This month’s Windows Phone Photo Challenge: Happy Holidays!

It’s been a busy past few months here on the Windows Phone team. We’ve had some great new devices hit the market, many of which have spectacular cameras built into them. I’m really looking forward to seeing what you’re all able to come up with using the new hardware. In fact, many of you have already been snapping away and tagging your brilliant photos with #WPPhoto on Twitter. Keep it up!

We’re finally back with a new photo challenge. This month, we’re asking you to submit a photograph that somehow captures the expression “Happy Holidays!” Which holiday is up to your personal preference and interpretation. Here’s an example of such a photograph:

This photograph was taken by me using my Lumia 920, and edited using the Memento Pro app. I was walking through downtown Seattle as the sun was setting underneath the Macy’s star. We don’t get much snow here in Seattle during the winter, but the way the golden light played with the clouds and the way the star held fast in the sky as night set in reminded me that the holiday season is upon us and will soon be past.

As usual, all winning photos will be featured on the Windows Phone Blog, as well as across our Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest channels. We will, of course, provide credit and even link to your website or blog if possible.

When you send in your photos to windowsphone@microsoft.com, please let us know which phone you took it with, which photo apps you used, and 2-3 sentences describing the photo, the circumstances under which it was taken, and why you think it represents “Happy Holidays!” Feel free to also include your website, so that we can link to it where appropriate. We’re looking forward to seeing what you all come up with! Here is how to enter:

• To enter, please e-mail your entry to windowsphone@microsoft.com.
• In the subject line of your e-mail, please write “CHALLENGE: HAPPY HOLIDAYS”.
• The photo you send must have been taken with (and edited, if you prefer to edit) on a Windows Phone. Please attach the original JPEG file to your e-mail, with metadata included. If the photo has been edited, please let us know which apps/settings you used.
• Please name your image file using your first and last name, followed by the theme of the contest (this month it’s “Happy Holidays”). So, for instance, my e-mail would include a photograph named DavidChenHolidays.JPG or DavidChenHappyHolidays.JPG.
• Please use the highest resolution possible when sending your photos.
• One entry per person, please.
• This challenge runs from now until 11:59 p.m. PDT on Sunday, January 6th, 2013.
• After the contest deadline, we will look over all of your entries and choose our favorites. Entries will be judged on their creativity, resourcefulness, aesthetic beauty, and just the overall impression your photo makes on us.
• Winning entries will be posted on the blog, as well as shared on our Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest pages about two weeks after the contest has ended.
• Read the full rules here.