TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 11/01/12 --

Editors Note: There are two photos associated with this press release.

500px, a global community for premium photographers, was just recognized by Time for having one of the world's 25 best blogs. Since January 2010, the 500px blog has featured lush photographs and the stories behind them as a way of celebrating and showcasing the outstanding work its members produce.

According to Harry McCracken, Time technology reporter and creator of the Technologizer blog, "Toronto-based photo community 500px is bursting at the seams with stunning imagery from around the world."

"This is an honor for our company and community," says Oleg Gutsol, CEO of 500px. "We're fortunate to have a large group of talented photographers who share high quality content every day. And our blog editor, Diana Tula, treats the site like a photo magazine and is always looking for unique and original visual stories."

An eye for marketing

This fall, the company has also rolled out a number of marketing partnerships with large brands that fit with the company's vision.

Land Rover USA created an exclusive contest for 500px photographers, where five grand prize winners will each receive a contract for $10,000 and travel expense, along with the opportunity to experience Land Rover and create exquisite photographs for the brand. Participants enter by submitting a photo story and tagging it "Land Rover Story Challenge" on the 500px site.

Influence measurement site Klout selected 500px as the first company to use its new KloutPass SDK, which allows partners to authenticate and register users with Klout and access Perks around the web. New users who signed into 500px with a Klout account qualified for a reward of up to 100% off 500px's Awesome or Plus accounts (the higher the Klout score, the bigger the reward).

Blurb, the leading online print-on-demand publisher has initiated a partnership with 500px to offer its photographers a $25 or $50 gift certificate toward the publication of a custom book with the purchase of a premium 500px account. 500px was also the presenting sponsor of Blurb's Photo Safari, an afternoon of photography and discovery in Toronto's historic Distillery District.

2nd annual Pixel Hack

On November 17 and 18, 500px is hosting PixelHack, a free weekend event in Toronto geared to designing and coding apps based on open rich media APIs. Leading designers, photographers, programmers and product managers have an open invitation to come together and build inspiring visual applications using open web, mobile and desktop APIs and compete for prizes.

"Our community is always at the center of everything we do," says Gutsol. "We're focusing on innovative marketing and strategic partnerships to build our brand. We'll continue to enhance our platform and services so they'll have a better experience. And we'll work on partnerships that provide our members with benefits they can't get anywhere else."

About 500px

500px is a photo community powered by creative people worldwide that lets you discover, share, buy and sell inspiring photographs. The first version of 500px came to light in the early days of digital photography. At that time, everything was slightly different - the Internet was slower, 3.2 megapixel cameras were the latest buzz, digital photographers were just getting acquainted with their tools, and 500 pixels was a good size for photos displayed on CRT monitors. Over the years, the 500px platform went through a number of revisions and changes, growing together with technology and photographers, and keeping focus on the highest quality photos. 500px was founded and is run by two acclaimed photographers and entrepreneurs, Oleg Gutsol, CEO and Evgeny Tchebotarev, COO. For more information, visit our newsroom.

To view the photos associated with this press release, please visit the following links:

www.marketwire.com/library/20121031-500pxolegfull.jpg

www.marketwire.com/library/20121031-500pxevgenyfull.jpg