Do you get tired of seeing the same seven shots of me across the top of this blog? Want to see yourself up there instead? Now’s your chance. Take a fitness photo, and if it’s good enough, it will be added to the rotation of header images for the rest of the Primal Challenge.
Other than being able to gloat to your friends that your photo is plastered on top of my blog, I’m also sending everyone in the photo a free Grok shirt. And for all the female Groks out there who have been emailing me about the lack of lady-shirts, I’ll be coming out with a couple new designs in the next week or so, and the winners of this contest will have first dibs.
The Contest:
Take a fitness photo. What’s a fitness photo? It’s a picture that in some way represents an aspect of Primal Fitness. Whether moving frequently at a slow pace, lifting heavy things, or sprinting, the photo should give newcomers to the site an idea of what Primal fitness looks like. There are two requirements:
The photo must be exactly 640 by 225 pixels. Exactly. Anything else, and the photo gets trashed. Keep in mind the “rectangularness” of the header when framing your photo as you’ll most likely need to crop the top and bottom of your pic before emailing it in.
There must be at least three people in the photo. You may have noticed an emerging theme in this year’s contests, that camaraderie can play a big role in how much success people have on the Primal Blueprint. So get some friends in the shot with you. There’s no real upper limit, but I don’t plan on mailing out a hundred Grok shirts, so be careful about stuffing the frame.
Finally, this contest isn’t about showing off who has the most muscles, or who can lift the most weight. It’s more about capturing the essence of Primal fitness, a photo that depicts an action. And you don’t have to be Annie Leibovitz to win this one, but if you pay a little attention to lighting, framing, and composition, you’ll definitely improve your odds.
Once you’ve cropped and re-sized your image, email it to me.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Be sure to include “Header Submission” in your subject line or I may miss your photo entirely.
The Deadline:
September 13, midnight PST. That gives you the weekend and a day.
Who is Eligible:
Anyone on the planet. Do you live in Djibouti? You’re eligible. Antarctica? Eligible. Do you live in space? Not eligible. On second thought, scratch that, if you live in space you’re eligible as well. In fact, a picture from space is an automatic win.
How a Winner is Chosen:
I’ll be hand picking this one.
Fine Print:
Because I’m picky about what I put on my blog, I’m reserving the right to cancel this contest if none of the submitted photos meet my standards. Conversely, if more than one photo is exceptional, there’s a chance I may pick more than one winner.
No collages or heavy photoshopping. Adjusting the brightness and contrast of a photo is fine, but adding text, pasting on a Grok logo, or chroma-keying yourself into a stock landscape is no good. Keep it classy.
No heavily featured trademarked images. Sure you can wear Vibrams, or use a specific brand of kettlebell. And it’s not a problem if you take the photo in Times Square (littered with background advertising). But don’t wear a shirt advertising your eStore or take the picture right in front of the entrance to a Bally’s Gym. And yes, wearing a Grok shirt is absolutely okay.
Mark Sisson is the founder of Mark’s Daily Apple, godfather to the Primal food and lifestyle movement, and the New York Times bestselling author of The Keto Reset Diet. His latest book is Keto for Life, where he discusses how he combines the keto diet with a Primal lifestyle for optimal health and longevity. Mark is the author of numerous other books as well, including The Primal Blueprint, which was credited with turbocharging the growth of the primal/paleo movement back in 2009. After spending three decades researching and educating folks on why food is the key component to achieving and maintaining optimal wellness, Mark launched Primal Kitchen, a real-food company that creates Primal/paleo, keto, and Whole30-friendly kitchen staples.
