National Geographic Launches ‘Untamed Americas’ Instagram Contest

National Geographic Launches Untamed Americas Instagram ContestPhotography has always been a major part of the National Geographic publications. It sounds cliche but the first time I experienced the magazine was at the dentist’s office while i was a kid. As the oldest of my brothers, I always chose to be the last one to be ‘treated’. So there was lots of time to flip through the pages of whatever issues of the magazine were laying about.

With Instagram being the hottest thing of the moment, it’s natural to see the National Geographic use the photo sharing app as part of it’s projects. This spring National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo Wild will broadcast the insanely cool-looking ‘Untamed Americas‘, a four hour HD mini-series event spanning the Americas from Alaska to Patagonia.

To compliment the series, National Geographic Channels wants to see your pics of ‘Untamed Americas’ – just follow @natgeochannels on Instagram and submit your photo with the hashtag #UntamedAmericas between May 5, 2012 at midnight through June 18, 2012. Photos will be judged by host of Nat Geo WILD’s America the Wild Casey Anderson; landscape photographer and Instagram artist extraordinaire Cole Rise; and Cynthia Drescher, editor of the travel guide Jaunted.

Winners can receive prizes including a National Geographic camera bag filled with a Nikon D3100 SLR Digital Camera with 18-55mm VR & 55-200mm VR Lenses & basic kit, a Glif (a fantastic tool for iphoneography), a subscription to National Geographic Magazine, a National Geographic Channel Jacket, Hat, Water Bottle, Binoculars and Untamed Americas DVDs, and a limited edition signed print by Cole Rise.

USA

National Geographic Launches Content-Rich Augmented Reality Experience in Hungary

Live Augmented Reality for National Geographic Channel / UPC from Appshaker Ltd on Vimeo.

National Geographic Channel Augmented RealityEarlier this year we saw Lynx generate a stir at London’s Victoria Station with an augmented reality experience that layered models from their falling angels campaign into live video of curious commuters.

A few weeks ago a similar experience was launched in Hungary by the National Geographic Channel and European cable distributor UPC. The augmented reality experience enabled people to immerse themselves into a variety of National Geographic Channel content including a petting a leopard, dancing in a conga-line with an astronaut, watching a dolphin do flips, interacting with large and small dinosaurs and even cowering from an intense lightning storm.

The experience was put together by UK creative agency Appshaker, who have previously developed augmented reality experiences for clients such as Ford and Budapest Bank.

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Randy MathesonI am a Nova Scotia raised Creative Guy, currently Director of Emerging Media at Delvinia, a Digital Strategy & Customer Experience Design Firm in Toronto. I’m a huge fan of the creative use of digital technologies in social media, marketing, sports and entertainment. I use this blog to share the more interesting examples that I find. If you’re in need of a break, join me over at Madtini.com for a cocktail.

National Geographic Launches Remember 911 on Facebook

National Geographic Channel - Remembering 9/11For those of us here in the North America there have been few events in the past few decades that have affected our lives as much as the events that occurred on September 11, 2001. In a little over a month it will have been 10 years and we will again remember exactly where we were that September morning.

The National Geographic Channel has launched a special Facebook application to collect the stories of what people were doing that day. Right now there are 338 stories from people as far away as Australia and those who were only a few blocks away from the three sites.

Where was I on September 11, 2001

I had been working at home in Port Credit that day on some freelance web design work with several companies in Manhattan. I was eating breakfast and had heard that a small plane had struck one of the World Trade Center towers. It soon became evident that it was actually more serious than anyone thought as a second plane had struck the tower while I watched. The next few hours were a blur as a plane hit the Pentagon, another plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania and then the collapse of the two towers.

While I did not know any of the people who lost their lives that day, the horror of the events of that day will never leave my mind. It’s amazing to consider how the events of that day changed our lives. From simple things like not being able to fly with fingernail clippers to terrorist bombings in Europe to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Where were you when you first heard about the events of September 11? It’s interesting the memories of people who were still in school at the time. Check out their stories on the Remember Nine Eleven Facebook application.

The site was produced by Neo Pangia, who have produced several other projects for National Geographic in the past.