In my case, the mood of William Shakespeare reminds me of spring. In a humorous and lyrical way he would create and capture the essence of the spring season.

With the emotional change of the beautiful aspects of spring he would emphasize his feelings and fears. Shakespeare would imply everything we understand about the seasons of the year in our lives and the phenomena of spring.

It is the effect of what we have seen, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt internally that brings the SPRING season to life. So now is your turn to share with us the images of your spring memories.

If you are looking for more spring inspirations click here.

Martin Helmrich - Fotolia.com

Yuri Arcurs - Fotolia.com

• Open a Free Fotolia account http://www.fotolia.com
  
• Open your QuarkXPress 7 software or download a free trial from here.
  
• Create the best magazine (A4) and banner ad (120x600) in JPEG or PDF format using Fotolia images and QuarkXPress software.
  
• Submit your entry to contest@fotolia.com before May 9, 2008.

We look forward to seeing your designs!

"Unleash Your Creativity" (the "Design Contest") with the first-ever design contest co-sponsored by Fotolia and Quark (the "Sponsors"). Combining the imagination of Fotolia images and the creative power of QuarkXPress® 7 software, you - the designer - have the opportunity to promote your passion for design, creative skill, and even win $5000 in cash and prizes - and build your portfolio - by designing the next generation of Fotolia advertisements.

Unleash your creative genius, free your mind from focus groups, market research, red tape and corporate egos. Take your skills to the next level and create an advertisement that will impress your peers and inspire the stock photography industry.

What does the next generation of Fotolia Web and magazine advertising look like? Capture our essence and you can win $5000 in cash and prizes - and have your work featured both online and in print publications worldwide as Fotolia's new advertising campaign!

Here's how to enter

Simply use Fotolia images and QuarkXPress 7 software to create a magazine ad in A4 size at 300 DPI and a banner ad at 120x600 pixels in JPEG or PDF format and submit both files to contest@fotolia.com before May 9, 2008 12:01 AM EST. All entrants must agree to and comply with "Contest Rules and Regulations" as outlined below. Make sure to include your Fotolia login name and contact info.

We encourage all entrants to review the Fotolia and Quark websites to understand who we are as companies but we give complete creative control over to you.

Prizes

Grand Prize: The winning designer will receive an approximate retail value (“ARV”) of $5000 (USD) in cash and prizes. In addition the winning design will be used in Fotolia’s global advertising campaigns.

Important Dates to Remember

Entrants may submit designs from March 14, 2008 to May 9, 2008 12:01 AM EST.

The Winner will be announced May 20, 2008 at the How Design Conference in Boston, MA (The HOW Conference is a leading industry event focused entirely around professional graphic designers. click here to learn more)

Contest Rules and Regulations

ELIGIBILITY

Void where prohibited. You must be 18 years or older to enter the Design Contest to win prizes. Fotolia is acting as the “Design Contest” administrator for itself and Quark. This contest is not open to employees of Fotolia.com LLC, or Quark Inc., their Partners, Sponsors or members of their household. No purchase necessary to enter. By entering the “Design Contest” the entrant agrees to the terms and conditions of this contest.

ENTRIES:

Entrants in the “Design Contest” must use Fotolia images and QuarkXPress software to create their entries. Entries must use copyright-free and royalty-free images. If entrant does not own QuarkXPress software and is not willing to or unable to purchase said software, a free 30-day, fully functional download is available at: http://www.quark.com/products/xpress/evaluate/demos.html

The “Design Contest” will accept one design per entrant per contest term, a maximum of three entrants per organization per contest term. Multiple people may collaborate on an entry (so long as all meet the eligibility requirements stated above), however, only a single person may submit an entry and the prize will only be awarded to that person. Sponsors are not responsible for any decisions regarding re-distribution of prize money within a team. Entries will be accepted starting March, 14, 2008 12:00 AM EST until May 9, 2008 12:01 AM EST. Entries may be submitted by sending an email to Contests@fotolia.com and must accept the Terms and Conditions of this contest. All entries must include a high resolution PDF or JPEG of your Ad in A4 format at least 300 DPI plus a banner ad at least 120 x 600 pixels. All eligible entries will be reviewed based on the criteria listed below, each to be weighted equally. Each entry will be scored on its own rating sheet based on how well it meets the criteria of design excellence described below.

The entry which in the judge’s sole opinion best meets the criteria listed below will be named the Grand Prize Winner of the “Design Contest”.

• Basic Requirements: does the design meet the basic requirements, A4 size at 300 dpi, PDF or JPG file format, using Fotolia images and QuarkXPress 7 software to create the design?
• Innovation: is the design new and unique?
• Aesthetics: how does the design enhance the emotional appeal of the advertisement?
• Technical skill: how much technical skill was required to create the design?
• Quark Software: how strong does this design showcase the power of the QuarkXPress 7 software?
• Fotolia images: how well does this design portray the vast collection of Fotolia’s creative images?
• Marketability: How strong does this design appeal to the intended market of graphic artists, designers, art directors, and advertising agencies?

JUDGING:

Entries will be judged by a panel of the Sponsors. The judges reserve the right to disqualify an entry if in their sole opinion the design does not meet the minimum qualifications.

The decisions of the judges are final and binding in all matters related to this contest. The judges reserve the right to not award a prize if in their sole opinion no entries meet the minimum standards of the criteria listed below.

WINNER and PRIZES:

Only one (1) Grand Prize winner will be chosen. Descriptions on prizes are available below in on the contest details section. All prize values in U.S. Dollars. Prizes cannot be substituted or redeemed for cash except at the Sponsors’ sole discretion. Sponsors reserve the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value if a prize cannot be awarded as described for any reason.

PRIZES:

Prizes may increase Winner’s taxable compensation. Prizes have an approximate retail value (“ARV”) as stated within the Contest Rules. The ARVs stated herein are subject to adjustment based on current market value of the Prizes, taxes, licenses and other related expenses at the time of the Prize delivery. All dollar amounts stated within the Contest Rules are based upon United States currency. Prize winners ("Winners") have the right to refuse any Prize.

IMPORTANT NOTICES:

Sponsors reserve the right to substitute a Prize of comparable or greater value if the Prize is unavailable or cannot be awarded as described for any reason. Prizes must be accepted as awarded and are non-assignable and non-transferable in whole or in part. Any and all federal, state, provincial and local taxes, sales taxes, service, fees and surcharges on Prizes are the sole responsibility of the winners. Submitted materials become the property of Sponsors.

Sponsors shall not be liable to Winners or any other person for failure to supply the Prize or any part thereof, by reason of the Prize becoming unavailable or impracticable to award, or for any force majeure event, technical or equipment failure, terrorist acts, labor dispute, or act/omission of any kind (whether legal or illegal), transportation interruption, civil disturbance, or any other cause similar or dissimilar beyond Sponsors control.

GENERAL CONDITIONS:

Sponsors have the right to investigate and verify Contestant eligibility, and compliance with these Contest Rules, and to disqualify any Contestant on the basis of its findings. In addition and without limiting any other provision in these Contest Rules, Sponsors reserve the right to disqualify any Contestant that commits any act or does anything that is or shall be an offense involving moral turpitude under federal, state, or local laws, or which association with any entity that could bring Sponsors into public embarrassment, disrepute, contempt, scandal, or ridicule, or which association insults or offends the community or any substantial organized group thereof, or which might tend to injure the success of the Design Contest or Sponsors' product.

Each Contestant agrees to grant to Sponsors (and agrees to confirm that grant in writing) and those acting pursuant to the authority of Sponsors', the right to print, publish, display, broadcast, and use, worldwide in any media now known or hereafter developed, including, but not limited to, the World Wide Web and the Internet, at any time(s), the Contestant's name, statements about the promotion, and the name, image, picture, voice, hometown, and likeness of the Contestant as news, information and for Sponsor's trade, advertising and/or promotional purposes without additional compensation or review. Sponsors' failure to enforce any provision of these Contest Rules shall not constitute a waiver of any provision. Nothing herein shall constitute an employment, joint venture, or partnership relationship between Contestant and Sponsors.

Winner is responsible for all applicable taxes, fees, and duties with respect to prizes. Prizes may be subject to U.S. withholding taxes and non-U.S. winners may be required to complete an IRS W8-BEN. No barter, transfer, or assignment of any prize will be permitted, except by Sponsor at its sole discretion. Winner reserves the right to refuse any prize.

Odds of winning will depend on the number of eligible registrations. Winner will be determined within two weeks after the end of the contest. The winning design will be announced and showcased at The How Design Conference. The winner will be contacted within two weeks thereafter. Results will also be announced in the June 2008 issue of the Fotolia Newsletter and on the contest website.

In the event of multiple submissions for the same design, the winning award will go to the first qualifying entry to be received by Fotolia.com. Fotolia, will promote the winning design in press and industry outreach, as well as sustain the website for a short time after launch for enthusiast browsing.

RIGHTS TO USE ENTRIES / RESIDUAL CLAUSE:

By entering this Contest, you are granting to Sponsors an irrevocable, royalty free, fully paid up, worldwide license to use, review, assess, and otherwise analyze your entry and all its content in connection with the “Design Contest” and Sponsors promotional marketing activities. You’re also giving Sponsors permission to have the opportunity to feature your entry and any associated materials, and any medium including, but not limited to, website, television, radio and/or printed materials to promote this “Design Contest” and the Sponsors websites.

Further, you understand that Fotolia and Sponsor cannot control the incoming information you will disclose to our representatives in the course of entering, or what our representatives will remember about your entry. You also understand that there will not be restrictions placed on the work assignments of representatives who have had access to your entry. By entering this Contest, you agree that use of information in our representatives’ unaided memories in the development or deployment of Sponsors products or services does not create liability for Sponsors under this agreement or trade secret law. You will not receive any compensation or credit for use of your entry, other than what is described in these Official Rules.


LIMITATION OF LIABILITY:

By entering, participants release and hold harmless Sponsors and their respective subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising and promotions agencies, prize suppliers, Sponsors, and all of their employees, officers, directors, shareholder’s and agents from any and all liability or any injuries, loss or damage of any kind arising from or in connection with this Competition, the use of any entry, or the acceptance or use of any prize won, even if its Sponsors have been advised of the possibility of such injury, loss, or damages. Furthermore Sponsors are not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, including that caused by participants, or by any technical or human error that may occur in the processing of submissions in the Contest. All materials provided at this website and concerning this contest are provided “As-Is” and without any warranties of any kind, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. In no event shall Sponsors be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages, or loss of profits, incurred by you or any third party, whether based on warranty or in contract, tort, or other legal theory,

CONSTRUCTION:

All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Contest Rules, or the rights and obligations of any contestant, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with the laws of New York State, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules or provisions. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these rules shall not affect the invalidity or unenforceability of any other provision. In the event that any such provision is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable, these rules shall be construed in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or unenforceable provision was not contained therein. Potential winners may be required to execute and return an Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability Release and where legal, Publicity Release, within 14 days following the date of issuance of notification. Non-compliance within this time period or return of any prize/prize notification as undeliverable may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate winner. Acceptance of prize constitutes permission for Sponsors, and their agents to use winner’s name and likeness for advertising and promotional purposes without additional compensation unless prohibited by law. This contest is void where prohibited by law.

SPONSORS:

The Design Contest is Sponsored by Fotolia LLC, Quark Inc., and all other Sponsors as listed here. For any questions, contact:

Fotolia LLC
Attn: Fotolia.com Design Contest
41 E 11th Street
New York, NY 10003 USA
Telephone: 718-577-1321

After my grandfather’s death in 1987, I left the Philippines and landed a job at the Mandarin Oriental, Macao – where I first met Oliver. In 1990, I left my job there as Training Manager to join Oliver in the Philippines. Two weeks after I arrived in BaguioCity, a strong earthquake struck, killing hundreds of people and destroying the Hyatt Terraces Hotel where Oliver was working. We survived it without any scar, and the rest is history…

Tomorrow is grandpa’s 21st death anniversary. This year Oliver and I will celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary with 3 energetic children. And we stumbled on Fotolia almost exactly a year ago – while we were trying to set up our own Art Print Design website. Fotolia has a fantastic set-up for buyers and sellers. The amazing range of photos cater to different needs of a wide variety of people, from real-life snapshots to highly sophisticated ones.

Our photo technique is a mixture of experience, relationship with the subject and technology. We are using Olympus SLR digital camera with 10 million pixels, standard lens 14-42mm, angle viewfinder plus expodisc filter. Most of our photos are shot in daylight. Oliver the passionate chef in our family has over 25 years of experience.

We congratulate Ana (and Oliver)who earned herself 3,000 Credits and we want to thank all other contributors who took part in this contest. You all are winners because your images will be generating sales.

With far above 14,000 images Ana Liza is one of the most industrious photographers on Fotolia. So it is no surprise that she won this contest. Check out her portfolio!

• Some people used to believe that if a woman saw a robin flying overhead on Valentine's Day, it meant she would marry a sailor. If she saw a sparrow, she would marry a poor man and be very happy. If she saw a goldfinch, she would marry a millionaire.

• Some people said if you found a glove on the road on Valentine's Day, your future beloved will have the other missing glove.

• Some believed the first man's name you read in the paper or hear will be the name of the man you will marry.

• Pick a dandelion that has gone to seed. Take a deep breath and blow the seeds into the wind. Count the seed that remain on the stem, and that is the number of children you will have.

• Or, cut an apple in half and count how many seeds are inside, you can also tell how many children you will have.
  

Happy Valentines Day! Enjoy, have fun and get ready to meet your TRUE LOVE!

Click here for some great Valentine images from Fotolia.

Click here for some great love related images from Fotolia.

With the introduction of these two new licenses we adjusted our price structure. Here is a link to the new pricing structure

Eric Isselée - Fotolia.com

All you need to do is download the 12 images (supplied by Fotolia to Popular Photography Magazine) and use elements from at least 4 of the images to create a brand new work. Completed works should be sent to Popular Photography to be judged.

You can begin to upload images February 1, 2008 and the Contest will end March 31, 2008.

Click here to get more details.

Click here to see the Fotolia images used in the contest.

Before I jump into the products it was really cool to have people come up to the booth and say how much they love Fotolia. I even had one women actually start to give a demo to a crowd of people highlighting how she uses the Fotolia features. Everyone I spoke to loved the images and the website.

So I did have a chance to view a few cool products that you should be aware of. The first one is what everyone was talking about at the show. It is the new laptop from Apple called the Macbook Air. And yes it really is thin. About ¾ of an inch thin at its highest point. It has a number of cool features like:

• 13.3 inch display
• Full keyboard – backlit
• 1.6 Intel Core 2 Dou
• 2 GB of Memory standard
• 80 GB hard drive
• Optional 64 GB solid state hard drive
• 802.11n wireless card
• Leopard OS

The Macbook Air is also environmental friendly using aluminum case, a mercury-free LCD, it uses less power of any Mac, and the packaging is completely made of recycled material. It starts at $1799.

Then I also saw Apples new Time Capsule. They simply combined a wireless router and external hard drive to back up every computer on the network running the Leopard OS. It comes in 500GB and 1TB of storage. Starting price is $299.

As I was walking the show floor I came upon this company called Axiotron. They make a product called Modbook that is similar to a tablet pc but much cooler since it is running the latest Leopard OS. The screen appears to be on the outside of a littl macbook and you have a very simple pen tool. The product is really geared to photographers, illustrators, and graphic designers who want that hands on feel with all their graphic work. Retails is about $2200

Last but not least I visited the Microsoft office booth. Yes I said Microsoft. They had a huge booth. They just recently launched Office 2008 for Mac. In some ways I think it is better than Office for Windows. They have so many templates and customization tools that allow you to enhance the project without destroying the original design I was blown away. So check that out as well.

I hope to return to MacWorld next year but only time will tell.

All of this is thanks to you, our 80,000 contributors. In order to celebrate this milestone, we would like to organize a special 3,000,000 image contest.

3000 credits will be awarded to the contributor with the largest number of accepted images submitted between now and 3,000,000 seconds from now (about 34 days).

We will announce the winner of the contest on this blog.

Again we would like to thank all of our contributors for their hard work and support.

Well I guess I was not a true convert since I still held on to my old PC ways and only dabbled in the Mac applications. My email was still on the PC and I already had so much data on my PC too. The popular Apple slogan “Think different” kept ringing in my ears every time I tried to do something on the Mac, for it was nothing like my old PC and only presented me with new challenges and often times frustration, yes it was different alright.

But last week I had a change of heart, a kind of reawaking. On my visit to MacWorld in San Francisco I must have bitten into the MacWorld Apple because I am a believer once more. I think what changed my mind was the overall display at the conference that all things can easily work together on one operating system, that hardware and operating system should be designed by the same company and that updates are opportunities for innovation and not just security fixes. I have learned that thinking different is a refining process and my growing pains are not without support from other friendly believers at the Apple store and fellow users. It is hard to explain but MacWorld opened my eyes to new possibilities with my computer.

For those of you who have also struggled with the conversion from PC to Mac please know you are not alone and there is help.

Since joining Fotolia in November, 2005, Kosmal has submitted 2201 images to his Fotolia portfolio, and has licensed more than 1800 images, achieving a Silver ranking among our photographers. An amateur photographer and father of three, Kosmal uses his Fotolia income to supplement his family’s budget.

"We are thrilled to be the first microstock agency to cross the 3,000,000 image milestone,” says co-founder and president Oleg Tscheltzoff. “Fotolia has, since our launch, prided ourselves in bringing together top photographers and illustrators with a wide variety of buyers, and our amazing growth shows that our photographers find a great value in the connection we provide them.”

Since its launch in November, 2005, Fotolia has grown to offer the world’s largest library of legal, micro-priced images on the Web, offering professional and amateur photographers the ability to connect with more than 500,000 media buyers worldwide – from small businesses and design firms to some of the world’s most recognizable brands.

About Fotolia

Fotolia is an inclusive, global community in which photographers and designers come together to form a marketplace free from traditional royalties and rights management. Launched in early November 2005, Fotolia’s digital image marketplace has acquired over 3,000,000 images in its database and 500,000 international members. For more information about the company or to access the Fotolia web site, visit www.fotolia.com.

Press Contact:

Julie Wohlberg
Director of Communications
Fotolia, LLC
P: 610-866-2314
Julie@fotolia.com
www.fotolia.com

This is a great place for Fotolia. It seems everyone is looking for images for Keynote, iweb, and all their other creative needs.When you sell royalty free images for as little as $1 like Fotolia new people start thinking how they can use more images.

So if you are here at MacWorld stop by booth S702 and say hi, we are sharing a booth with Quark. For the rest of you folks I will try to get a few pics of the new toys and post them before I leave the show.

So what’s new?

At first we corrected a few minor bugs but then we introduced improvements and new features. We added the magnify function allowing you to zoom in on thumbnails. We also automatically added your partner ID in the url linking back to Fotolia. This will allow you to get new Fotolia affiliates and earn more money in addition to selling your work.

What’s next?

Over the next few weeks and months ahead we will focus on more customization options for the myfotolia application, introducing new templates and tools.

Promote myfotolia

Now that Fotolia has provided you with myfotolia to promote your work we highly suggest for you to get out and spread the word. Post your links in forums, emails, and blogs just like this one. We also recommend that you add a google analytics tracker to your site in order to track your visitors.

Fotolia will soon have a myfotolia contest to elect the most beautiful and most popular myfotolia page!

Create Your MyFotolia NOW! http://my.fotolia.com/Home

At this Holiday Season our thoughts turn gratefully to those who have made our progress possible.

Please note our office will be closed for the holidays on December 24th - 25th, 2007 and on December 31st, 2007 and January 1st, 2008.

Have a safe and enjoyable holiday season!

MyFotolia is a new project which will continually be improved and optimized with your comments and suggestions. Feel free to contact us in order to give your feedback!

A personal Fotolia photo gallery - Manage your own photo gallery using your Fotolia portfolio. No more competition. Visitors will go directly to your individual URL and will only be able to access your files.

A great advertising place for all your work- Only your work is displayed on your site and at any moment, visitors will be able to buy your photos via Fotolia.

An easy to set-up photo management system - No need to spend time creating a web photo gallery on your own, with MyFotolia all your photos are already online and waiting to be purchased.

A customizable site that displays your personality - Change colors and arrange your own photo page, and upload your own banner. You are the only designer of your photo gallery to make it more personal.

How does it work?