Ben Edwards wasn't sure he'd entered the competition, wasn't sure what photo he'd entered but was definitely sure he wanted first prize " as providence provides the first winner of Sydneyanglicans.net's new Viewfinder service.
For months Sydneyanglicans.net has been running a photographic competition asking the question, "What do Sydney Anglicans look like?'
"We were testing the waters for something bigger, and we wanted to know if our community was interested in sharing their views of the pews, so to speak," says site editor Mark Hadley.
"After combing through all the submissions, we came up with what we thought best represented an Australian character that doesn't take itself too seriously," he says.
But as it turns out the real trick was trying to get Ben to take winning seriously.
The conversation went something like this:
SydAng: Do you remember sending a photo through a month ago?
Ben: I think so
SydAng: Was it meant to be an entry in the "What do Sydney Anglicans look like?’ competition?
Ben: I think I know the one you mean. Er " no.
SydAng: Oh. Would you like it to be included in the competition?
Ben: Sure, that'd be good
SydAng: Good - because you've won.
The Rev Ben Edwards, the assistant minister at St Luke's, Mosman, received a Fuji Finepix digital camera for submitting the winning Anglican moment.
The photograph of "What Sydney Anglicans look like?' is the first picture to be included in Sydney Viewfinder, a new way for our users to share their "views' online.
Registered users can now upload digital photos to Sydneyanglicans.net where they can be viewed by our entire online community.
"So if you have a stack of photos you've taken at your latest event that you want to share, you just post them up and send your friends a link," says Mr Hadley.
"No more time and money wasted on printing copies or emailing picture after picture to a dozen email addresses."
Special features include the ability to view albums as slide-shows and send individual photos to friends as e-postcards.
In addition to this, the latest photos will appear on the home page of Sydneyanglicans.net each day, and the best photo each month will receive a prize.
Albums already online include pictures from last weekend's KYCKSTART, this year's Men's Katoomba Convention, Moore College faces, and testimonies from Sydney’s Synod representatives.
Click Viewfinder to check out what's already online, or to begin contributing your own digital creations.
