My Indiana Summer – Vote for Your Favorite!

All five photographs deserve to be in the final group.

Thanks, our selection committee did a great job of narrowing down the photos to the top 5!

Actually I think there’s something NOT RIGHT with your voting system. I can not believe that a picture of wirling kids on a carussel gets much more votes than the photo of the sailboats or the beach, which btw. is from the artist point of view the best in this set of pictures. To catch such a sunbeam is very difficult.

The photo of the kids on the ride is cute but – there is nothing that shows the beauty of Indiana. How do we even know this was taken in Indiana?

This was a difficult vote! All great shots of Indiana Fun. But nothing says Indiana Summer like a little girl in a swing.

@Edna, Here is where each of the photos above were taken:

Photo 1: Lake Maxinhuckee – Culver
Photo 2: White River Canal – Indianapolis
Photo 3: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore – Porter County
Photo 4: Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari – Santa Claus
Photo 5: Miller Street Beach – Miller

@Ruth, the photo contest was open to all, professional and amateur alike. With the help of the great panelists mentioned above, they pared down to the top 5 photos.

@Claudia, as far as the voting system goes, it is set up to allow one vote per person. If there’s a photo you really like, you should tell your friends about it so they can vote for it to!

Thanks to everyone for participating in this promotion. We’ve had a great response so far! Voting is open until August 3rd, so be sure to tell your friends!

Great pics, I need to submit some of mine! Enjoyed!

If there was a picture of sweet corn and watermelon, I would have voted for that one–but all photos were great.

When does the voting end?

@Claudia

Which artist point of view are you referring to? I’m an artist, and I don’t see it. Sure, the sunbeam is engaging, but there’s a lot more in the photograph that isn’t. Personally, I think the emotion and composition of the girl on the swing far more engaging. It also relates much better to me with a lifetime of being a Hoosier. I’d easily vote for it over the sunbeams.

That is to say we all have our own opinions and point of views. Yours clearly doesn’t reflect everyone else’s (much less most of the rest).

did you notice the photos are not numbered the same on this page as they are on this page? http://www.in.gov/visitindiana/myindianasummer/vote.html

I hope that doesn’t cause any problems with the voting.

These are all great shots, but the majority of them look like Florida pictures. It was hard for me to relate to these images as summer in Indiana. I want to see little kids with their front teeth missing trying to eat corn on the cob or spit watermellon seeds. Kids running through fields with their dogs, family picnics at the park, the State Fair at night and of course…..cows.
I know that there’s “more than corn in Indiana,” but four out of five of these shots involve water. Where I’m from in Indiana, the most outdoor water I see is in the birdbath.
I voted for the paddleboat because of the terrific composition…and I could actually see Indianapolis.

I agree with Carmen. All the pictures are beautiful warm weather shots, but #2 is the only one that is obviously summer in Indiana. It’s a perfect tourism shot. You see active people boating, walking and biking, the beautiful scenery along the canal, the city — and the perspective puts you right in the middle of the action.

It’s hard to beat a cute kid in a swing, but I voted for 2.

@Claudia
I disagree with your assessment on the voting system. We have advertised that photo in many different ways. Also, the people running this contest have gone far and beyond what is necessary to make it a fair competition by only allowing one vote per person.

Artistically, yes all the photos are great, but I too do not come from an area where beaches are big in Indiana. We don’t have sail boats, beaches or large water masses. While I find each photo to be great, I too think the water ones do not capture Indiana as best as it should have. One would have been enough.

Also the photo with the little girl seems to be the only human element. Her expression is priceless and shows the joys of summer from a young heart in Indiana. The photo was taken at Holiday World which is well known in Southern Indiana. I can’t imagine a summer not going their to enjoy all they have to offer. That is an Indiana Summer to me.

Thanks to everyone for voting and for the great, spirited conversation about the photos selected and which photo really is the best photo of an Indiana Summer. Obviously we’re all going to have differences of opinion when it comes to something as subjective as a photo contest, but it is great to see how passionate and generally respectful everyone commenting on this post has been.

We have tried to make the vote for the top photo as fair as possible and we hope that you will get out and tell all of your friends to vote for your favorite photo as well. The more people that see the photos and vote for their favorite, the more people will see how beautiful Indiana truly is.

That was a really tough choice. All five were really good selections. Thanks for sharing!

Wow, such awesome pictures! I’m definitely a sucker for good shots of nature, so it’s either 3 or 5 for me.

I love Holiday World! Summer is for kids.

The photograph in these photos are incredible! But I agree with the sentiment that beach photos don’t mean much to me in Indiana. I live near Lake Monroe, but I’m still not there that often. To me, my 20 years of Indiana summers are most oft reflected in people–which is why I voted for the girl on the swings. I know people question that it was taken in Indiana, but you could say that about ANY of the images, except for #2 in Indy.

However, before you vote for #2, I caution you to look close (i.e. the buildings in the back, the ‘water’ in the front of the boat, and the pant legs of the paddlers). I don’t believe it’s actually a photograph, but a computer-generated image–possibly altered by the artist from an original photo that didn’t convey all she wanted it to. There’s nothing wrong with altering photos, but I question its appropriateness in this contest.

Photo 5 is amazing!

hi, you really had a great photos. i like most the photo #3 which is the sunset. would you mind if i ask what camera are you using? do you still edit the photos in adobe photoshop? =) i am very interested thanks for sharing