My Walkabout

and it WON! Mom must be so proud….
Thank you to Man on the Lam for hosting the last round and selecting this picture.

Travel Photo Roulette started way back in November 2010 as a way for travel bloggers to showcase their best photography. For each round a new theme is chosen, independent travel bloggers are asked to submit photos, and a winner is chosen to host (and judge!) the following round.

This Week’s Travel Photo Roulette Theme: Winter

 How do you see this season? I love the outdoors in winter with all the snow, ice and cold, but others may have warmer climates, or prefer to be indoors with a warm drink by a fire. How do you see winter?

Contest Rules

The rules are simple. The hosting blogger is the chosen winner of the previous round. The new host chooses a generic keyword or phrase that other travelers submit photos to during the course of the week. Phrases can be as generic as ‘signs’ all the way to abstract thoughts like ‘religion’ and everything in between. At the end of the week, the hosting blogger chooses their favourite photo that fits the chosen phrase and moves it to the top of the post as the winning entry with direction to the new host’s site for the next round. Readers can attempt to sway the author into picking a certain photo via comments, but the author can ignore comments as they see fit. The game is repeated with the winner hosting the following week’s game and choosing a phrase for new photo submissions.

Extra Criteria to Keep in Mind When Submitting a Photo:

• One submission per Blog (so sites that have 2+ authors only get one entry).
• In this round, post processing is permitted as I believe it is essential
• Abstract submissions welcomed as long as it fits within the interpretation of the chosen phrase. Remember, the hosting blogger chooses the winner, so if they cannot understand the submission, you might not win!
• If you win, keep these in mind when choosing a new theme:
  * Keep phrases general so that all bloggers can participate. Specific items like “Eiffel Tower” should be avoided but rather made open-ended like “monuments.” For variety, it is okay to say focused things such as “monuments at night” which most of us have pictures of.
  * Abstract thoughts are appreciated, but keep it within the realm that all readers will understand. No “Kafka-esque”, or “Overlooking Creation”. Use something that is able to be interpreted by all.
  * *NEW* After 1 year, phrases can be reused, however new photos must be submitted.
• No obscene pictures or phrases allowed. Suggestive phrases and photography can be accepted, but please keep it within reason.
• Keep the ideas and photos fresh!
• Pictures from your entire portfolio are fair to submit. You do not have to take the photo within the week of the contest period to submit it.
• Most importantly, ALL PHOTOS MUST BE YOUR OWN.
• One last rule, since this is a competition for bloggers, we need you to be a blogger to be declared a winner. Sorry!

Submit An Image

To enter in the Photo Roulette competition simply leave a comment below with a link to the image (whether Flickr, Picasa or your own site) and we will upload it to this post. Don’t forget to provide a brief description or caption for the photo so the viewers can get a little background as to what’s happening. Check back here throughout the week to see all the entries as they come in and feel free to comment on them. The contest runs for 7 days from today, with the submission date being Jan 8th , 2012  – Jan 15th  , 2012 (Sunday thru Sunday). The winner will be announced within the next few days after the deadline, and they will host round 35.
**Note** Medium size pictures are preferred (around 600 px). Large pictures might slow down downloading time for everybody.

Past Photo Roulette Winners and Hosts

The following is a list of the previously played rounds of the game and the hosting blogger for each. This list also doubles as a winner’s table as each topic host won the preceding round! Click the host’s link to go directly to that entry to see some stunning photographs from the chosen term/phrase!
1. Nov 4–10, 2010  – Living the Dream – “Animals”
2. Nov 17–24, 2010 – Skinny Backpacker – “Road Signs”
3. Nov 29–Dec 6, 2010 – Dream a Little Dream – “Street Art”
4. Dec 8–15, 2010 – Flashpacker HQ – “Festival”
5. Dec 17–24, 2010 – Over Yonderlust – “Landmarks”
6. Dec 26–Jan 2, 2011 – Don’t Ever Look Back – “Beaches”
7. Jan 5–12, 2011 – ThePlanetD – “Portraits”
8. Jan 15–22, 2011 – Travel with a Mate – “Motion”
9. Jan 26–Feb 3, 2011 – Johnny Vagabond – “Water”
10. Feb 8–15, 2011 – Ken Kaminesky – “Urban”
11. Feb 21–27, 2011 – Travels of Adam – “Friday Night”
12. Mar 7–13, 2011 – Itchy Feet Chronicles – “The Journey”
13. Mar 19– 25, 2011 – Brendan’s Adventures – “Changing Seasons”
14. Apr 4–10, 2011 – Shutterfeet – “Storytelling”
15. Apr 13–21, 2011 – 10timesOne – “Piousness”
16. Apr 26–May 4, 2011 – Beached Eskimo – “Learning”
17. May 21–27, 2011 – Travel Junkies – “Architecture”
18. Jun 1–7, 2011 – Destination World – “Transportation”
19. Jun 8–15, 2011 – Living the Dream – “Paradise”
20. Jun 21-28, 2011 – Vagabond Quest – “Clothes”
21. Jul 4-11, 2011 – The Unframed World – “Symmetry”
22. Jul 16-25, 2011 – Beached Eskimo – “Home”
23. Jul 31 – Aug 7, 2011 – BackPackerBanter – “Inspiration”
24. Aug 14 – 21, 2011 – WanderingTrader – “Darkness”
25. Aug 28 – Sep 4, 2011 – Finding the Universe – “Tranquillity”
26. Sep 12 – 19, 2011 – Fearful Adventurer – “Food”
27. Sep 23 – 30, 2011 – Adventures of a GoodMan – “City”
28. Oct 06 – 13, 2011 – Globe-Trekking.com – “Reflections”
29. Oct 17 – 24, 2011 – Scene With A Hart – ”Framing”
30. Nov 9 – 16, 2011 – Vagabond Quest – “Silhouettes”
31. Nov 26 – Dec 3, 2011 – Hecktic Travels – “Music”
32. Dec 11 – Dec 18, 2011 – Globetrotter Girls – “Love”
33. Dec 25 – Jan 1st, 2012– Man on the lam – “Humor”.

The more the merrier: Let’s get more people joining the contest by sharing this article on Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon and G+.

Submit your entry by January 15th, 2012 – and let me know which of the entries below are your favourites:

 Denise from The Art of Slow Travel :

“Coming from the warm Mediterranean island of Malta, the bitterness of the Swiss winter came as a bit of a shock, but even with frozen fingers and toes I couldn’t help but fall in love with this winter wonderland.”

From The GypsyNester :

“Part of our mission as full time travelers is avoiding winter but, at times, winter finds us. Because snow is so rare in our lives, our breath was taken away as it clung to these desert formations above Tucson, Arizona.”

Kat from Travel with Kat:
“Sorry to be repetative, hope it’s not against the rules, but just had to enter this photograph again for the theme Winter. A romantic walk along the River Thames in London.”

Jeremy from Living the Dream :
Caption: “The mountains of Switzerland are a great way to experience winter year-round. When finished you just take the train back down to summer”

The Globetrotter Girls :
We took the picture while we were having mulled wine on top of the Hintertux Glacier in Tyrol, Austria and watched the snowboarders & skiers having fun in the snow.

Roving Jay submitted :
I grew up in England, with cold snowy winters, but those days have been replaced by warm California seasons. This Christmas we took a road trip up to Carmel, and stopped off at Pismo beach – which has a very tall pier and one of he widest beaches in California – and patient surfers.

Cole at Four Jandals :
Here is our entry for this week! We LOVE winter, well when it is beautiful weather like it was this day at Marmot Basin Ski Area. We worked in Jasper National Park for 10 months and fell in love with the place.

Lucy at On the Luce :

 Berries in the snow in a chilly Herefordshire last winter – I loved the brightness of the red berries against the snow, and the patch of green as the leaves started peeking through.

Christy at Technosyncratic submitted :
Our photo submission was taken on Mt. Bachelor in Bend, Oregon. I’m not an avid skier, but for some reason I love the way ski-lifts look. 🙂

Amanda from A Dangerous Business :
I was just in Ottawa last week, and it was a bit of a winter wonderland! I took this photo at night on Parliament Hill, where they still had their Christmas lights up. The falling snow made it even better.

Stephen at Bohemian Traveler :
A string of hiking climb of the last stretch of Halla-san volcano, South Korea’s highest peak.
Juno from Runaway Juno :
Here’s my submission. This is Southern Alps from the air. On the way to Christchurch, we flew over Southern Alps and it was covered with snow. Beautiful scene.

James and Jade from Our Oyster