The October 2023 competition theme was: Nature. The judge was Cynthia Keith.
Advanced Projected
First Prize
Ilona Linnoila – Cub Talking to Mom
This picture was taken in Canadian High Arctic in August 2022 when we were traveling through ice on a Northwest Passage Voyage. I was on an icebreaker, stationary at the time. Using binoculars we had been following the polar bear mother with her cub since they were tiny dots in the horizon. Eventually they wandered closer. It appeared that the cub was ready to feed, but mother was putting it off for the time being. In the picture, the cub directly confronted mom with her nipples clearly visible who eventually yielded. Our instructor encouraged us to show surrounding ice and water to give a picture some context which I did. The photography was helped by cloudy skies. The picture was taken using Sony a7R4 with a Sony FE 200-600mm lens on a monopod. 600mm, f/16.0, 1/500 sec, ISO 2000.
Second Prize
Larry Gold ~ 2023 Asian Lily
The lily is from my front yard garden. Didn’t need to go far to see nature in its glory. I softened the leaves post-processing, to accentuate the delicate texture of the stamens.
Third Prize
David Terao ~ Turkey Feathers
This image is a close-up of turkey feathers taken at the National Zoo. The standard-bronze, male turkey was in a shallow pit and came right up to the wall allowing me to shoot down closely from almost directly above. Although the feathers had an interesting iridescent sheen, I used a color overlay in Photoshop to complement the beautiful pattern of the feathers.
Honorable Mention
Larry Gold ~ New Hope Frog
This pic is from our first outing during the pandemic to New Hope, PA. The frog was lounging in one of the ponds on the grounds where we were staying. I was fortunate to get its eyes and the in-between space in focus.
Honorable Mention
Bob Catlett ~ Rain Drops 3
Novice Projected
First Prize
Bruce Schaefer – Sunrise Palouse
Two years ago on a trip to The Palouse in eastern WA, we drove up Steptoe Mountain to watch the sunset over the plains. This curving branch caught my eye; when I got in the right position, it seemed to embrace the fading sun. I submitted it in black & white, but it also looked good in its natural shades of gold.
Second Prize
Will Rabinovich – Tenacity
This image was taken in the caldera of Kilauea volcano about 15 years ago. The plant you see actually prefers growing in the cracks of the lava field. By now everything you see would be gone, covered over by the new eruptions that started in 2018. The picture was taken with a Canon EOS D60, a camera with ten times fewer pixels than my current Sony A7riv! So megapixels are not everything!
Third Prize
Will Rabinovich – Home on the Range
This image was taken this past June during a trip to Rocky MountainNational Park. After a long day of wet and chilly hiking, my wife and i went back out in the evening to Moraine Park, where there are typically herds of Elk. We found many! I like this image because it shows the beautiful environment of the park along with the elk. It was taken with a Sony A7riv and a Tamron 70-180 zoom at 70mm and f/14. It was processed with Lightroom for global exposure, contrast and saturation, and then Photoshop for some object removal.
Advanced Printed
First Prize
Sherm Edwards – Peaceful Dawn
Taken at Blackwater Falls State Park, West Virginia.
Second Prize
Tom Allen ~ One Day I Will Fly
As much as I would like to claim that I took this shot while bushwhacking in a rain forest somewhere, alas I took it inside my house. These birds (and their mom) were creating quite a noisy nuisance in my wife’s meditation room, having nested underneath a window air conditioning unit. I waited until I thought they had flown away (quiet for three days running), before lifting out the unit, intending to dispose of the nest. I was surprised to find these two nestlings staring up at me. Yikes. Realizing it might be futile, I carefully scooped up the nest and took it outside and propped it up on the rungs of a ladder. Indeed, the mama found her birds and for a couple weeks, kept bringing food to the transplanted nest. When the feeding stopped, I took a peek. One of the li’l ones had died, but the other had flown away. So I was partially happy, but very pleased with the print. The colors and textures of the nest are quite beautiful. As are the birds’ feathers. [Apple iPhone 12 Pro, 6 mm, f20. 1/500sec, ISO 25]
Third Prize
Sherm Edwards ~ Heron and Turtles
Taken at Bombay Hook NWR in Delaware.
Novice Printed
First Prize
Renee Shaefer ~ Azeleas in Spring
This image was taken at Brighton Dam in Brookeville, MD in early spring. The park was filled with thousands of azalea bushes of all different colors. I zoomed in on this one blossom and was able to focus in on the details and using a large enough aperture opening got the surrounding blossoms to blur and used them as the background. This image was taken with the Canon EOS R7 using the 18-150 lens.
Second Prize
Bruce Schaefer ~ Dreamy Duck
This was taken at Lake Artemisia in PG County last year. I didn’t notice until later review that the water was almost invisible; the duck appeared to be floating on air. I didn’t do much to the image, simply vignetting the borders [with white instead of black – reverse vignetting?] a bit more and sharpening the duck.