Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Hills entries

This past weekend I had lots of fun up in the Hocking Hills. I took LOTS of pictures (over 400 for the competition, plus almost 175 more the next day at a fun wildlife photo shoot). Since it's a competition, you can only submit a limited number of photos, so that means I had to whittle my 400+ shots down to only 6. That part was NOT fun.

I'll start off by sharing the photos I submitted (click on any photo to be taken to a larger view in my Picasa web album):


Category: Abstract
Subject matter: Leaves of Dutchman's Breeches


Category: Flora
Subject matter: Round-lobed Hepatica


Category: Flora
Subject matter: Dutchman's Breeches


Category: Human Interest in Nature
Subject matter: Reflection of me in stream at Ash Cave


Category: Landscape
Subject matter: Reflection of surrounding trees in strean at Ash Cave

You are not allowed to manipulate images in any way for this competition - the photos must be submitted as they were captured in your camera. For this reason there were a lot of photos I took that I knew would be better cropped down (like photos of waterfowl that I just couldn't get close enough to). Also, I feel that even some of my entries look a little better with a flip of the "monochrome" switch:






This, however, is my favorite photo taken during the entire competition. I played around with my camera settings a lot to get this coloring.

I submitted this photo to the "Photographer's Choice" category. This category was voted on by all of the participating photographers rather than the judges, so it was a peer-based category. Any guesses as to what the subject matter might be?

Unfortunately, I did not win any prizes for my submissions. Oh well. There were almost 200 folks competing this year, so I was up against lots of other super photographers. Maybe next year!

Tomorrow I will be sharing some VERY cool bird photos I captured after the competition was over.

5 comments:

An Open Heart said...

OMG! What a cool shot! It looks like a rock peaking through the surface of a pool of water. I can't imagine why you didn't win something with that shot! It's just beautiful. Your other pics are great, too. Your photography is really inspiring....I think I need to bust out my old camera and get creative. Thank you!

Kelly said...

...I like that first photo with the dew drops on it, and the mystery photo...wowsers!! Very cool. It looks like a mountaintop encased in fog, but my guess is the same as Open Heart...rocks in a pool of water. I love the misty, foggy look and the intense color.

Monika said...

I like the photo of the trees reflected in the water, especially with the monochrome switch like you said! The colors in the photographer's choice entry are fantastic, too.

Meg said...

Oh, Heather, they are all fantastic in my book! I love the reflection shots--they look like sketches. The last shot is amazing. I can't wait to find out what it was (is). It looks like you had a blast no matter if you won anything or not. I'm sure the judges had a hard time sifting through 200 photographers. Looking forward to the birds!

Heather said...

OpenHeart - Thank you for your kind words... it's humbling to know that I can provide you with some inspiration! And yes, it's a rock coming up through water...

Kelly - Your guess about a mountaintop in the fog is the same thing Dave said! But we certainly don't have any mountains in the Hocking Hills, so your guess, along with OpenHeart, is correct.

Monika - I really do prefer the monochrome version of those reflection shots, myself.

Meg - Yes, I did have a lot of fun. Anytime I get to spend "playing" outdoors in such beauty is a treat, for sure. And yes, I'm sure the judges felt a little overwhelmed sifting through all our photographs! I did not envy them!