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Photoshopped Rachel
In 2008, I entered a photo contest at Alberni Outpost, a Vancouver Island outdoor store. We didn't win, but I recently noticed the photo was used as the background for their new website design. Have a look.
Rachel's Photo Backdrop for Local Website
We are considering purchasing a used tandem kayak from Alberni Outpost, a Vancouver Island Outdoor Adventure Store, with locations in Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Courtney & Nanoose. The fibreglass kayak has been in their rental fleet for some number of years and yesterday, we took it on a "test paddle" around Newcastle Island and to Protection Island (where we had dinner at the Dinghy Dock Pub). It was an excellent afternoon and will be the focus of an article I'm currently researching and writing.
In doing that research, I made a surprising discovery. A photo we submitted the Alberni Outpost Photo Contest in 2008 is currently the background image for every page of their website.
That photo I submitted to their photo contest can be seen in our Bowron Lakes Slide Show. It's also on the Photo Contest page (2008) on the Alberni Outpost website (their site relies on JavaScript, so I can't link the picture directly. Just click on 2008 Photos and you'll see it.)
Despite the fact that the photo didn't win, it was chosen - over all the other photos submitted over the years and over all past winning submissions - as the backdrop for their new design.
We suspect the photo didn't win because it was a canoeing picture, not a kayaking picture. No worries! Just a Photoshop nip here and photoshop tuck there and suddenly, Rachel is paddling a kayak instead of a canoe! Amazing what can be accomplished with digital photos, eh?
So, do you think the owner, Richard Antonchuk, will give us a discount on the used kayak as consideration for using our photo in his website design? 
About the Photo
The picture shows Rachel paddling in the early morning light on the East arm of Lake Isaac, the big lake on the Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit.
I overlayed the photos in Photoshop, cropping them to their intersection. I also brightened the Alberni Outpost photo, to provide greater visual detail. (The actual background photo on the Alberni Outpost site is much darker.)
The presentational "image hover-overlay" technique was invented by me, utilizing cross-browser CSS opacity techniques (valid CSS Level 3 code) and is detailed in a 2008 article entitled, "Playing with Opacity" (includes cut'n-paste CSS & HTML code).
See the photo on the Alberni Outpost Website.




















Notification on the usage would have been nice (they have our email and phone number). Proper photo credit would be nicer. Consideration (store credit or discount) would have been ideal - and help foster customer loyalty, eh?