See Hear Speak No Evil

I would like to thank you for all participating in the photo contest. It was such a success that I will be having another one soon.

The Judges…
Bridge: Qualified judge in photography. LOL. I actually have 13 years of experience in photography and I get paid to do it. It is actually my job. Surprise!!!
Jess: Cell phone camera expert. You need a portrait from a cell phone? Call Jess!
Max: My husband. He has to look at photos all the freaking time so after being with me for 14 years… he has an eye for it. Now he actually can’t take a photo, but he can tell an opinion of one. I actually let my 8 year old son take pictures more often then I let my husband.
Nick: My brother-in-law. He is a graphic designer and has a photographer for a wife. His opinion matters a lot to me in this since he is someone that actually has to use photos I take.

hi, this is jess. i’m one of your impartial judges for this photo contest. some things you should know, right up front:

1. i will mark my comments with italics. that’s how you’ll know it’s ME tallking.
2. i have, like, zero photography training. i take most of my photos with my 1.3 megapixel smartphone. and then i post them AS IS - no photoshopping or anything like that. most of it is because i just don’t have the time, but some of this is because i’m lazy.
3. i’m going to say “oh my GOSH i love this pic!” at least 37 times. or at least as many times are there are photo entries. i’m not even going to apologize for that. just deal with it.
4. i want all of you to win. i’m not just saying that.
5. winners are posted at the very bottom…

HILLARY

i love the aqua wash this picture has. i don’t know if she used a filter or what, but i love the way the sky is colored. and the ripples in the water are super cool. it makes me think about what caused them.

I also like the color of this photo. My favorite part though is the repetition of shapes… the sky and the lake. I also like how your eye follows the lake down to the peak in the distance.

AARON

i adore black and white photography. what i really like about this photo is the crispness of the flower and the blurriness in the background. superb contrast on all fronts.

What can I say about Aaron? I love his photography. I found him on Deviant Art a while ago and have followed his photography since then. He has the most amazing pictures. You really should go check out his profile. It is cool how I can tell if he took the photo from a thumbnail. To be that consistent in photography is amazing. He challenged me to take a black and white picture that is in the theme “blue.” I am still stumped on this.

FRI YET

.

i love this picture because it reminds me of home. if you live by the rockies at all - this mountain could be near your home. i also love how the trees appear to be taller than the mountains because they are in the forefront. rocky mountain high!

I agree with Jess on this. It reminds me of home. It also reminds me of Jackson Hole. For anyone that has been to Jackson Hole… you know it is beautiful.

HOLLI


holli takes 3,764 pictures a DAY. i’m not lying. she is a wonderful photographer and her best subject is usually her daughter. however, i’ve totally been digging her squirrel pics as of late. they’ve invaded her backyard and instead of being freaked out (as i probably would), she busted out the camera. the detail you can see on this little guy (gal?) is just amazing - i love his little claws. talons. whatever they are called.

This was my first choice. I absolutely love this photo. My favorite it the cute little ear with a notch out of it. I was also scared that she would send the squirrels on me, but it is not what based my decision. Look at the detail on this photo. Look at those whiskers!

JENNIFER

jen calls this picture “jazz hands.” i love that name - because if you know what jazz hands are, then you get it. the coolest thing about this picture is that is has captured the sun EXACTLY the way i used to draw it in elementary school. you know - with the long rays and the shorter ones in between? the other thing i love about this photo is that it looks WARM outside. obviously, we know this was taken in the summer, but still. i’ll look at this in january and i know i’ll FEEL WARM. (yeah, right.)

Jennifer just got a new camera. I actually asked her join this photo contest because of that fact. I love the sun flare photo. I very rarely get these right even though I know how to do them. That sun is just amazing. I like how Jess explained how she liked to draw suns that way. Love it!

PSYCHMAMMA

oh how i love this photo. i actually want to ask psych mamma if she will let me reprint this and frame it for my house. i’m NOT kidding. i love to add bursts of color to a room with a great photo.

This is actually a photo I would have taken. Enough said. I adore this photo. I’ll have to post some of my flower pictures sometime so you can see. I had two photos of this type of flowers in a gallery once. The composition in this one is just perfect. I also like the point of focus.

MELLY


i adore this photo. the composition is great and what i really like about it is that fence posts remind me of home - especially if i am in a place where there are no mountains. utah is peppered with posts like this. and now that i’m looking at it again, i’m not even 100 percent sure it’s a fence post. it could be a broken telephone or electrical pole. the metal tags on it add to the rustic-ness of this photo.

Melly actually is one of my customers. I love this photo for the texture. Although this photo is not very natural, it shows how something in nature just the same. I like how nature has made it decay. My brother-in-law said it reminded him of orcs. He happens to be painting orcs right now for WarHammer, so he did admit to having orcs on his mind. Just a funny side note.

HOMELYANIMAL

let’s start with photo numero uno. i like the human hands in the photo…adds a personal touch. and those tomatos look delicious.

the second photo reminds me of a project my kids might do. jenna would love to put leaves in a pot… again, there is a thumb there in the photo - and i like that.

My brother-in-law said these photos reminded him of an editorial. I agreed. The color and subject tell a story. The human element somehow grounds it. The fact that I am hungry now…

STACEY I


i have always liked looking at pictures of horizons. this one is cool because it’s not exactly at 180 degrees…it’s a bit tilted and i like that composition. and it makes me think - where was this taken? from a boat? from a beach? was the photographer standing in the water?

I love panoramics. I love how they can tell a larger story than a regular picture. In an answer to Jess… I am guessing boat, but who knows. That is part of the mystery.

AL


al, this picture is so cool. too bad you can’t win. honestly all these pictures are cool. none of them appear to be taken with the bad ass moto q camera phone. which is probably why i love them so much.

I love these flowers. I love how the flowers are in detail and the background is out of focus. Great depth of field!

so here’s the wrap-up:

FIRST PLACE goes to Melly! congrats! all four judges picked YOUR photo in their top three.
SECOND PLACE goes to PsychMamma! we all (judges included me, bridge, her husband max and max’s brother nick…) loved your photo. and for real - can i reprint?
THIRD PLACE goes to HOLLI! your chipmunk is just TOO CUTE.

I think this will be the only time I can enter… But I still can’t win (which I think is bullshit, people, bullshit). I have some awesome nature photos that were taken earlier this year but Bridge is a Nazi so I went out and took some new ones.

This is the Desert Bird of Paradise shrub. It is my FAVORITE desert plant of all time. When in full bloom, the stamen stick straight out. When they start to become flaccid, I know the end of summer is near (I encourage you to look at this at full size. I f’ing HEART this flower!)

Another indication that summer is coming to a close… The little white fluff that is the end of a dandelion.

This rose bud is outside my neighbors back door. Why not mine?

Anywho- Thanks Bridge for coming up with this idea. Keep the photos coming, people!

Don’t forget to enter the photo contest we are hosting!

If you forgot… here are the rules, link.

Tell your friends!

***EDIT***
You can still enter if you don’t have a blog. Just send a comment with the photos URL, and make sure you write something about it. You can use flickr, deviant art, ext…
***END EDIT***

Those of you that know me know I love photography. It is a passion of mine to say the least, and after that… no comment.

Well I want to do a photo contest, and I want all of you to do it with me as well. Please invite all of your friends. I want this to be an ongoing thing. THERE IS A PRIZE!!! SEE BELOW. I will also submit a photo, but I am NOT in the competition. Jess and Al can totally submit as well, but Jess cannot win since she is voting this week. I am still working on all the logistics of this, but next week I will have the official rules. I will also figure out who is judging. I am planning on having more than just me. This week Jess and I are the judges.

THIS WEEKS THEME: SOMETHING IN NATURE

PRIZE: $10 Gift Card to your place of choice. (note from jess: i have to be able to buy it online.)

SUBMIT: ALL ENTRIES SHOULD BE SUBMITTED BEFORE SATURDAY AUGUST 30TH AT MIDNIGHT (mountain daylight time). I’ll post my favorites for view on Monday. Jess and I will also select a winner.

RULES

1. Take a NEW photo. Do not submit something you have already taken. Yes I should be able to tell in the meta data. Yes I can check that. Unless noted otherwise I want NEW photos.

2. Take the photo yourself. If you don’t take the photo then you shouldn’t submit it. If you put your camera on a tripod and just have someone push the button then it is ok. If you have them hold the camera it is NOT ok.

3. Post your photo on your blog and mention the contest. Invite others to join and give them our URL. The more the better!

4. Put a link in our comments. This link should have the post’s URL and not just your blog’s URL. By commenting you are giving me permission to post your photo on my blog with your link. I might possibly even critique your photo. Bonus for you.

5. Cross your fingers and hope you are chosen to be the winner!