I Was the Photo Contest Judge/Part I; My Picks and Why & $10 Discount Winner

Hand Update

I co-led Denise’s Ippolito’s Creative Flower Photography Workshop at Chanticleer Gardens on Friday afternoon and along with friends Mike and Karen Lotito we photographed at Longwood Gardens on Saturday morning. More on that here soon. The hand is feeling a better each day and I can now see the knuckles on the back of my left hand. How good does it get?

I Was the Photo Contest Judge/Part I; My Picks and Why

The contest images were sent to me on CD less than a week before the program in Connecticut. I had fun doing the judging. There were no cries for me to be lynched when the results were announced at the end of the seminar. Below are my picks for the Nature section of the contest. We will do the same thing with the six top bird photographs soon.

I awarded first place in the Nature division of the contest to Lizard on a Rock. The main reason for doing so was that the image put a smile on my face; how many times have you seen a lizard holding an umbrella in the rain? (Sarah Mayhew was on target with the comment she made on May 25, 2011 at 1:48 am.) The image was pleasingly composed, it was sharp, and it was properly exposed. And with the photographer pretty much on the same level as the animal the image has an intimate feel to it. Though there were lots of excellent images in the final six (and beyond), Lizard on a Rock was the clear winner for me.

I chose Fall River Scene as the 2nd place image in the nature division for its soft light, its sweet colors, and its pleasing composition. A nice breeze gave the leaves a soft, impressionistic look as if the image had been created with some sort of filter. (Note: no filter was used.) I also liked the sky quite a bit.

I awarded Fire and Ice third place in the Nature section of the contest for its wonderful colors, the lovely background, the crisp focus on the butterfly’s face, and the narrow depth-of-field.

The Bullfrog, which also put a smile on my face, was obviously a superb image and perhaps on a different day I would have rated it higher. Swallowtail Sex was beautifully framed and the photographer did a great job of paralleling the subjects. It would have rated higher but for the chopped off blade of grass in the lower left corner…. I liked the sharpness of the White-faced Capuchin and the fact that the photographer handled the off-angled light well. The background was a bit busy for my taste. You can see the six images and all the comments here.

$10 Discount Winner

Thanks all for playing. Though nobody matched my picks first through third exactly, Jaclyn was the only entrant to have all three of my picks as her three top picks so she is the winner of the BIRDS AS ART On-Line Store $10 discount. On May 26, 2011 at 9:12 am she commented as follows: 1st: Fire & Ice, 2nd: Lizard on Rock, 3rd: Fall River Scene. Congrats Jaclyn.

At the time of my posting this the Bullfrog was the clear popular choice with 34 first place votes far out-pacing my choice, Lizard on a rock with only 8 first place votes. Congrats to the winning photographers and thanks again to everyone for playing.