Well, with all due respect, I feel like you don't really understand what is the primary function of witness. It's to validate transactions on the network. And the network has many types of transactions, from posts, comments and votes, up to literally trading on the internal market or sending and receiving money. It's fundamental for a witness to be able first to do this, hence the technical penchant.
As for asking me to vote for your competition - in order to be recognized and stand up in the community - I don't think it's going to work. Although I wish you all the luck and, if it gains some momentum and it's up my alley, I will gladly spread the word. I also want to point out that you should always indicate the source of your pictures (helps you differentiate from spammers and freeloaders who are just copy-pasting content from the internet for pennies).
And, most important, patience. It takes time to build an audience, being it your personal blog, Twitter or Facebook.
Steemit is not different from this point of view. What makes Steemit different is precisely its decentralized nature, the fact that it is actually ran by witnesses. That's why it's important to know them, follow them up and vote them. The network literally depends on them.
I do not need to source my images. They are mine and I can use them the way I want. If I would use someone elses, I would state it.
I do not run it for myself. I do it to show a wide variety of expression. Worldwide, in fact. And most of the participants are minnows.
If your images are yours, please state this. I'm not telling this for me, it will help you, in the long run.
As for your challenge, I looked at it, seemed interesting, up my alley so I upvoted and resteemed. Good luck with it! Just don't use this "transactional" way of interacting, people may feel that you're coming up too strong on them.