Celebrating with a Lensbaby Giveaway!

  • by Michael Zhang on August 28, 2009
  • Share
 

Update: This giveaway is now over. The winner has been randomly selected and announced here. Thanks for entering everyone!

If you follow us on twitter (@petapixel), you might have heard already, but we just passed 10,000 followers. Huzzah!

This blog is about four months old, so I’m definitely surprised at how far it has come in just one summer. Thank you all for reading and following us on Twitter.

To celebrate this big milestone, I’m going to be giving away a Lensbaby Composer lens and a Creative Aperture Kit. This combined package is worth $280. I probably don’t need to tell you much more about this lens. It’s Lensbaby.

composer

To enter this giveaway, simply answer the following question:

What is your favorite childhood memory?

As usual, there’s two ways to enter, and you can use both ways to double your chances.

  1. Leave your response as a comment on this PetaPixel.com post
  2. Tweet your response, and include the following link to this post anywhere in the tweet: http://bit.ly/pplbby

    If the link appears in your tweet, then our little giveaway elf will automatically find it and count it as an entry. If you don’t include the link, then our elf won’t be able to find it and it won’t be counted.

The deadline for getting your answer to us is the evening of Saturday, September 5th, 2009. We’ll be randomly selecting an entry using random.org.

Good luck!

Update: Some of you have been asking whether people outside the United States can enter. The answer is yes. The lens can be shipped internationally. Good luck!

Disclosure: Lensbaby is currently a sponsor of PetaPixel.

Share This Post

  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • MySpace
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Twitter

Related Posts

«
»
 
  • edbroberg
    I was 9 years old and convinced my folks to let me use a camera. I knew it only took 12 shots since it was a 120 twin reflex camera. I kept going back to them to get the film changed. They would never let me learn how to change the film, always saying it was to hard. After our trip I kept asking about when the lab would be done with my images. A month goes by and I go to my mom very concerned about the lab loosing my images. Turns out that they never put film in the camera. I was crushed, but it never happened again... Little did they both know how important photography was to me, but trust me they both knew after that day. 7 years later I sold my first image.
  • I don't know if im too late, but my favorite childhood memory was when my older brother taught me how to ride a bike. He just took me up on top of a hill and said "Pedal!" and pushed me down it! I learned pretty fast. Haha
  • afroed
    No I missed it. This is my first post here so I guess I'll contribute to the moment.

    My favorite memory about those nights where the whole family spent time hanging around on the rooftop looking at the stars and talking about life. I'm usually the only kid around and I got to hear things that I should have never heard off

    By the way, wonderful website. It's been extremely resourceful in my quest to become a photographer
  • Riding around on my bike with my little poodle in the front basket. As an only child she was my best friend - we travelled the world (our little world) together on that green bike! Sweet memories :D
  • Lazy summer days, when you didn't have to get up early (but you did anyway), didn't have to do anything really (but you did anyway), and just not a care in the world. No deadlines, bills, pressure - just the joy of being a kid, with unlimited possibilities for each summer day.
    If only we could recognize and appreciate those days while they were happening...
  • cooking with my great aunt and sleeping over at my grandparents!
  • LilBearMe
    Hope I'm not too late! My fave memory is baking with my family for Christmas. Loved the smell of fresh-baked cookies and Swedish bread! Still love it...it means home and love and all things great! Thanks for this giveaway!!
    ~Lilbear
  • llywellyn
    Scrabbling over dirt mounds to help my father excavate an old churchyard in central Texas, my trusty, plastic "archaeologist's kit"—courtesy of my mother—at my side, the cheap magnifying glass helping me pick out arrowheads from the rabble.
  • I have many childhood memories but one of my best is being at my grandmother house when she bake Ginger bread. Oh my goodness, the smell of hot Ginger Bread with melted butter is sooo good! She made it all from scratch.
  • gregorymadden
    going to subway like almost every day with my best friend, and going to the movies almost every day during summer break
  • My favorite memory was when I was walking my way home from school and I saw my childhood friend running towards me. He was screaming family computer, you're dad bought you a family computer (Nindendo). Right there I thought I was dreaming. We were an average family in Philippines and to be given a Nintendo family computer for a gift was merely a dream for most kids my age. To show how rare this console was. The next day in school, ithe entire school knew me by name and they all wanted to be my friend. LoL.

    I'll never forget that. I wish my dad took a photo of me while I opened the box of that console. :p
  • Favorite childhood memory, would probably be from our summer vacations to Maine. In York, there's a place called The Golden Rod, where you can watch the machines make salt water taffy, and hand pick your flavors to fill a box. Then we'd head across the street, where the Fun O'Rama is right on the beach, and we'd play carnival style games until late into the night, with the sounds of waves crashing, mingled with 'dings' and 'clangs', and other game machine noises. Great times. Need to make it back east and take MY kids now...
  • My favorite childhood memory is of when I was 6 years old. It was the first time I had taken a picture and it was while I was out cross country skiing with my dad. I still have that photo and the cherished memories it holds. That day lives strong in my heart and has led me to my lifelong passion of photography.
  • cjphotography
    My favorite memory is of my Dad making pancakes every Sunday morning. I would wake up to the smell of him cooking, and playing Bob Seger (which he also did every Sunday) and run into the kitchen to help stir. The smell of pancakes still makes me smile.
  • cjphotography
    .
  • aphotolady
    Making my own little city with the fall leaves that had fallen. You know, marking out little homes and streets.........then raking up all the leaves into a big pile...and ...well you know the diving into the pile routine!
  • When I was 4, remember my parents coming back home to tell me I had a new baby brother.
  • One of my favorite childhood memories is the feeling of bringing my pillow outside, lying on the driveway and staring at clouds. I used to have a wild imagination and was often told I "livd in my own world." http://bit.ly/pplbby
  • My favorite childhood memory is homemade ice cream on a VERY HOT 4th of July after shooting off fireworks in the back yard at my Grandfathers house in the midwest
  • Frances
    My favorite childhood memory was going on a roadtrip to Disney World with my parents and grandmother. When we got there I was so excited to see Disney characters, and with my small arms I gave big hugs to Minnie and Mickey in the park.
  • congrats on your 10K followers!
  • Playing hide-n-go-seek on horseback with my dad...under a full moon. We loved to go riding when the Texas moon was full. That big sky would glow and give a wonderful reflection atop the trees and hills. One of us would dart off the trail. The other would circle around in a search and find mission. The horses could find their way pretty easily and I think they enjoyed the game as much as my father and I.
  • My favorite childhood memory was, as cliche as it sounds, the Christmas morning when I received my first dollhouse. Like many families around the world, Christmas was riddled with tradition and excitement starting all the way back in November. I'd always wanted a dollhouse, but until that year, my family hadn't been able to afford it. I woke up on Christmas morning to the smell of my dad's wassail and the sound of the logs snapping in the fireplace, and wandered sleepy eyed into the living room. The only illumination came from the fireplace and the tree lights, strings upon strings of tiny bulbs glowing like a village of elves lived inside. And there under the tree, without the ribbons or the paper, sat my dollhouse. My pink and white dollhouse, with a little plastic family smiling from inside. That was my favorite Christmas and probably always will be.
  • My favorite childhood memory would have to be...
    Road tripping with my family up to a massive beach in the North Island of New Zealand. The beach is considered a road so we drove down it. At a certain point we came across a dead shark which was actually really beautiful. I was really young and my mum had expressed a great desire to get the sharks jaw and skull. So as they set up the picnic for lunch I set about cutting the head off the shark. It was a long, and really gross task. But I did it! My mum wrapped it up and took it home and she now has this amazing sharks jaw. I have never done anything so ruthless and can't imagine me doing that nowdays.
  • My favorite memory as a child every sunday riding my bike into the city with my dad for tennis coaching. In those days every sunday morning the golfers would be playing golf early in the morning and as a young girl riding past would innocently yell out four as they went to hit the ball and my dad would disown me.
  • Dennislopez74
    My favorite memory is going home right after school to watch my favorite cartoons , G.I. Joe , He-Man , Transformers , Silverhawks , Thundercats with a big bowl of Captain Crunch of course.
  • Syn
    Favourite childhood memory? Crewing the high-budget fireworks night at school. Explosives! Crawling through vents! Excellent.
  • One of my favorite memories is of listening to my father and his two brothers talking about their childhood in northeast Tennessee while sitting on the porch at my grandmother's house in Florida.

    My father talked about how, when was a teenager, he would skip school and take my grandfather's car joyriding all day. My grandfather caught on, and began taking parts off the car in the morning to keep it from being driven. Dad bought spare parts, and hid them, installing them on the car for his joyriding. Then grandpa began chaining the car to the fencepost. Dad modified the fence posts so he could still free the car for his joyriding. The last phase of this back-and-forth ritual was when grandpa started chaining the car to a tree in the yard. Dad found a chain link he could insert that allowed him to open the chain at will. By then, the whole town was talking about the crazy old man that was chaining his car to a tree!

    They're all gone now, but the memories of those stories still live with me.
  • I have very fond memories of spending summers at my grandparents and helping stack the wood in the basement so we could stay warm over the winter.
  • mikemorgan
    My favorite childhood memory is a very difficult (for me, at the time) hike to a spot called "the knob" atop of Massanutten mountain, and the breathtaking view of the Shenendoah Valley from there. Photo of the "Duncan's Knob" (not mine) from the web: http://www.midatlantichikes.com/dk09-8.jpg
  • Playing the NES submarine warfare game "Silent Service" with my father. The midi-esque theme song is forever stuck in my head!
  • One of many: Picking apple's in the garden and pulling them around in my toy truck.
  • Favorite memory... learning how to catch shrimp at night with a flashlight off a pier when I was 8 in Lopez Island, WA.
  • Mykal Burns
    Favorite childhood memory: My dad took me to my first rock concert when I was 10-years-old (1980.) We saw Elton John at the Forum in Los Angeles. Tickets were only $15...for two ($7.50/each!) Nearly 30 years later, I even still remember the opening act was Judy Tzuke. I clearly remember the bearded biker-dude in front of us shouting at her, "Get off the stage. You suck!" Ha. Elton John was great. I've since seen hundreds (and hundreds) of concerts, including Elton 56 more times.
  • My best childhood memory is waking up in a hotel room to find all of the Christmas presents on Christmas morning. Every year the family would pack up and drive 6 hours to the beach, stay at the same hotel, see all the same people. But, the best part of that Christmas vacation was waking up in the hotel room, the salty smell of the ocean hitting my nose making me remember I wasn't in my room at home before I could even open my eyes and realizing that there were presents on the floor of the room (that weren't there when I went to bed). Best Christmas(es) ever.
  • Laura Bush
    Climbing a tree and reading a book for the whole afternoon!
  • dizzygirl
    My favorite childhood memory was catching lightning bugs in jelly jars with my brother and finding night crawlers for fishing and putting them in old coffee cans with dirt. We did this every summer that I can remember growing up. I was quite the tomboy.
  • Gardenwife
    My favorite childhood memory? Sitting with grandparents on porch at twilight, watching birds in the trees and at the feeders, learning their calls & their names. They made me appreciate the world around me, even those little things. http://bit.ly/pplbby
  • Guest
    My favorite childhood memory? Sitting with grandparents on porch at twilight, watching birds in the trees and at the feeders, learning their calls & their names. They made me appreciate the world around me, even those little things. http://bit.ly/pplbby
  • colato
    I remember when I went to a soccer match. I was about 7 and the stadium was so crowded that you almost couldn't find a place to sit. Here in Brazil, when you're about this age you could go inside the field with the soccer players. It was amazing to hear more than 30.000 people shouting the name of your team. It was unbelievable!!!
  • patrickahles
    My favorite childhood memory is visiting the cinema for the first time, aged 10, after an appendectomy.
  • My favorite childhood memory is sitting at my great-grandmother's table after school tracing the carvings in the chairs with my fingers.
  • Nimish Gogri
    definitely want one!
  • Visiting Egypt and seeing the Pyramids and the Sphynx in person
  • One of my favorite childhood memories is the first time i saw a Ferris Wheel. It was soo huge and although i was afraid to ride on it at first, once i got up, I was so happy. Definitely one of my happiest memories.
  • johnko
    building a secret fort in the backyard of my friends house, which also happened to be the backyard of a PG&E office building.
  • My favorite childhood memory; sitting on the lawn at 2 in the morning watching the stars, full of dreams & aspirations. (Then I grew up :o/ )
  • My favorite childhood memory is when we went fishing and my Uncle told me to use a empty toilet paper roll to call the fish! I caught the biggest fish all weekend long!
  • It's hard to choose just one favorite childhood memory, but it would probably be racing down a mountainside outside Albuquerque, NM, with my cousins who lived there. We weren't bothering with roads, just taking the most direct route down, through yards and gullies and down "cliffs" (that were probably at most three feet high). Then, when we got to the bottom, we realized we had no idea how to get back up to their house, so we walked for nearly an hour before we found the road that led up to their neighborhood. Lots of excitement that day, both on the trip down and when we returned to frantic parents O.o
  • There are so many, but one would have to be spending the holidays on Nana and Pop's farm - bottom of the south island of New Zealand. Chasing the sheep, playing with the dogs, swinging on the big (probably actually weren't that big!) swings...
  • Absolutely loved my first trip to Niagara Falls!!
  • peterhowell
    I already have a image in my mind of the triptych I'd make with a lensbaby. Man those look like fun. http://bit.ly/pplbby
  • One of my favorite childhood memories was sneaking around industrial offices and buildings with crazy daring friends. http://bit.ly/pplbby
  • Drkev
    My favorite childhood memory is a trip to the mountain side with my parents in the winter. I remember it was snowing very much and everything was covered in snow.
  • Smoogylady
    One of my favourite childhood memories has to be when our father took us to Australia for Christmas. I had always associated Christmas & Winter as hand in hand so it blew my mind when Christmas dinner was cooked over the BBQ while we opened presents and pulled crackers. A memory I shall cherish.
  • When my dad would take my family to Lake Powell in the new boat, a green aluminum boat. This is back in the days when I had to wear a yucky orange life jacket and you would not see another boat for hours. Those were the days.
  • Bill C
    I was perhaps 2-3 years old. We had returned late at night from a family trip and I remember my father picking me up and carrying me into the house. Half-awake as he took me out of the car, I remember looking up at the stars, which were absolutely brilliant. Coupled with the sensation of floating and security, it formed an impression I've never forgotten.
  • Favorite childhood memory is playing with my new Batmobile + Batman and my Dad playing with my new Joker toy and having battles and things. It was while we lived in Epsom, the only details I remember are that it was on a hill and it was sunny.
  • jasondrumm
    Favorite Childhood Memory: Climbing massive pine trees with my bro in our backyard, pretending we had machine guns. Ha! http://bit.ly/pplbby
  • I was new to reading. Making out words was easier than knowing what things were called. The words in-between names for actual things were hard. I was also learning to count...mostly stars. That night I sat on the wide window ledge in my parents' bedroom and named each star with a word I remembered from a book. In South Vietnam the windows in most homes had shutters but no glass like here. The sky was full of stars that night. "until... now... till... then... every... bit... so... often... and... time... times... time..."
  • Favorite childhood memory was climbing our apricot tree in our backyard and eating its fruit.
  • toffiloff
    My favorite childhood memory is going to the States as a 9-year old, and seeing Ghostbusters tear it up!
  • iShoot1st
    My most favorite childhood memory would have to be receiving my Kodak 110 camera. http://bit.ly/pplbby
  • DoctorTom
    Extremely hard to think of ONE favorite childhood memory. How 'bout this: Sunday evenings sitting in front of the only TV in the house (B & W) and waiting for "The Wonderful World of Disney" to come on... and jostling with my brothers and sister for the best seat in the family room.
  • pinlux
    my favorite childhood memory is when my 4th grade teacher brought me half a dozen books on photography from the library because she saw that I loved to take pictures all the time. She knew that I loved photography before I did.
  • snax06
    Watching lighting exploding over the house, whilst hiding in the garage from the heaviest rain ever!
  • It would have to be the day I arrived in the States for the first time. I was 8 years old and for the first time I saw people of every color; people with blue eyes, green eyes, red hair, yellow hair. It was like opening my eyes for the first time. =)
  • I won two awards at my eighth grade graduation. I was so proud, but sad because my dad missed it :-( he was on his way home from a trip as a truck driver and missed it by just a couple hours. He felt bad too. He had to leave early the next morning for another trip to Los Angeles this time. To make up for missing my graduation, he offered to take me with him. I have never changed out of a long gown into jeans so fast in my life (and we weren't leaving until morning)! I had the best time. Eating at truck stops, watching the VW bugs disappear "under" my dad's cab-over in LA traffic.
  • Playing piano duets with my sister, who was 7 years older than me, on one Sunday morning http://bit.ly/pplbby There were lots of wrong notes which made us laugh our socks off. Much jollity and affection. My sister died 16 years ago, so the memory is bittersweet.
  • luizferreira
    Sailing a "plastic bottle boat" and feeling myself a conqueror of the seas
  • Dis
    Definitely a family trip to CT to visit grandparents for Christmas. Huge farmhouse, skating pond (although I was too young), giant fireplaces.

    I don't miss the hours in the car from DC though.
  • my favorite childhood memory is from when I was 4 years old and living in Rockford, Ill, and building igloos in the front yard with my dad!
  • A favorite childhood memory was working back stage on the 2 performances in middle school. I loved it, being with friends being on(back)stage, entertaining people. All the tech the wires, and mics, and soundboard and lights(which were far from tech heheheh)

    Jake
  • robknightphoto
    I remember playing baseball with my Grand-dad in his back yard. If I hit the ball into the woods he would always say that I hit the ball into the "boondocks". My mom recently gave me a DVD that she had made of some old 8mm film... one scene shows me and my Grand-dad in his old back yard. He passed away many years ago, and it was wonderful to find this old footage.
  • HopperTSQ
    Taking my first pictures, at the time with a somewhat crappy Kodak Instamatic 33 and holding the developed pictures in my hands afterwards. Got me hooked to photography
  • HopperTSQ
    Taking my first pictures, at the time with a somewhat crappy Kodak Instamatic 33 and holding the developed pictures in my hands afterwards. Got me hooked to photography
  • Favorite childhood memory: 7 or 8 yrs old - Exploring Mt. Tabor with my friends on a rainy Fall day in Portland, OR
  • A favorite childhood memory was spending time at my grandparents' house. My sister and I would spend countless numbers of hours roaming the neighborhood on our bikes and hanging out at the playground. For a treat, our grandma would drive us across town to the one place that served chocolate/vanilla twist soft-serve ice cream.
  • My favourite is my dad taking me to the zoo - I was about 5. He was holding my hand, looked down and said "Your hands are always as warm as toast" He was gone not long after and that's one of the few memories I hold to this day.
  • Riding by bike as fast as I could with no worries over the long summer!
  • rhondaholcomb
    My favorite childhood memory is catching fireflies during hot Texas' summers with neighborhood friends.
  • kyleburgess
    My mom would help me make volcanoes by combining vinegar, baking soda and red food dye and letting it fizz up through a cone. All my friends knew if they came over to visit, they would always get to make one too.
  • Helping my Dad around the farm, and helping my Grandmother in her garden. I have the best family ever!
  • There was this time when my family bought a house and we were painting it, I ended white-painted al my body using the paintroller trying to paint a single part of a wall. Nice memories. http://bit.ly/pplbby
  • My favorite childhood memory is from the winter that my mom married my stepdad. Not long after the wedding, we got a LOT of snow. And my stepdad acquired an old car hood, which he hooked to a small tractor with some chains. Then he spent hours pulling me and my new step-siblings up and down our (really long) driveway on that car hood. It was like sledding on steroids, and so awesome when he'd swing around the corner and we'd fly off into a snow drift.
  • Photomama
    @petapixel spending time with my grandparents on the farm Instructions here: http://bit.ly/sHGMs
    less than 5 seconds ago from web
  • Seeing a polaroid photo of myself at 5. It was amazing and got me hooked on photography.
  • Christmas! It was always hectic as we ran from house to house visiting relatives, but always so much fun.
  • My favorite childhood memory: staring at a huge pile of burning Christmas trees in the dark, being 6 and mesmerized. Today I like to relight the fire in people as a coach and photograph the effect :-)
  • Imad M
    Going to the beach to watch the sun set with my family. We'd sit on the rocks and watch the boats go by as the sky and water turned orange and red.
  • Peter Wong
    Falling into a manhole (sewers) while walking with my mom. I think this happened when I was 4 or 5. The manhole for some reason wasn't very deep so I didn't get hurt.
  • rhiannon
    I think my favorite childhood memory is being in my grandmothers garden when I was about 5 or 6. All the seasons are jumbled in my head I see lots of flowers that couldn't be there at the same time, but it is always happy and beautiful.
  • I remember setting up a mock radio station in my parents bedroom. I would make playlists, run fake commercials and talk in the weird top 40 radio voice.
  • My favorite childhood memory was the spontaneous road trips that my dad would decide to take with the family. I remember waking up one morning and my dad was like "Let's drive to Disneyworld" and we just took off and left on an 8 hour drive to spend a weekend there with our family.
  • Climbing sand dunes over at my uncles place on the beach. They were so high!
  • Building a sandcastle at the beach with my dad and brother, then watching as the tide came in and swept it away. If I close my eyes I can feel the sun, smell the sea, hear the waves.
  • My favorite childhood memory is very difficult to say. Maybe it was when my mom took my bedroom door off it's hinges because she told me not to close it and i did anyways......or when I hit a sports car in the car lot the day i was going testdriving for a new vehicle...
  • My favorite memory from childhood is without a doubt the next day after Christmas, the day when we'd found the gifts and spent all day using them. Riding a new bike, playing a new video game... oh joy :P
  • pentaxfan
    The one thing as a child that stands out as one of the very best an happiest is one Christmas our family was struggling as usual, my Father was no longer with us so it was my Mother and 6 of us kids left to fend for ourselves. Somehow on Christmas Morning there under the tree was a huge pile of presents. Santa had surely been to my house, Oh My what a morning! I looked under the tree and there were some big items that had been left out and not wrapped, I spotted my gift of all gifts!!! It was a castle with a drawbridge, knights and all the kings men on foot and horseback ready to defend it to no end. I was so excited (ADHD-Who Knew?) and had to play. Yes I am smiling as I remember that one Christmas that Santa came through for my family. I think that was the year I got a doll for Christmas, I was used to playing with trucks and tractors because that is what little boys do! Thanks for helping to bring back a memory from years ago! Kelly.
  • You know, it's difficult to lift a "favourite" memory out of a happy childhood. But let's say it was the summer vacations time, traveling with my parents in an old trusty car, sleeping on the backseat to the familiar engine sound (I can still pick out that sound from hundreds of meters away, not that there is many such cars left operational), awakening to a new place outside, sleeping in a tent, absorbing sounds, colours, smells...
blog comments powered by Disqus