Congratulations to Jared Eckstein of Grand Prairie, the winner of the Flickr Photo of the Week contest! We were all impressed by the way he was able to bring this statue at the Dallas Arboretum to life. If you like Jared’s photo, you can find more of his work on his blog.  He follows last week’s winner, Ellie Ivanova.

If you would like to participate in the Flickr Photo of the Week contest, all you need to do is upload your photo to to our Flickr group page. It’s fine to submit a photo you took previous to the current week, but we are hoping that the contest will inspire you to go out and shoot something fantastic this week to share with Art&Seek users. If the picture you take involves another facet of the arts, even better. The contest week will run from Monday to Sunday, and the Art&Seek staff will pick a winner on Monday afternoon. We’ll notify the winner through FlickrMail (so be sure to check those inboxes) and ask you to fill out a short survey to tell us a little more about yourself and the photo you took. We’ll post the winners’ photo on Wednesday and Gini Mascorro will read your name on the air at the end of her daily arts calendar.

Now, here’s more from Jared:

Jared Eckstein

Title of Photo: Creeping
Equipment: Voigtländer Bessa R2C with Zeiss-Opton T Triotar 85mm f/4.0 with about to expire Walgreens 400 speed film purchased $1.59 on sale last August.
Tell us more about your photo: I love the Dallas Arboretum, no matter what season it is. It’s a paradise for photographers. You can always find a few photographers strolling around or paying their bills with a girl in a Quinceañera dress. Or, a photographer with a glowing bride in tow. … Naturally, anyone with a camera will go where the light’s strong and the plants burst with color. That’s fun, but I’d rather daydream a while and let my imagination wander from garden to garden. Experience the transition from a walled courtyard covered in vines to a shady grove of towering crepe myrtles. You make your own cast of characters and dream up your own stories. Then you remember you brought a camera with some old film. Focus, meter, frame and drift away lazily again.