Politics & Government

Beaumont CA Centennial Photo Contest

Submitted by the city of Beaumont. Deadline to enter is July 18.

Editor's Note: This article was prepared and submitted by the city of Beaumont.

Our hometown - through the lens of history

Beaumont has been photographed for more than a century, from the olden days of dirt roads and horse buggies to the modern times of new neighborhoods and bustling freeways.

Find out what's happening in Banning-Beaumontwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Throughout the decades, the lens of history has captured moments in the life of our hometown. From the early 1900s we see carefully posed black and white shots of our forefathers taken with Kodak Brownie cameras. Today, we see the modern face of a city and its people photographed with digital cameras and enhanced by Photoshop.

Whether you have a vintage camera or a high-tech version with a mini-computer, it's now your turn to look through the viewfinder and compose photographs that will long be remembered.

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Say "cheese!"

As part of the city’s 100th anniversary celebration, Beaumont is sponsoring a Centennial Photo Contest. We’re asking everyone to grab a camera, or even look through old photos around the house, and come up with a winner!

Whether you often take photos or just want to try your hand at getting some great shots, this is the perfect opportunity to capture a lasting history of your hometown. Beaumont will turn 100 years old on Nov. 18, 2012.

The city's photo contest features five categories (outdoor scenes, people shots, historic photos (1912-2000), business and residential photos, and a special category for Beaumont youth (under 17), with the theme, "What does Beaumont mean to you?"

Contest rules

The deadline to enter is July 18, and judging will be done by the city’s Special Events Committee. All decisions are final. The top five finalists from each category will be announced in August on the city’s website and at a City Council meeting. The grand prize winner and top category winners will be named in the November 2012 edition of Beaumont Now! Magazine, which run the winning shots. The grand prize winner will receive a $100 gift certificate good at a local business.

In addition, the grand prize winner and category winners will be formally recognized during a special 100th anniversary reception on Nov. 17, 2012. Please visit the city’s website at www.ci.beaumont.ca.us/photocontest for detailed rules and guidelines for entering the photo contest.

Inspiring words

Now that you have the contest guidelines, we would like to inspire you to take some compelling and interesting photographs that will bring to life a town and its people. We also invite you to check out the many new photographs and historic shots of our city that you’ll find on Beaumont’s website, www.ci.beaumont.ca.us.

Finally, we would like to leave you with a few thoughts from legendary photographer Ansel Adams. He was best known for his black-and-white landscape shots of the American West, especially Yosemite National Park.

"You don't take a photograph, you make it," Adams once advised. "There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs."


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