It has been such a treat getting to know you all through the images you shared! Your photos and comments moved us so much. There were so many great shots, it was hard to pick just 15 finalists. Thank you for all your entries. There are many more fun competitions and giveaways to come, so if you missed out this time, stay tuned for more. The point is to get you all shooting and learning and with such busy lives, just entering is a win in itself. We love putting names to faces.
Now, we need your help to pick the winner!
Please vote for your favorite shot from below. Voting closes Thursday night at 5.00PM EST.
One vote per day, but every vote counts, so send the link to all your friends and remind them to vote every day.
{ 57 comments… read them below or add one }
Shot 13 – absoultely gorgeous! Just captures the fun, laughter and innocence of child photography!
we love to hear your thoughts on all the images. tell us why you love the ones you love. you can only vote once a day, but you are welcome to leave your thoughts here on all these wonderful pictures!
it is always encouraging to photographers to hear nice words about their work…maybe even more if you are just starting out.
this are only photos with kids, you say its not necessary….
It isn’t necessary…there is a dog here too! It was a very hard thing to pick from all the entries, and these were the ones that grabbed us most.
Glad to see a Dad up there! The one of them touching noses is so absolutely sweet. I love doing this myself with my baby. I always get mushy when I see Dads and their babies. Reminds me I need more shots of my husband with our new baby.
Love #5. Love the emotion.
Oh My Gosh.. it was so super hard to choose! I love photo 1, 3, 10, and 13. They all remind me of elements of MY life and I love that about photography. In #3, everyone always captures the mother/baby bond, but not always the daddy/baby bond.
Hard to choose a fave but number 12 gets my vote. Love the black and white and it looks like a real sweet moment. Composition is great too! Good luck to everyone
awww too bad it’s all babies. where’s the love for the bigger kids…
My vote goes to number 12…love the smiles and the honesty! Great portrait!
I wish I could have voted for all of them! Such beautiful photos. I went with #7 though.
i picked photo number 1. i love the simplicity of it. the black and white, the scene…it just speaks to me. i think i love the silent moment of domesticality captured.
#13 Wow, what an amazing picture. Kids just love mirrors and that is a wonderful way of capturing the curiosity.
Love 13! That little guy has a mysterious look about him that captivates. His eyes are gorgeous. Love how he is checking himself out in the mirror as mom takes the picture. Very nicely done.
I voted for 1. Her story is so inspiring and I think her photo just says it all, just her and her little boy doing what they do everyday.
All the photos touched me. Even with this batch, it was hard to pick one! The dog one is cute, too! I picked the minivan one, because so much of motherhood is driving people places!
Although I loved looking at all the photos, in the final voting I was torn between 6, 7, and 10. Those three, I think, captured moments of being a parent perfectly. What fun to go through all of the entries.
All of these pics are so moving its hard to choose. But the one that got me the most was #5. Maybe I’m just feeling nostalgic because the days of my boys being babies are long gone. Its photos like these that inspire me and remind me why I take so many darn pictures. I don’t ever want to forget that feeling of holding a newborn closely and the bonding that takes place in those early months. What a touching moment!
Wow, these are all amazing!
I love shots 1 and 2. The simplicity of 1 is beautiful, but 2 is just fun and i love the colours
Which to vote for…… i may have to alternate between both photos.. i also love 12.. and 9… and 6….
How am i supposed to choose?!!!! They’re all amazing!!
I like 7…it’s just life! and being a mom who runs her kids everywhere, I thought it was fun.
ok! they are all beautiful! i don’t now why i can’t vote, when i chose the number and click vote, sais error….oups!
I adore the simplicity of photo #1. I also tend to like B/W photos. I think because they take me back to the photos my father took- so long ago -of us as children. The photo touches me personally. It reminds me of bathing my children and granddaughter in the kitchen sink- a wonderful memory.
The photographer captured the brilliant light through a wonderful window which framed his/her subjects beautifully. The shadows of the dishes juxtaposed against their shine truly makes them stand out. The richness of the darks against the tenderness of the lights draw me to the kitchen as if I were a guest sitting at their table with a cup of coffee having great conversation. And that dear child, naked, sitting on the counter making a mundane household task bearable- is priceless.
So many great moments!
13 & 2 are a tie! I like 2 because of the colors and the moment. I like 13 because of it being so unique!
These are all fantastic! I had to choose #2 though… This one makes me instantly happy
I can feel the excitement just looking at it!
i voted for number8 because of the soft processing. it just looks so peaceful.
So many great shots – I had trouble picking a fav!
I’d be checking back constantly to see if my entry made it, but sadly not – though I don’t have a little one (I just entered me & my cat, haha). I’m a professional photographer but yet taking photos of other people and thier kids is easy peasy to me compared to turning the camera on myself – looks like I should stick to photographing others, heh, self-portraits are tough for me & perhaps not a direction I should take my career, lol!
Looking forward to future competitions. Well done everyone. Some great entries here.
i voted for number 8. so simple and lovely.
they are all great, I really loved 1,2, and 8 but I voted for 12. I asked myself if they were my pictures which one would give me the best memory 20 years from now, and 12 did that for me. Just a genuine, enjoying the moment, photo.
Chose #2, because of the joyous chaos. The colors are vibrant. It shows that no matter who we try to kid as Mothers, our children always come first. Plus, you just know her nose got bonked right where it brings tears to your eyes, and she’s cool with that. This is “in the moment”. Good luck.
omgosh, i can’t believe my photo got picked! yay!
i stumbled upon rachel’s flickr account when my son was first born (he’s 18 months old now) and knew right then and there that I wanted to be able to take photos like that of my son!
all of these are so fabulous, but i love 2 & 7. such fun! thanks!
Beautiful choices…hard to pick one, but my favorite is #11. It says so much, and the lighting is gorgeous.
oooh they are all awesome !!( i voted for and ) i particularly love #2 …….. it made me laugh out loud !!!! and the colours are great! plus i can totally feel that donk in her face too! many times that has happened to me !! hahahaahaha
13, 10 , 7 , 1 also are my other fave shots !!! just that snippet of life…………. love it !!
yay – look forward to more comps and seeing more fab images !!!
I love 2,3,6,8, and 10….but i pic 9 becuz i a sucker for smiling blue eyed babies!
Thank you so much for picking my picture! It’s one of the first photos I’ve taken with my new dslr, and I can’t wait to actually learn how to use it. You are both so inspiring to someone like me who is just starting to take “real” pictures…
And all the other photos are great too… I especially love #1 and #2!
6,8, 13 are my faves.
Love the emotion expressed, the lighting and processing is beautiful=)
#1
it moved me the first time i saw it, and still does:)
Rachel & Peta, thanks so much for picking my photo to the finalist. Just doing for fun.. dont think can compete the others, all are super amazing!
My pic is #10…..taken when we first moved into our house and the bathroom mirror was temporarily housed in the living room. Baby girl and I couldn’t resist turning it into our own personal photo booth! I don’t even care if I win the contest…I just feel super psyched to know that Rachel and Peta gave one of my photos the thumbs up, because you are both an inspiration to me. I love the way your photos capture real life and those precious moments that I know I’ll forget about if I don’t have them on film (ummm..pixels?). I have been using your different challenges to take my camera into some new situations than what I usually photograph. Double thanks for your work on this website!
This is hard, they are all nice. My favorites are 1,2,4,6,11,13 but the one I really like is 10. I think the way she’s munching on the camera strap makes the picture and definitely suggests you need a new camera strap
Still, the best part of it was seeing all the entries in the previous post. It was warming to get a look into the lives of other photographers here, to get to know fellow readers of the blog and match faces to names on the flickr group. The images are inspiring (I could never choose just 15 out of them) and I truly enjoyed looking at them all.
I checked every entry and enjoyed everyone’s photo. This is such a fun contest. Thank you Rachel and Peta for picking my photo to the finalists. I was shocked! There are so many good photos here. I want to vote for them!!
I really like: #1 (I don’t know how you can make your baby sit still like that…I am amazed! very beautiful shot by the way) #2 cute, cute, cute! #3 who can resist father and baby love? #6 good capture of a happy moment
Thank you for choosing my entry (#1) Peta and Rachel, and thank you too to the people who have taken the time to comment on it here.
This is really the wrong side of the camera for me, but I am motivated to take more self-portraits for my child. As much as they make me squirm, I know that one day he will cherish them. Next time I might even do one where you can see my face
Thanks again.
Wondering if these were all taken by the person in the photo, or if someone else was shooting? If they were all truly self portraits, how did you do it? Do you have to use a remote? I’ve done the timer thing, but the longest time I have on my camera is 20 seconds, which is hard to get into position and look natural. Thanks for any tips you can leave for me.
I really love #1 too. The composition, the light, and the beautiful story have me back for a second look.
Me and my son, Josh, are photo number 2. The one where the little muchkin is sprawled across my face. Thanks so much Peta and Rachel for choosing my entry. It has been very moving reading the lovely comments people have left. I wanted to say a massive thanks to everyone! It means so much that people like the photograph.
I genuinely love all 15. 15: has a simple beauty about it. 14: that dog has the greatest ears! 13: mum has managed to snap that little boy doing a fantastic pose. 12: combining stunning quality and a beautiful moment. 11: theres just something about their eyes. 10: love the composition. 9: who isn’t a sucker for baby blue eyes. 8: i love the subtle tones and soft light. 7: beautiful daily life capture. 6: ever so slightly magical. 5: photograph has a stunning honesty. 4: the fun bounces off the photograph. 3: gets me a little emotional everytime I look at this image. Perfect focus too! 1: seems almost to tell a story. you get a little bit more everytime you look at it.
Thank you Rachel and Peta for including my photo (#6)!!! Never mind who the winner will be, It´s just soooo encouraging to be here yet
We were at the beach in the golden hour, and I set the camera parameters, an asked my husband´s daughter to focus and shot, while we were playing and having fun… she got lots of joyful photos.
Thank you for everyone voting my photo and the others too… all of them have some magic, but my personal fave is #12.
Good luck to all!
i use a remote…it is easy to hide and i can take as many shots as i want while making it look like i have my very own personal photographer! get a remote and a tripod and you will do great!
I don’t have a remote but I use the Interval Timer Shooting mode. It lets you choose how many pictures the camera will take and at what intervals. I would set it for 1 second intervals and then activate the camera and go pose with the kids on the other side. After a minute or so you will have more than enough pictures to choose from, or you could make a time laps movie out of them…
I use a Nikon D200 but I’m sure most all digital cameras have that feature hidden somewhere in their menus.
I don’t have a tripod or a remote. I took my picture (#1) by balancing the camera on a book on top of a washing basket on top of a chair. I pre-focused the camera on the tea-towel by the sink and took a couple of test shots to get the exposure I wanted. I used the timer function on the camera and had to take four or five pictures before my son stopped noticing the blinking light on the camera and went back to watching me wash up.
Where there’s a will there’s a way!
that was tough choosing!