The number of user votes tabulated by the number of e-cards of each photo sent will help decide which contestants will win prizes sponsored by HP and Microsoft. The voting period begins today and ends on 29 July.

‘Project shutter‘ aims to be an online platform for photo enthusiasts to share and showcase their creative talents online. To enter the competition, participants were required to capture and submit up to three unique photos that best depict the spirit of their home city in any of the three categories: food, culture and architecture. The entries can be viewed at www.projectshutter.com.

A community for Project Shutter Community has also been created on Windows Live Spaces (projectshutter.spaces.live.com). The forum is meant to enable users to connect with photographers from across the region, show the world their recent work or simply express their views and opinions of the photos uploaded to the community.

Winners of the contest will receive an HP Pavilion Notebook PC with Windows Vista Ultimate or an HP Photosmart Printer.