by about 50 or 60 fellow self-publishing bookmakers, I soon caught on that this will be no passing phenomenon. Scrolling through pages and pages of sample books displayed randomly on coffee-tables within the designated room of Paddington's Fringe Bar, I couldn't help but be blown away by the dedication of the artists, writers and photographers that have no other way to get their work into the greedy hands of people the world over.

I first discovered Blurb I think through a competition they were running called Photography.Book.Now. I entered Cain9ine's London Blog into the competition in hopes that I would at least be shortlisted for a category prize in the Editorial section... and maybe take out the grand prize of 25k and a chance to meet with the sponsors (Canon, HP, etc) to discuss the future of my photobook.

Anyway, so fingers crossed on that one... but regardless, I had to purchase a copy of my book in order to enter, so I hurried about fixing the format (Blurb have standardised formats to use... you don't have to use their software, but you have to adhere to the sizes) so I can enter and feel extremely confident that it would all work out. Thus creating a snowball effect... as now I want to create mini versions of Cain9ine's London Blog that cover each section of Europe in more photographic detail...

The great thing about Blurb is that they have a bookstore where you can choose to include your book for sale among the community of self-publishers like myself. Some of the uploads are of super high quality, including this one that struck my fancy... I will probably buy it in due course.

So I extend my extreme thanks to Robin (Susan Boyle eat your heart out!) for jet-setting across from San Francisco (Blurb's head office) to share the back page with us...

Oh, and for picking up the tab!

VIRGIN ATLANTIC'S PITCH-TV..

So, a couple of months ago I entered the Virgin Atlantic Pitch TV competition. The idea was to pitch my business idea (Cain9ine's Travel Blogs) directly to people who could make my dream a reality, and I did this by sending a 2 minute video pitch (see above).

Once a month Virgin pick out a selection of the best video pitches and then let everyone vote for their favourite online and on Virgin Atlantic's in-flight entertainment - to be seen by top business professionals from around the world. And woo hoo, mine has made it!

Vote if you come across it, yes... that'd be nice! Because if you do, and I win the competition, RB will get involved - which I don't have to tell you would be so cool..

PS. Yeah I know the eyebrows could get stuck like that!