The September 2023 competition theme was: Open. The judge was Roz Kleffman
Advanced Projected
First Prize
David Terao ~ Framed
This image was taken at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. The concert hall is a fascinating abstract architectural building designed by Frank Gehry. As I was walking around the perimeter of the concert hall, I saw this interesting framing by the concert hall’s slanted walls of a skyscraper across the street.
Second Prize
Maude Svensson ~ Last Day of Summer
My husband and I spend every summer on one of the islands in the Stockholm archipelago, Sweden. In late August, when it is time to pack up and leave, I always feel sad to go, knowing how much I will miss family, old friends, and the beauty of nature. For that reason, I wanted my photographs to reflect how I felt. With inspiration from Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”, my husband Lars was persuaded to be a model dressed up in a hat, suit, and portfolio to represent a lonely man who is contemplating the meaning of life. His lonely and odd position at the dock during sunset, and the stillness of the sea with reflections, contributed, I hope, to conveying these feelings.
Third Prize
Bob Catlett ~ I See You
Taken in Florida with the Nikon Z9 with a 105 macro and a Nikon Macro flash with three heads. 1/200 of a second, F36, ISO 500, hand held.
Honorable Mention
Bob Catlett ~ The Knothole
The perks of retirement in a townhome include being able to do spring chores such as mulching through your camera’s lens from a rooftop deck. The picture was taken using Sony a7R IV camera with FE 70-200 mm F4 G OSS lens (126 mm) at 1/1250 sec, f/9, ISO 400.
Honorable Mention
Sherm Edwards~Upstairs at the Renwick
I’ve been to this room several times; the couple in the foreground made this shot very different from others I have taken there. It was hand held with low light, so lots of processing required in Lightroom, Denoise AI, and Sharpen AI.
Honorable Mention
Wendy Kates~Walking through midtown at dusk
I took this image in midtown Manhattan with my iphone (ISO 640, f/1.8, 1/20 sec) and transferred it into Photoshop, where I applied two layers of Motion Blur (one in a vertical direction and one in a horizontal direction). I removed the blurred effect from the pedestrians with a layer mask.
Novice Projected
First Prize
Bruce Schaefer ~ Bikerette
Taken at the annual High Wheel bicycle race in Frederick. She was one of only 6 women among 50 riders, also among the youngest of the bunch, and the most colorful. This was a great event for practicing panning and a super-fun day in general. I hope the club makes it an annual outing.
In my long career as an academic, I attended, maybe, three conferences a year, where I’d fly off, and live in a mammoth conference center for three days, during which I’d stand on a stage and present a twenty-minute paper (if I was lucky), or stand in front of a poster (more likely) for my allotted schedule time, and be a barker for my research. I’d always find a place, in the vast hallways adjacent to large conference center ballrooms, to sit, alone, go through my talk, and get ready to defend my findings. Often, I loved doing this. Often I um, didn’t. I will say it gave me opportunities to photograph on someone else’s dime.
Second Prize
Jim Riley~Car Interior
The car was a Thunderbird which had been heavily customized with an open roof and the unique steering wheel I captured.
This car stood out at the October 2022 Rockville auto car show because it was lime green. I needed to do several edits to the image to remove background people and also needed to remove items on the car floor. I shot many cars and there were always people in the backgrounds to complicate this photographers task. I enjoyed getting the second place recognition!
Advanced Printed
First Prize
Thomas Allen ~ Amusements After Katrina
n March of 2009, almost four years after Hurricane Katrina, large swaths of New Orleans were still abandoned and still quite devastated. That year I attended a professional conference in New Orleans. There were bus tours of the more devastated areas, and I hopped onto one of these. This photo was taken through the bus window, as it passed the once flooded Six Flags New Orleans Amusement park. Dark, abandoned, and cloud-covered, the image stands as a reminder of the devastation caused by Mother Nature. Today, the park remains abandoned (except for the alligators, I understand), near 18 years after Katrina. (Canon 5D Mark II; 1/8000 @ F3.5; 103mm; ISO 800)
Second Prize
Kate Woodward ~ People Present in the Piazza, Milano
This iPhone photo was taken from the top of the Duomo Church in Milan, a church begun in 1387 and seating 40,000 people. Most of my photos from the rooftop were close-up views of the statues and spires, but looking down on the piazza from this perspective, with its crowds of tiny people, especially appealed to me.
Third Prize
Larry Gold ~ NYC-Old-New
I shot this from the pedestrian walkway on the Brooklyn Bridge. Since I was up high, I was able to avoid keystoning that would have occurred had I been at ground level.
Honorable Mention
Beth Koller ~ Desert Patina
There is a lot more to see in Death Valley than the usual sites on paved roads. There are numerous unpaved roads particularly on the western edge of the Park proper and which may involve travel on unpaved roads outside the Park—although some of these are on various areas under other forms of Federal jurisdiction in addition to private inholding. This photo was taken in Shoshone (population 13) just outside the southeastern boundary of the Park. It can be reached via the highway outside the Park or by taking one of the two roads that travel the edge of the “Badwater” (one paved; the other gravel) and eventually merge and leave the Park at Shoshone. On the unpaved route, we had a sandstorm—great for camera gear!
Honorable Mention
Larry-Gold~NOLA-Train-in-Park
For this image, which I took in a park in New Orleans, I used an infrared/black&white post-processing setting in Lightroom; it accentuated the Spanish moss hanging from the trees.
Novice Printed
First Prize
Diane Sanders ~ Sand Figure
The outgoing tide in the bay at Lewes beach leaves deposits of dark sand. I chose to photograph an area that to me was suggestive of a figure. Post-processing enabled me to clean up the background and to draw attention to the lines and texture of the “figure.”
Second Prize
Diane Sanders ~ Lily Bud
A lily from my garden was about to open. I brought it inside and lit it from behind. I used focusing and lighting to emphasize the interior, the edges and the tip of the flower.
Third Prize
Will Rabinovich ~ Rush
This picture was taken on a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park this past June. The park had a very wet spring (that continued while we were there). All the rivers, streams, and waterfalls were really going! This image is of the Big Thompson River along the Cub Lake Trail. I wanted to convey a sense of the power and speed of the river, and to give the viewer a sense of being right in the flow. Taken with a Sony A7riv and a Tamron 20-40 lens at 20 mm f/22, 1/5 sec. Processed in Lightroom with global exposure and saturation adjustments, and some selective adjustments of the water relative to the rest of the scene.