Winners of My Story Contest 1 : How you got into Photography ! Close to 35 SBD's in prize !

First of all let me thank every one who up voted Your Story Contest and helped crowd funding the contest prize, frankly I did not expect it to generate this much prize money. The idea of the contest was to primarily support Steemit users with great content with not much success yet , but contest was open to everyone !

Secondly I thank you everyone who participated with your amazing stories ! It was not a easy decision , going through all the stores and also looking at your profile content !

Theme of the Story was How you got into photography as a student/hobbyist/professional

Here are the best 5 stories and winners in no particular order ! I am adding some quotes from the story and my favorite image from their profile , I would recommend reading the full story by clicking the link.

Winners !!

My way into Photography
by @axeman
The beauty of Nature and the beauty of Woman. Nothing esle can inspire more feelings

How I picked Up a Camera and have yet to put it back down
by @outrayjust
It can be lonely and isolating. And I often feel as if I’m out of sync - in my own dimension - while I am creating.

How I got in to Photography
by @narchuk
I spent in the water all my free time - 6-8 hours a day, swim away for many miles. It seemed as the fate itself pushed me to the underwater photography.

How I got into photography
by @isabellemonisse
I started simply to release my emotional pain, which prevents me from living fully up until now. I wanted to express my overwhelming emotions and couldn't find a better media for that, but photography

Story Time
by @rimicane
With the photography, there is no end - you learn all the time!

Congratulations All Winners !!

Additionally I have decided to add 3 sbd's from my side to appreciate/reward below great profiles with amazing photography who also participated!

Photography by @lozt

Photography by @mibreit-photo

Photography by @peachfizzle

Steemians - Appreciate if you could show some love & support by visiting these profiles !

One again thank you every one for participating, sharing your real life story and making this a success. I will try to arrange more such contest in the interest of community and to support the Underdogs, if I may call !

You can see all the contest entries here

Payouts !

As I mentioned in my original post all of the author rewards would go to winners, that is 6+ SBDs each based on below payout crowd funded from original post