I have had very little success of late entering contests. Make that no success. Nevertheless, I keep trying. For the first couple of years I entered the City of Orlando Historical Calendar contest, I was chosen; one year they even chose two of my three entries. Beginner's luck as it turns out. The last two I've struck out. Nevertheless, I am going for it once again starting with yesterday late morning. Hot, my friends, it is very hot, pounding the pavement looking for interesting shots. I know better than to go out midday, but that's how it fit into my schedule. Parts of College Park are once again the subject this year and what a lovely neighborhood it is, unlike the year they sent us to Parramore district! Beautiful homes on every street, many, thankfully, under giant shade trees. I began my quest on Peachtree Street because I like the name. Of course I brought my beautiful new lens which takes this kind of photograph.
It is always puzzling what judges are looking for. Coming across a ceramic pumpkin on an open ledge, I entered that photograph, and you guessed it, they picked it for October. With that in mind I wondered if it was too cheesy to exploit all the flags hung for Fourth of July? Probably so.
I kept looking. Do they want details? The only thing I'm really confident about is this: 8x10, Three entries allowed, Black and White.
Another difficulty is that a large number of homes are not historic at all, rather the historic homes have been razed to make way for a McMansions. Probably, the thing to do to is to skip it, but then again, what's the harm. Win or lose, I'm always practicing.
You may have been surprised that I purchased a Macro lens, I certainly was. As it turns out, it is fantastic for most anything, including the above shot. Remember the whole Red Chair business I wrote about last week? As I was looking over my shots yesterday after lunch, an email came through reminding me that the reception was last evening at 5:30, held at the Orange County Administrative Building. All of the photographs were hung, including the ones by yours truly. Most all of them were better than mine I'm a little sad to report. This is one funny picture (taken with the new lens) which began as a photo of Bruce reading my photo description and morphed into this:
One of my pieces, (in the white frame), is hanging to the right of the little girl. Lots and lots of Photoshop used in many of the pieces. It is times like these when I wish, for a moment anyway, that I knew how to use it! I woke up in the middle of the night wondering what I could have done more creatively with the white box and gray carpet that is the Anita S. Wooten gallery I shot at Valencia. Probably not much.
Bruce, on the other hand, woke up insanely early, and unlike me, did not go back to sleep. Instead he went straight to his computer and began working. To be fair, he had a computer meltdown which necessitated the IT guys to rebuild his computer yesterday while he visited his Lakeland job site. They loaded the latest version of Windows, which in itself can be confusing, and rearranged all sorts of other stuff. Needless to say, he was anxious.
Before all the waking up business, once we returned from our little outing last evening, I noticed out the back windows what looked to be the start of a gorgeous sunset. I asked Baxter if he wanted to tag along and he seemed to be up for it, so off we went to the Sims backyard on Lake Jennie Jewell.
Beautiful! It fairly pops off the screen, or at least it seems that way to my eyes! Poor Baxter, the grass is way tall, making for a difficult little romp for his short legs! The very first canvas I ever sold is a sunset taken in July in about this very location. Solid Gold is the name and for a long time, it not only described the photograph, but the sales volume as well. These days, it doesn't make it into my baskets, but perhaps it should.
This morning I decided that instead of just riding around I would wait until Freshfield Farms opened at 9, using my ride to do a little produce shopping. Remember that weird mushroom thing? Take a look at it now!
My idea was not without merit, however, the heat by then was something fierce, not to mention that they have nowhere to lock up a bike. I had to ask nicely if I might leave it just inside the door--out of anyone's way, of course. Next I rode over the see the progress on the shopping center, followed by a little ride behind our post office. From the look of things, it seems that our mail must be sorted into these huge bins, with the mail truck loading from there.
By the time I got home my ride was nearly six and a half miles, which wasn't too terrible, except for how darn hot I was! Instead of jumping into the pool like my body said I should do, vanity prevailed. Instead of messing up my hair with a swim, I made a quick run to Big Lots for an on sale camera card I saw in their weekly advertisement. Same one at Best Buy was two times the price! Big Lots rules!
Finally, on my way home, I drove to a piece of street art I saw out of the corner of my eye while Bruce was driving last night. I am in love with this one.
Showing the image to Bruce on the camera screen while we were eating lunch, he couldn't believe it wasn't a real plug. Don't you think the shadows are terrific?
Did I mention I'm in love with that lens? Buyer's remorse be damned!! Life is too short. :)
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