Hello Zen Disc Golf friends and family!
If you are here (which you are) then you are wondering where all the beautiful disc golf photos come from and how to submit your own.
Since I am the one who selects the Zen Disc Golf moment of the day, everyday, I want to give you not only how to submit, but also key you into the way my mind (and personal taste) work to try and get your photo to the top of the pool which now has well over 20,000 images in it.
First of all, the following information helps you get selected-
– Social media followers have overwhelmingly requested me to post the name of the course and where it’s located in the post. Having this info easily available WILL HELP your shot get selected, however I refuse to skip over a beautiful shot just because I don’t know the name of the course, and if the research is going to delay my post – I go ahead and post. I’m all about spreading the love and beauty of this game over all else and have always wanted to encourage people to discuss the course facts if they choose to. That tends to start conversations faster than if I give all the info in the post, however I understand wanting to know so I TRY (keyword: TRY) to give that info upfront.
The Best Way To Submit Your Disc Golf Photo-
– Tag your photo #zendiscgolf and/or @zendiscgolf for review.
– 90+% of submissions come through this avenue.
– The pool of photos using this tag in IG is currently almost 19,000 images. Don’t be offended if yours isn’t selected.
– TIP: I usually make my picks between 7-10am EST. Photos posted here closer to that time make their way to the top of the pool when I am looking for them.
Not the best, but acceptable ways to submit –
– Tag image with @zendiscgolf for review. I’ll be honest and say I retweet many of these images, but I do receive quite a few images here, and you know how twitter goes – it moves fast, so getting the shot selected for feature across networks is limited.
– You can email me zendiscgolf@gmail.com but I don’t think I have ever selected a photo this way, just being honest. My email sometimes feels like a black hole, unless I am looking to receive something. I’d love to get to inbox zero, but it just hasn’t happened yet.
What I look for in a photo and what I pass over –
I consider myself only an amateur photographer at best, but some basic knowledge about cropping, saturation, color, and light/darkness will help your photo get seen. Take a look at the Instagram and check out the images I usually select. You will notice I try to fit the theme of Zen in the photos and what that means to me is:
– NATURAL
– SIMPLE
– PEACEFUL
– BEAUTY
Looking at my gallery it’s obvious that I am a sucker for:
– Landscapes involving a basket or tee pad
– Sun rises/sets
– Clouds/Fog
– Mountains/Water
All of those things above are entirely subjective so it’s easier to talk about things I typically pass over:
– Poor cropping, saturation, color, light, etc
– Borders – Sometimes I hate having to skip over an amazing shot because it has a border, but this includes borders all the way around and bars at the top and bottom of a shot. I recognize this is the artists vision, trust me, but it doesn’t fit the consistency of my gallery.
– Shots including people – Though I have selected some shots of children playing as well as silhouettes. Keep in mind I am looking for natural, simple, peaceful, beauty.
– Shots including product placements – Disc logos, bags, and the like. Unless it’s something related to Zen Disc Golf (Call me hypocritical – I like my brand!)
– Shots with photographers tags/text on them – I fully recognize this is used to protect your piece, however I credit every shot the same with a small simple tag with your name or @name and http://www.zendiscgolf.com. This again is meant to add consistency to the gallery.
– Shots that do not relate to disc golf (or you can’t tell that they do)
That’s all I can think of right now.
When in doubt just tag ALL your disc golf images #zendiscgolf on Instagram – I select them 365 days a year.
ZEN DISC GOLF 