National Talent Search

To kick off the latest phase of our Talent Empowerment Program ^TM, we are holding a nationwide Empowering Talent Search ^TM looking for the top five to ten undiscovered Photo Artists in the country to lead the way as examples of what artists can accomplish with the right education and support.

We're opening this up to ONLY 1,000 artists nationwide!

We're only running this until the 8th of December, so get in Now!

Our winners will receive:

International Publicity through our global Alliance network

Educational Training and Support: Learn how to make a living from your art, whether you want to start a business or simply have others sell your art so you can spend your time doing what you love.

Opportunities to partner with our organization/affiliates to promote your art
Possible surprise bonuses, such as cash prizes

Everyone Wins Something! - ALL Participants Will Receive:

A FREE evaluation of their work
A FREE Class

The Simple Process:

Submit a High Quality photo/image of or link to your best single piece of Photo Art (Step 1), along with the Entry Fee (Step 2) at the bottom of this page.
If you are selected to be a finalist, (100 or less will be selected); we will contact you before January 8^th for a link to your other portfolio selections. (see details below)

Requirements:

Entry Fee:
The cost is only $20 to enter! We want this to be an equal opportunity program and don't believe a lack of money should hold anyone back.
Qualifications and Terms:
- By Un-discovered we mean that the artist must be making less than $10,000/year from his/her art.
- Photo Art means art made from one or more photos, including digital editing/FX.
  - Art is creative expression. We don't care how you made it (as long as no one was harmed of course), we care that it looks good AND conveys something positive.
  - We do mean Creative! This means that you can't just go outside and take a photo of your friend standing at attention, turn it blue, and submit it as art. Anyone with a free photo editing program can do that! That's NOT creative expression!
    
    Be different, express yourself. If you photograph a model, and he/she looks bored to death, you need to learn what art really is: not just to you, but to the person who wants to buy art!
  - For examples, visit our Talent Empowerment Group^TM here and review our Favorites page, specifically the "Featured" and "Photo or Digital Art" Collections.
  - Positive: uplifting, inspiring, impressive, enjoyable, lovely to look at...
    - that means nothing that is dark, dreary and looks like it came out of a horror movie
    - that also means nothing bland, dull, stale and insignificant
- "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder", not your mind.
  - If you don't know in your heart if your art qualifies and is worth selling, ask people if they enjoy it and would like to buy it. Post it online and get feedback. Not only will you get people's perspective, but you might find a buyer! If only the rest of life could be so easy, eh? :)
- Submission and Portfolio:
  - You are required to submit either a JPG/PNG format photo/image or link to such for the first submission, and if you are selected as a finalist we will want to see a Portfolio of 5 (no more) of your best pieces of art. Your portfolio can have more than that, but specifically send us links to only the top 5.
    
    We recommend that you scan in the piece or send us a digital image from the original. If you only have the printed forms, then you will have to take a photo.
    
    These photos/images must be high quality, as color accurate (true to real life) as you can manage, well lit and detailed. This means include the entire piece in the photo/image and make sure it is taken close enough to clearly see the details of the work as if we were there, also making sure that any lighting you use does not interfere with viewing the detail of the piece.
    
    If it is large and including the entire piece in one photo/image does not give enough detail, we suggest taking a series of shots of sections which together cover the entire piece, and include them with one showing the full work.

(Scroll Down To Submit an Entry)

Where there's a will, there's a way - Common Issues and Their Solutions:

Don't have, or know where to create, an Online Portfolio? We use and recommend DeviantArt.com and Facebook.
- If you are a real artist, you should have multiple examples of your work. Post High Quality photos/digital copies of your art on a portfolio online. You or someone you know should be able to accomplish this quickly and easily.
- Pros and Cons:
  - Facebook is fastest for creating a portfolio. With FB you can bulk upload multiple images at once. DA only allows one at a time.
  - DeviantArt requires that you give details about each piece, while on FB it is optional.
  - FB allows you to share what you do with anyone anywhere who has an account, which tens of millions of people globally do.
  - With DA you can sell your art right from your profile! On FB you can share photos of what you do but you have to sell from another site.
  - Bonus: you can use these sites to not only display, but also sell your art!
Don't know how?

If you were born and raised in a time when computers were not widely used and consequently never learned to deal with computers: there are professionals, such as photographers, who should be able to help you. You probably also have plenty of relatives, friends or local high school/college students who are studying or have already learned these things, who would be happy to help you. Ask around, ask other local/online professional photographers and artists if they can either help or recommend someone.

The right (experienced) person can help you do this very quickly and easily, and at worst (taking pictures with a camera and uploading them on a dial-up internet connection) it should only take half-an-hour Maximum.
Don't have the money? Find a sponsor!

Where there is a will, there is a way. If you don't have the money and you're a good artist, it shouldn't be a problem for you to find someone (or a business/organization) who likes your art and would be willing to sponsor you.

Who enjoys your work? Ask them to sponsor you or offer to trade/discount them a piece of art for the money to enter this talent search. Haven't shown anyone your work? Get on a social web site, post a photo of your work and ask for sponsors. Take your best piece with you to a local business and ask them to sponsor you. Offer to write a public thank-you latter and submit it to the local paper (and follow through on that offer if it is accepted).

If your work is good, you will find someone willing to help. If you don't believe in yourself enough to do what it takes, you're not ready for the success you desire and we suggest contacting us for Personal Empowerment Coaching.
Know of a good artist you would like to see successfully making a good living doing what they love? Sponsor them!

We have heard from many people that so-and-so is an awesome artist and we should check him/her out. We don't have the funding to afford the time to hunt down your favorite artist and see whether or not you're just saying that because he/she is a friend, relative or lover.

If you believe in this artist, sponsor them! Get them to send us a photo of their work, and we will finally have the money to afford the time to check out your artist without having to hunt the person down and convince them that their art is worth someone looking at, and then see if their work is unique and quality enough to be worth considering for our program (assuming they are even interested and trainable enough to work with to help create an income with their art).