 Alex T. Mizuno |
Photo Laureates contest. Does anybody know? I have been told by "Photo Laureates" that I am one of the finailists in their contest and they are saying that I can buy their album book that publishes my photo. I just would like to check their credential. Does anybody know if this contest is well known and established?
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Actually they are established, and they are well known, but it's for being a waste of time and money. I here you make good shoes.
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Alex T. Mizuno |
Thank you Gregory for your response. I checked them on Google. Yes, seems like they are well known as a scam. I don't make shoes but somebody with my last name makes good money by producing sporting goods. They are well known and established for a legitimate business. I wish Photo Laureates were in the same way too.
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Carol A. Roux |
Hi Alex After they told me I won also, I also got an e-mail saying I was one of 50 photographers of the month. I figured this waas a scam to buy their boo. I entered a poetry contes and sent for the book, never got it. Nor did I ever find a copy in any library including the Library of Congress.
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Angie M. Horner |
Do not get involved with this. Big ripoff!!
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Alex T. Mizuno |
Carol (sorry for the very late reply) and Angie, thank you for your feedbacks. I received invitations from Laureates a couple times after I posted my question here. I'm glad I did not respond to them.
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Kim E. Overton |
I can tell you that I submitted two different photoes -- each one "won" for 2008. So, I entered a third one, all blurry, unfocussed, bad lighting, etc. Guess what? It too, was chosen for publication. Kim
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Carol A. Roux |
I fpund out that they are a Canadian copnany. However in the state BBB it is listed a bad risk. According to the above responses they will award anything a prize. They must be desprite for money, ours. Carol
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Alex T. Mizuno |
Hi Kim and Carol, thank you for your feed back. Your comments made me even more certain that their contest is not genuine. We'd be better off staying away from them.
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Stefanie Sutton |
Thank God I decided to check this photo laurietes thing out. I figured it was a scam (or just crap) when they said that a photo of mine was the best of the month, and I only submitted it a few days ago. ha. and 70 bucks to see a book with my picture in it?- a picture I already have printed? haha
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Alex T. Mizuno |
I'm glad you didn't go for it, Stefanie. Sounds too good to be true or rather sounds fishy, doen's it? $70 for the lousy reproduction? What a rip off!!
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BetterPhoto Member |
I'm glad I found this. I just got an email saying I won. I thought it sounded funny so after a little snooping here I am. Kind of a let down. Sure would be nice to win a real contest. Thanks to you and everyone who replied. Now I know better.
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Alex T. Mizuno |
Hi Jeff, I'm glad you did not fall for this. There are some similar schemes out there to get hopefuls like us. It's good to be careful.
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Michael R. Frattaroli |
My name is mike frattaroli and I to submitted a photo last october and it took three weeks before I got a response. the response said that I would be published in there annual anthology with all of the other finalist. and yes I paid the money for the book and guess what I got last week?????? THE PHOTOGRAPHY VIBES BEST OF EDITION WITH MY PICTURE PUBLISHED IN......... and on the photo laureates web site you can even see the production stages of the books. I to thought it was a scam. But ahh how do you guys think they keep running a contest and publishing book every year if they do not get support from the sales of the annual book?? well I have a newly published book with my picture in it and yes it is from the photo laureates and it took ten month but I have my hard cover book. but I know for sure picture.com is a scam
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Same company, different name. You could have sent in a picture of your foot and they would've told you that you would be published. Nobody said they didn't sale the book. They sale a lot of them. Try out their convention. You might enjoy it. Enjoy your book.
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Troy Criswell |
In response to Michael F. OK I won't go thru the story as I did the same thing and received my boook the other day. To my surprise, my picture was the first one listed in the "nature" section and said I was a featured photographer. After less than 2 minutes, I noticed that my picture was not stitched into the binding, but merely glued to the front page. It was printed on it's own sheet of paper and put in just before it was shipped. You may want to look a little closer at the book you received. If you want to reply to this and tell me if my photo is in your book, please do. Troy Criswell and the picture was "Arizona Sunset". I personally think that was one of the biggest garbage purchases I have ever made. Thanks
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Picture.laureates.com's version of hand crafted.
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Troy Criswell |
I am currently at work checking to see if Mr. Frattaroli responded to my post. Nothing as of yet. I will check the book to see if his picture is in the book I received. I will also post a picture or 2 of the crap I waited 10 months to get and paid for.
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Michael R. Frattaroli |
if you keep looking in the nature section you will find your picture again printed like the rest of the pictures. They personalize your copy with the big picture but the copy every other person gets has your picture printed like the rest.yeah but what i'm saying is that the picture that I sent in is in the book printed just like the rest of the pictures in it. there are no crap pictures in this book all of them are realy good. but let me know if I am wrong and what book is it that you have?
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
If they were so anxious to publish your photo, why didn't they pay you to use your picture? Instead of you paying them?
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Michael R. Frattaroli |
did you know that the united way is a non profit organization but the ceo makes $300,000.00 per year. the point is that companys need to some how have some income to survive. If it is a scam or not they did not. I have the book, the picture is published and I will look tonight for troy criswell and arizona sunset . it is a scam the way I look at it is I am putting a hard coverbook together fo my aunt and it is going to cost $50.00 to print it with apple.com so at the very least I paid for a book! with my picture in it.I just want to add if the scam is the glued picture then why is my picture again in the middle of the chapter with the rest?
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Deb Koskovich |
P.T. Barnum was bang on...
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Troy Criswell |
After now looking through the nature section 5 times, my picture is only printed on the glued crap in the front. I am happy to say that I found Michael F.'s picture. There was another gentleman on another forum that I looked for and his was not in the book either. If you find my picture in your book, please let me know. I am pretty sure that you will not.
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Troy Criswell |
Another thing, I did not ask for the book to be personalized. I wanted my picture to be like everyone elses. If being personalized is nothing more than a printed picture and some glue, I could have done that myself.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Yes, and sometimes you just have let people fall off the cliff. If there's anybody else that comes to this thread, or the several just like it, the edge of the cliff is a right turn. You deserve no sympathy if you can't figure out the other option.
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Odeth Mizuno |
After somebody mentioned that the quality of the photos printed in the book by Photo Laureate is poor, they sent me a sample of a printed page with my photo through email. That sample only proved that the warning was right. So I decided not to go for it. Michael, if they did a decent job for your photo in their book, I guess you're lucky. It's your satisfaction that counts. And I say Congratulations to you.
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Alex T. Mizuno |
The previous comment is actually from me. My wife and I were using the same computer and I forgot to switch back to my account. Sorry for the confusion. Alex
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Donna Rowley |
I'm always very suspicious of someone who seems to become a member just on the same day they post saying "This isn't a scam!". Well I've had no dealings with PL and don't intend to. But a lot of people here think it's a scam, that's good enough for me. And by the way, I checked out their website (Photo Laureates) one day recently - one of their "winning" photos has a totally wonky horizon. Not very impressive for a winner in my humble opinion! The winners here are much more impressive!!
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Troy Criswell |
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Troy Criswell |
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Michael R. Frattaroli |
Well I don't know what to say? my pic is in your book but yours is not in mine? well then I know what the scam is now.. They must only pick certain people to actually go in to the book and glue in the rest in just to sell the book like Troy C said..I guess I just got lucky. That explains why mine was printed twice.
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Aimee C. Eisaman |
It's so sad to see so many scams that take us hard working photographers! Even if we only do it for fun and many a little recognition there are few places to go to really compete! I myself have tried many of those places that try to sell you a book....I never bought and was a bit bummed when they told me I won, but would need to pay for my trophie! LOL! I'm less nieve now and grew a thicker skin since then! I'm happy to have found BP!
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John Warton Warton |
Hello this is John Warton from Photo Laureates. I welcome you on www.thephotochallenge.com where you will see how I evaluate photographs. You will see all my reviews and annotations on all photographs. We also have a brand new live Webinar with hundreds of amateur photographers each week. This is a very exciting call with the community and all learn a lot. It would be my pleasure to have you on the site/call so we discuss about photography. To sceptics: please come and join www.thephotochallenge.com to see how I evaluate photographs. Let us debate photography based on actual concrete reviews. Again, this is a community of amateur photographers so I am not expecting all shots to be publishable on National geographic. I value originality and creativity. I am also pleased to know that we receive dozens of positive testimonials from happy laureates receiving their hard cover manuscript. Here are a few: “John, Thank you so much for this beautiful manuscript. I was amazed by the originality and creativity of other fellow amateur photographers. Joining and interacting with you on the photo challenge as part of monthly contests has been very instructive. Thank you for all!” -- Anna. Mo., Colorado “Laureates Team – Wow, what a nice book! I now display it on our little coffee table and friends and family give me kudos for my nomination. I feel proud to be next to the other nice photographs in this book” – Peter Sa., New York We experimented with a new approach to personalizing books with a full page feature and the vast majority of members are quite happy with it. We will continue to track feedback to see if we continue to personalize with full page features or not. I once again would like to thank the amateur photography community for their participation. My best regards to all – John Warton
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Any testimonials of it being a waste of time and money? Wait a minute, that's right, bout a few hundred.
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Carol A. Roux |
I just love John Warton's letter. So many have been burned, that this letter is in deed a bunch of B+++++++l S******t. As stated before I have checked the library of Congress who has millions of books but not this one. I also checked Canadaian BB and could not find any answer except where are they? I have only seen a few saying they have the book. They have the nerve to say what they do in the aforementioned letter. I'll take the majority against the few.
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David Van Camp |
*IF* what they promise is that winners will be published in a compiliation AND *IF* they promise nothing else AND *IF* all such (notified) winners are indeed published in said compilation (regardless of purchase), then I would not call it a scam. However, the above thread makes the claim that two people ware chosen as winners, both decided to buy the book, but one of those 'winners' photos was not actually printed in the book (both had thier own photo pasted in, but only one's image was actually printed & bound in both copies.) That, if true, IMHO, constitutes a SCAM. Also, if it were to be found that any (other) such notified 'winners' were promised to be published in the book, and were not (whether they opted to buy or not), that, IMHO would constitute a SCAM. SCAM or not, though, as for anyone foolish enough to actually send them any money, someone else already recalled PT Barnum's famous words .... Particularly when one can easily create and purchase a book consisting of however many of thier own pics for the same price or less. And get thier own ISBN for it, if they so choose! And put it up for sale. And, maybe even find someone who might actually buy it! Heck, maybe even send it to a real publisher and get it REALLY published :D dvc
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Donna Rowley |
I rest my case from my previous point - he registers on the same day he tells us all it's not a scam.John Warton Warton (so good he's named himself twice) will not get a welcome to this site from me.
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James Donohue |
Be aware of photolaureates.org. Unfortunately I was a victim of a clever and money making scam. These are facts that have happened to me, I have kept all evidence and can uphold my claims with living proof. After a brief search throughout the web, I found photolaureates.org . Happy with my find, I signed up and entered an very nice photo that I took while in Brazil. A few weeks later I receive an email congratulating me and informing that I was chosen as a finalist in the 2008 photography competition. With all the hype in this email, I sent in a high resolution final for the book that was supposedly going to be published in. One this was done, I received an email with options to pay for an award plaque, and pay more for a larger photo and biography. I did so, spending a total of about $ 160.00 for 1 large photo, 1 book (2008 photography awards) and 1 customized biography. Once this was done, I was asked to wait from November 2007 all the way until April of 2008 to receive my award and the 2008 published book. So far, so good! Finally after waiting even longer than the announced time, my package finally arrived on July, 10 of 2008. I was so happy, but puzzled when I opened the package. Nothing in the package was from photolaureates.org, it was all from a place called “Photography Vibes – best of edition” but miraculously was exactly to the “T” of what I ordered from photolaureates.org. At the moment I brushed it off and went my merry way. When I pulled out the award to show everyone, at first everyone was impressed, I was too!! But then one of my friend pointed out and said “Strange, I didn’t know that Snoop Dog and Notorious B.I.G. were into photography”, to which I replied, “what??”. At this point everything started to go downhill, and show the true colors of what was really going on. To my shock, embarrassment and disbelief, I saw my award signed by “Calvin Broadus, Director” and “Christopher Wallace, Coordinator”. Do those names ring any bells?? So, naturally, I went online to check this all out, sure enough, I came across 10 forums of people all saying the same thing… it’s a SCAM!!! At one point someone mentioned that they fell for it too, and when they figured it out, they saw that the page that was in the book was GLUED to another page at the binding. As curiosity got the best of me, I looked at my book, and sure enough, my photo was glued into the book as well. At this point I was furious and needed to tell people about this. How can someone claim to be something wonderful, then turn around and make money off some ones biggest dreams and turn these dreams into ashes by faking everything and sending out a load of crap. MAY EVERYONE BE WARNED - THIS IS A SCAM - THESE PEOPLE ARE CROOKS!!!
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Sherry Hogeland |
Just wanted to say I am so glad I found this page as I too had been told I was a winner only like one day after I entered my picture. I had some reservations at first but however the more I thought about seeing my pic published the more I dismissed the reservations.I had replied to my second email from them telling them I was interested but would have to wait til after the first of the year to purchase the book. They replied quickly letting me know they have reserved my copy. Which I have now replied to them that I will be declining the offer. Thank you all so very much for the info that saved me $70 bucks! God Bless and Merry Christmas
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Remi Trepanier |
Haha! you can look a the other contest winner and you realise this is not true!
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Phyllis K. Cholewinski |
I sure wish I had found this thread before I sent them $114.00 last week. I am now concerned that they have my credit card number. Has anyone had a problem with overcharges on their card? I am freaking out now.
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Alex T. Mizuno |
Hi Phyllis, Don't believe in the validity of their contest. Seems like they do publish your photo but with a quality that does not make you proud. So far I have not heard of overcharging, but if that happens, I'd bring the case to places like Better Business Bureau and National Association of Consumer Advocates. I suggest that you should check reputation of any contest online before you enter. There are so many scam artists out there.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Never heard of any over charging, and I don't believe that they will. You might get an increase in junk mail of similar sites and contest. However, do expect to wait a long time for your book, along with publications dates to be pushed back. Their objective is to wait until they feel they get enough orders, then send the book. If order numbers aren't as many by whatever date they first give you(say it's 6 weeks), then they'll just do something like add a few more weeks. When orders are high enough, they'll send it. You may start to think that it's a take the money and run thing, but people do eventually get a book.
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Phyllis K. Cholewinski |
Thanks guys for the heads up and info. I truly appreciate your help
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Christopher B. Smyth |
Boulevard of photographers, picture .com, photo lauretes and no idea who else are what you call legal scams I think. Yeah they want us to buy the book they publish our image in. I had this with picture .com and they publish any image,seems everyone is a finalist. Plus the images are quite small. Waste of money. My understanding is if a publisher wants to publish my image , I give them permission and they pay me
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