Wow, HALLELUJAH. It.Is.Finished. Let’s be real, it’s been quite the roller-coaster these last few days.
[ Fer-Real, stop DM-ing your and begging everyone you’ve ever known to click a button for you. It’s over. You owe them huge; but for now give them a big virtual high-five and thank them hard ]So, without further delay, ado, proliferation, pause, or stress-induced perspiration, we give you the winners of this year’s esteemed Image of the Year!
Congratulations to all of our 103 nominees [ as well as our top 20 finalists! ]
This battle was borderline illegal. Brett shunned several death threats and avoided a few people who approached him to gang fight on the street over vote counting. Sara lept from one train to another train to avoid a mob of testy voters whose cellular networks didn’t load fast enough. Katie awkwardly pretended to laugh at Brett’s jokes [ as per the norm ]. Anna knitted and attended to her various cat-like creatures. Edric shaved his head. Dennis tried to leave the country. Gabriella stroked Carmen’s beautiful face. Maria met more dogs and talked them into Ice Cream. Julina Julina’d. Vince went off on a tangent about his misspent youth.
Then, after all of that, we tallied votes like madmen [ and madwomen ].
Here they are; your 2020 Image of the Year Winners
IMAGE // OF THE YEAR
Payal and Sanjul. While their lives and love are FULL of color and vibrancy, this dual tone image strips out the distractions of color for the clarity of their connection. [ Pulitzer worthy photography caption here by the way ]. Captured by Sara, the authentic nature of their personalities shines through hard in this image. This duo-toned couple will enjoy their fab winnings in style [ 24×36 Custom Metal Wall Art + $250 Print Credit + Brett is already prepping his spiderman costume ]
SECOND PLACE // IMAGE OF THE YEAR RUNNER UP
Katie and Johnny, an autumn capture by Edric. While these two are eagerly walking joyfully towards their forthcoming marriage [ we’ll be photographing their wedding this coming July ] their genuine smiles and laughter touched our souls. Was it their autumnally themed killer wardrobe that netted them a first place winning this year, or was it their die-hard fan and friend base that brought them this far? We’ll find out in the next year’s Image of the Year competition… as we’re quite sure they’ll be in it to win it one year from now.
THIRD PLACE // IMAGE OF THE YEAR RUNNER UP
Dhvani + Parth. Let’s get close; right to the heart of it.. Photographed on their wedding day by Dennis; this intimate and colorful image carried a connection we all felt. These two took round 1 by storm, clearing first place by a close margin. Locked into a friendly battle with our first place winner [ they are close friends; even in each-others weddings! ] We’re confident that their strong and loving friendships will endure. Perhaps Parth will even share the play-doh® trophy they just won with Sanjul? Regardless; they’ll enjoy the special gift that is Dennis.
If you’re new to Making the Moment, you might be unfamiliar with our Image of the Year Competition. Just this week, we nominated 103 images – one leading image from each of our weddings, engagement sessions, family & creative senior image sessions.
Each image was then submitted to our Facebook fan page for open voting by our awesome community of friends, clients & fans. Here’s the original nominees if you had missed them.
After a few days of open voting, we selected the top 20 images from the open voting to move forward to a second round. These images were voted on by thousands of good people [ like you! ] and they represent the best of our creative, Cleveland based photography company. If you’d like to see the top 20 finalists, here’s the skinny on all of that. Basically, all of you lovely people took over Facebook and Instagram. It was alarming and a tad disturbing, but I’m none-the-less proud of you.
IMAGE OF THE YEAR GRAND PRIZE
Valued at over $1000 bucks, this is worth fighting for *
- 24×36″ Metal Wall Art Print with B.A. [ bad-ass ] Metal Stud Post Hangers. Yes – Complete Awesomeness
- $250 gift card to the Making the Moment print lab
- Katie will show up at your office with a special gift **
- Brett will don his spider-man costume and run through your neighborhood doing jump kicks***
Image of the Year Runner-Up
Great stuff happens here for our second place winner
- $197.12 gift card to the Making the Moment print lab
- A bollywood style film produced by Anna involving mannequins and a taco [ $318 street value ]
- Sara will make an impressionistic era style oil painting themed around your conception. yes.*****
- We will toilet paper any house of your choosing. And then “mistakenly” do your house instead
Image of the Year Almost Winner [ 3rd Place ]
Amazing awesomeness still happens here for our third place winner
- $50 gift card to the Making the Moment print lab
- Vince will realize his career has officially spanned two decades and call you to tell you about his Emmy
- Some play-doh® that Julina half-assed into looking like a trophy
- Dennis. We’re going to give you Dennis.
** It’s Katie’s husband Garrett. He bites.
*** He’ll do this completely drunk and probably get arrested again.
**** Sara literally made one of these for Brett for his 40th birthday this year. It is Awesome and weird.
******There’s no 6th star. PSCYH. Remember when that was a thing? When people said “psych” or “NOT!”. OMFG I’m getting old.
