PPSDC 2011 Photographer of the Year
I just received a package from the Professional Photographers of San Diego County, containing the awards for 2011 Photographer of the Year, Illustrative Photographer of the Year and “The Victor,” celebrating Master Photographer and Mentor Victor Avila for the 2011 Image of the Year! Needless to say, I am very proud!
I also accomplished my Fellowship from the Professional Photographers of San Diego County!!
This totals 30 Photographer of the Year awards in my 37 year career as a professional photographer!
The 2011 Image of the Year named after Master Photographer Victor Avila!
2011 Illustrative Photographer of the Year
I hope that this will be the catalyst for you to consider entering imagery in Print Competitions. It will only help you become a better photographer!
Heading out to catch the Orient Point Ferry one misty Long Island morning, I had to fight with myself not to stop every time I saw a beautiful soft image in the misty distance. After giving a few up, I decided to stop and grab a couple of beautiful memories of Long Island as the buds start to show. Spring in the East End wineries. So lovely to see the beautiful pastel landscape beckoning to be captured. I found a wonderful image of the new vines ready to capture this life giving moisture to the grapes that will soon be hanging heavy throughout the vineyard. I just need to let you know that if I were not speaking in Cape Cod, I could have easily and happily spent the day shooting, and would have been miserably sad that I would be running out of light. I had to keep to a schedule which really meant that I would continue enjoying the miserable, raw, windy, rainy, mist that is New England!
Long gone are the days where I drove around Long Island in the fog, in the middle of the night. The days of Mary Tyler Moore on every night at 2 AM. Well, I have not had the pleasure of stepping away from the slide duplicating to enjoy a break with Mary and Rhoda, yes, Morgenstern, but I recently landed in NYC’s JFK Airport at 11 PM. I grabbed a rent a car and headed East. These days I stay with my great family/friends, they are one and the same in this case, way out East in Calverton. This is the area that I used to fly my hot air balloon, nice open fields, minimally residential, although it continues to grow, now populated with tons of deer, wold turkeys, so many critters. This is a nice, dark, rural area, that luckily is a few degrees cooler than the big city in the west, perfect for doing some fog images! I decided, especially since I was at the end of the weather and some big winds started to kick up. I pulled out my tripod and mounted my 1D Mark IV fit with a 24-105 mm f/4 lens, setting the iso to 6400. It was like daylight as I found a single light source, that combined with the moisture in the air, lit up the normally black, lifeless sky that was now a wonderful grey glow. Wonderful separation for the backlit young leaves growing from the spring buds. It really is a great feeling to see something in your miond and go out and create it with the tools that we have today, the low noise at high iso, the magnificent color and sharpness let us go where a decade ago we only dreamed of! To me, photography gets better each and every time that a new camera model is released! I cannot wait for the next round….soon….not soon enough though!
I hope that you enjoy the image.
Here is another images that I shot yesterday as the Year 2010 came to a close. It was a great Infrared day, so I was able to visit my favorite friends in the park. Here is a view from Artists Point. It looks Lunar to me. What do you think?
I started my visit this day with a stop by my tree. We as photographers tend to take ownership of some of our subjects. I found this tree, when it was still old, but healthy and alive. Unfortnately time has taken its toll on this tiny iconic guardian of Monument Valley! I have spent 20 years enjoying the company of this friend. I hope that he will still be with us for years to come. It allows me to frame my favorite shapes in the universe, the fabled Mittens.
And lastly for this post, just an awesome display of how clouds become and are a huge part of a Landscape photograph! Clouds are my motivation to get out and shoot. I remember my high school “theme” for the prom was “we will never pass this way again” way back in 1975. That is my mantra when it comes to clouds. They are with us for spice and will never be there again. I can draw a partallel to my other passion, Hot Air Ballooning! We pass places and we will never again be in that same place!
and the final photo here finds me sitting in Joe’s family buggy. I have photographed the buggies for decades and til this day have never had the pleasure to be able to sit in one. It was a joy. I cannot wait to get back there and actually go for a ride!
