We launched our first Weekend Photo Assignment because we continually see people asking online how to stay motivated to keep taking photographs. We weren't really sure what kind of response to expect, but we ended up with more than 200 entries over the course of the weekend. Impressive and downright awesome.

Here are the finalists from the first contest. There was a ton of creativity to sort through and it actually took us a little longer than anticipated to go through the entries. We'll be running another one this weekend with another great prize. We can't wait.

This is the winner for this week. The idea is creative and the execution is excellent. There was actually more than one entry with a similar theme and set-up, but everything in this shot from the expressions to the exposure are very well done. Congratulations, to Elmis. See you next week!

By Elmis Rimsa

On the way back home family portrait. I was the only one exited about the new lens :).

• CAMERA: Canon 7D
• FOCAL LENGTH: 10mm
• SHUTTER SPEED: 1/25 sec
• LENS: EF 8-15mm
• ISO: 100
• APERTURE (F-STOP): f11