2010: A great finish to the year of photography

I have had an exciting end to 2010. I belong to a local photography club. The club is filled with incredible photographers which is what drew me to the club in the first place. We meet each month and there is a photo contest each month. Most of the time the topic is “open nature” with a scavenger hunt judged in November. The December contest is always for the best leaf.

Each month we can submit 4 photos in the contest. The guest speaker for the evening is the judge. Although the prior years have given me some wins, I finally got a first place in May of 2010 with a photo of a Yellow-throated Warbler. This started a series of 3 first places in a row (May, June, and July). I was just amazed. The level of photographers is very high, so I am grateful I was able to see some success.

Here is my Yellow-throated Warbler shot that won in May:



Also won Photo of the Year!





In June, this photo of an Eastern Bluebird took first place.





In July I submitted 2 Gull Photos: This one here of the gull on the lakeshore, won 1st place.

Best Leaf!

I admit, leaves were not my forte.  So I set out to learn.  Fortunately for me, I am married to an awesome leaf photographer!  Kelly taught me what to look for and gave me some tips on composition.  We waited for a nice frost and went out to shoot leaves.  I got four that I really liked and entered this one into the contest.  It won! 

Photo of the Year

This was the first year that the club decided to add a “Photo of the Year”. All first place wins were brought back to be entered in the contest. There were 18 1st place photos. My Yellow-throated Warbler (photo above) won Photo of the Year!

I finished the year with 4 first place wins, and ten additional wins (2nd-HM).  I can't believe it.  In 2009 I did not get any first place wins. 

Photographer of the Year!

The club also decided to have a photographer of the year award. Each month the contest winners earn points based on how the photo finished. I had a total of 60 points from the monthly photo contest. This was enough for me to win “Photographer of the year”!