At 1:19am on Saturday August 14, 29 hours after the tickets for the 2nd annual 12×12 Vancouver Photo Marathon were released online, the last ticket was sold. The 59 other tickets were snapped up within 24 hours of the release. In fact, half the tickets were sold within 10 minutes of the release! For a while, we thought people were mistaking our event for a Justin Bieber concert. But looking at the list of participants and the chatter on Twitter, it’s clear we now have a full roster of eager photographers from all walks of life ready and willing to take on the challenge that is the 12×12. Congratulations to one and all for getting a ticket!

Waiting List in Effect

Last year we had far more people wanting to attend than we had tickets. In our rush planning we had not anticipated this and had not made contingencies. In the end, 5 ticket holders were unable to attend but we were only able to pass on one of the tickets on event day. To avoid this problem and ensure that we actually have 60 participants this year, we have started up an official waiting list through Eventbrite. That means even if you were not able to get a ticket in time you can join the waiting list, and if someone backs out, something comes up or just doesn’t show the day of, we’ll pass their ticket on to you. To join the waiting list, go to our Tickets page or go straight to Eventbrite.

To further ensure that we have a full 60 participants, we have introduced a new rule:

Ticketholders who do not register at the event location on September 12 by 8:30 am (registration begins at 7am), and who do not notify us in advance or on the day of by phone or email that they will be arriving late, will automatically forfeit their ticket and it will be passed on to the next person on the waiting list.

We will attempt to contact the ticket holder by phone (thus the request for your cell phone number during ticket purchase) before passing the ticket on.

Participants: Give us your Twitter and Flickr handles! (if you haven’t already done so)

This year we’re doing some cool interactive things online in preparation for and during the event itself (tba). To start off we are making an official 12x12yvr Twitter List so if you’re a participant and you have a Twitter handle (name), send it to us and we’ll add you to the list. Likewise, send us your Flickr handle. And finally, if you’re on Facebook, like our event and we’ll share more links and info with you.