Pro Photo Theme Photo Contest – Winner!

There were a number of things that I learned from this contest.

Here are a few:

• There are many talented photographers in the ChurchMag community.
• Some of you have lots of friends.
• ChurchMag will have anther contest (not just photography).

With over 160 of you weighing in, this was a lot of fun.

With this premium WordPress theme on the line, the competition was heated!

1st Runner-Up: 5 til 1

by Todd Balsley

2nd Runner-Up: Father & Son

by Jay Caruso | Follow

Editor’s Choice: Donkily

by Scott Reyes | Follow

Winner: Bondage

by Brian Alexander

The votes were tallied, and Brian Alexander is the winner of Pro Photo Theme!

However, I want to share with you the story behind this photo.

Here’s what Brian shared with me:

I went on a mission trip to Thailand back in March with several friends from my school, North Greenville University. We were there to create media for the international missions boards branch in South East Asia. We had people on our team skilled in filming, editing, photography, social media, etc. We all came together and worked to do our best to tell the stories of the people there in Thailand.

As far as the picture goes it was taken in a small rural village all Mae Wang, where one of the Thai students that we were working with lived with her family. She is the only Christian in her family and her family is Buddhist. This little boy caught my eye while we were all sharing a meal together. I wanted for people back home to see the sadness, and despair that this boy was facing. I didn’t have the chance to talk with his parents or anything, but I think the picture tells a lot about him..

The string wrapped around his arm, is a symbol for sex slavery. You’ll see this in Thailand. The country is a huge trade for sex slavery and you can find out more about that online if you are interested. Basically the reason I titled it “Bondage” was because I could see that through his expression. He really wasn’t happy or anything. Whole time we were eating he never smiled or laughed.

What kind of kid you know that never does either of those? I don’t know many.

You can read more about Brian’s mission trip to Thailand on his blog.

Eric Dye

Support Lead at Valet, and Proprietor of DYECASTING. Human by day, gamer at night, lover of coffee, and all things spicy.