PPA Silver Level Photographer of the Year
By · CommentsThe images I entered at this year’s state competition went on to n
ationals and they did wonderfully! I got Silver Level Photographer of the Year for 2010.
I will be honored at PPA’s annual convention, Imaging USA, in January 2011 in San Antonio, Texas.
A PPA member earns a Photographer of the Year Award by earning a merit for each of the four images entered for judging. All merited images enter PPA’s renowned General Collection.
This year’s merited images were “Garden Nymph”, “Clay O Patra”, “Queen of the Summer Night”, and “Crystalize”.
The level of award, the Silver Level, means that one of my four merited images, received the highest possible honor: acceptance into the PPA Loan Collection. Only about 500 images from the approximately 5,000 images entered are selected for the Loan Collection. The Loan Collection travels the world for one year and is displayed at photographic exhibitions, conventions, and other photography events.
“Garden Nymph” was the image that went into the Loan Collection. It will also be published in PPA’s Loan Collection book that will come out in 2011.
“Recipients of the Photographer of the Year Awards have achieved a prestigious achievement,” states Dennis Craft, PPA Print Exhibition Committee Chairman. “These coveted awards honor the consistent quality of the photographer’s images in one of the world’s most celebrated image competition, PPA’s International Photographic Competition.”
I am so excited to be one of only 71 Silver Level Photographers of the Year with the same images I entered at state competition.
If you want to see the images I entered you can go to the post from the state awards. http://gordonphotography.biz/blog/awards/masterphotographeryear
Equine Art
By · CommentsFun Photo Friday
A friend’s quarter horse with the most gorgeous mane will make a future art print.
Sign up for your copy of Fun Photo Friday at www.GordonPhotography.Biz
Butterfly Secrets
By · CommentsFun Photo Friday
What do you suppose butterflies talk about? I love the color coordination going on in this image.
Are you signed up for your copy of Fun Photo Friday? Sign up today at www.GordonPhotography.Biz
Coneflowers make great Wall Decor images
By · CommentsFun Photo Friday
The coneflower is a perennial native to Iowa and I have them busting out everywhere at home and at the studio’s garden. This image is available from my wall decor art collection. They come in many colors but I think the purple ones are my favorite.
Peeps are Hatching at Lost Creek
By · CommentsFun Photo Friday
The image itself isn’t terribly exciting but having peeps hatch at home is! Usually I get my chicks in the mail as day old peeps. Lately though I noticed one red hen has been sitting on the nest a lot. So I wondered what would happen if I let her have a pile of eggs. The farm life is new to me so it is just like being a kid learning all of this farm animal behavior stuff, and I just love it. I got a big kick out of watching the red hen pull an egg I set in her box underneath her. I couldn’t believe it. I left her that day with about twelve eggs.
I only saw the red hen off the nest of eggs one time in the three week incubation time. There got to be more than the twelve eggs in there too. I guess she let some of her girlfriends deposit some more. After about two weeks a black hen joined her in the nest. They stayed in their 10×10 inch box together, I thought that was strange until I saw the number of eggs in there! They needed two chickens to keep them all covered.
Okay, so day 21 comes and I find a dead chick on the floor of the coop. I was concerned about how to keep the rest of chicks from falling from the nest after they were hatched. So I attempted to relocate mamma red hen to her own pen with a nest on the floor and tried bringing her eggs with her. She threw a huge fit. Three other ladies joined her in her chicken cussing at me for about 20 minutes after I gave up and let her go back to her original digs.
That evening, my husband peeked under the red hen’s wing and there was the cutest little peep, peeking out. All this time, the black mamma hen is tucked in the backside of the nesting box by the way. We moved the peep to it’s own pen to keep it safe from falling and from the other not so maternal hens and rooster. After about five peeps were in the pen over a course of a couple days, we found the black mama hen on the floor by the peeps wanting to get in with them. Peeps really do not need their moms if they have a heat lamp to keep warm (about 90 degrees), but I felt so sorry for the fretting almost frantic black hen. We put her in the pen with the babies and they were all content. All the little peeps got under her wings and I can’t even see them.
This is the Dad.
As of today we are up to six multicolored, mixed breed chicks. We have one Ameraucana Rooster and four varieties of hens so it will be fun to see the results. I can’t wait to check on them every morning and night to see if there are new ones.
What I wonder now is, how long will momma red hen stay on eggs and let others lay them for her to sit on. Unless I pull the eggs out, we could be overrun! It is a fun adventure. In a couple days I will let momma black hen take her family outside since she is pretty protective. I don’t even like changing the water fountain because she gives me the evil eye and attitude.
Are you subscribed to Fun Photo Friday? If not, sign up today at www.GordonPhotography.biz.
Do Not Panic-I am not in trouble!
By · Comments
You may have seen this sign out in front of the building lately. I am selling the building, zoned 0-1 Office Transitional, in case you know anyone. Gordon Photography & Gallery is not in trouble, much to the contrary. I can not believe how busy slow season has been this year!
But, I am ready to make some changes that will all depend on when the building sells and for how much. So, when I know more, I will pass the information on to you.
Send your friends the link: www.VictorianHomeForSale.info if they are interested in opening a business, office or have a charming home.
Thanks!
The Three Amigos
By · CommentsFun Photo Friday
The three female (I think) rouen ducks fit in the plasitic meat container just fine for a few days. They have graduated to a kiddie swimming pool. They love to eat dandilion leaves and seed heads. I have plenty of that! They also get chicken feed which they get sopping wet and all over the place.
Three short weeks later, they are grown up. They are never more than a few inches from each other. I enjoy watching chickens, they are peaceful. But ducks are really funny! Their absolute love of the water is entertaining. They dive, swim, and chase each other in their pool. Then just as fast, they hop out, run around the yard a few minutes then scurry back into their shed for a nap. I just love being a kid on the farm!
Conversations in Fairyland
By · CommentsFun Photo Friday
Twins’ Conversations in Fairyland
I don’t think I have ever laughed this much in a photo session. These five year old twins have such a great imagination and their mom is so good at pretending with them and asking great questions for them to entertain me with of course! Actually the kinds of questions she asks not only kept the girls in character but gave them something to respond to and hold their interest. The image above is going to be a wonderful canvas wall portrait.
”If you were a fairy, what would your name be?” Mom asked.
“Red Rose!” Kate said without a hesitation.
Mom had another great followup question, “And what is your job as a fairy?”
“To make the flowers bloom in the spring!”
“And Erin, what is your fairy name?”
“GOD!”
Okay by now, I was laughing so much, I wondered if the photographs were going to be sharp. We all thought we heard her say “God”, but we wondered if we really did, so Mom asked to clarify that. “I’m sorry honey, I didn’t hear you,” she said. “Garden Fairy!” was the corrected reply. Well after we composed ourselves, mom asked what her fairy job was.
“To make the flowers grow quickly!”
Another cool thing mom Annette did to get the girls to hold still was to ask them to tell the little fairies in the tree house a secret wish. They had to repeat it five times in a row-that kept them still for me. Red Rose’s secret wish was for a wolf from Build a Bear (even though her sister reminded her that she already had one). Garden Fairy wished for a pony. How cute is that? Oh, in one photograph you could see her fingers sticking out as she was keeping track of the count.
Did you miss the feature image of the girls sharing their wishes to the fairies? Sign up for you own Fun Photo Friday at www.GordonPhotography.Biz so you don’t miss out next week’s feature image.
Perseverance
By · Comments
Fun Photo Friday
The perfect title for this little tree unlikely to grow through a rock but it perservered. My husband, the hunter, is always spotting cool things like this.
I thought perserverance was fitting this week as I photographed a 16 year old young man, Jeff, perservering through a battle with cancer. We did family portraits last night.
“Why Me?” is an article I wrote for the www.PortraitsAndStories.com blog post about how I met Jeff for the first time and the confirmation I got that I am indeed in the right job for me. You can read that story on this blog as well at http://gordonphotography.biz/blog/barbs-articles/why-me-2