Photos of Clouds for Windows Live 2011 and Bing Photo Contest

A new contest from Microsoft is designed to help celebrate the recent launch of Windows Live Essentials 2011, a suite of rich clients designed to connect the Windows desktop with the Cloud.

In this regard, Microsoft is looking for pictures of clouds for the new competition involving the Photo Gallery component of Windows Live Essentials 2011 as well as the Bing search/decision engine.

Because of the enhancements delivered to Windows Live Essentials 2011, Photo Gallery can be used not only to manage content, and edit photos, but also share images with a variety of Cloud services, with a focus on the most popular social networks worldwide.

“We’re looking for some breathtaking and stunning photos of clouds! We are looking for photos of clouds that somehow illustrate and show how Windows Live connects your PC to the cloud – but in a creative way of course,” revealed Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc.

“We then want to put one lucky winner’s photo of clouds on the homepage of Bing for the day! So send in your photos of clouds or anything that relates to clouds – rainbows, thunderclouds, airplanes, orographic clouds, etc.

“You can take pictures of landscapes, cities, objects, and just about anything so long as clouds are the primary focus of the image.”

There are no actual prizes to be won, but despite this, Microsoft is only allowing users in the US to submit pictures.

However, eligible participants can submit as much as 5 pictures to the software giant, as long as they do so by October 22, 2010.

Of course, while there are no actual prizes which can be won, there will be winners, and even a grand prize.

As LeBlanc mentioned, the grand prize winner will provide the image for use as the background of the Bing home page. In addition, a total of 10 photos will be selected for integration as wallpapers into a new Windows 7 theme.

“To enter the contest, send your submissions to WLcontest at hotmail.com by Friday October 22nd, 2010. Your email should include your image(s), image title, short description of the image(s), your first/last name, and a contact email address,” LeBlanc added.

“A panel of judges will review all eligible photographs and select winners. 10 winners will be selected to have their photo featured in a Windows 7 Theme Pack to be featured in the Personalization Gallery.

“The grand prize winning photo will be featured on the Bing US-English homepage on November 8th, 2010. The winning photographer will be given credit for the photo.”