Photos that I have won awards for.
Delicate
This image of an American Lady Butterfly was my first image to merit in a PPA Competition. It scored an 81 at the Arkansas PPA Print competition and was also displayed as part of the exhibition images afterwards.
I spent a lot of time working and developing this image for the competition. For the competition, images are printed, mounted and displayed to the judges for scoring at the event.
According to the Professional Photographers Association: “The Photographic Exhibitions Committee (PEC) of PPA uses the 12 elements below as the “gold standard” to define a merit image. PEC trains judges to be mindful of these elements when judging images to the PPA merit level.”
The 12 elements of a merit image include:
Impact, Techincal Excellence, Creativity, Style, Composition, Presentation, Color Balance, Center of Interest, Lighting, Subject Matter, Technique and Story Telling.
Butterflies are some of my favorite subjects to photograph, but it is never an easy task. This is probably one of my favorite butterfly photos to date. It was taken completely in the natural setting.
Fall Is In The Air
This is an image I took in fall of 2012. To this day this is still one of my favorite pictures. I really enjoy taking pictures of people and “things” that move. I feel that the best moments and expressions occur when people are “living” instead of just standing still smiling. That is the essence of my photography and the reason I do what I do. I truly feel the moments that matter in life are not the moments where you stand in front of a camera and smile, but the moments you LIVE. I like the look of amazement on his face as he watches the leaves. He enjoyed throwing them…. over and over. I also have a few more pictures from this series that I really love. This photo has won 2 awards to date: It won the Editors Choice in the Capture Arkansas Kid’s At Play Photo Challenge in 2012. It was featured in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. In December 2013, this picture was also published in the Capture Arkansas III book. There were 213 photos chosen out of 186,934 photo submissions to be published in this book. I had 4 photos out of the 213 that were published.
Eureka Sunset
This image was taken in Eureka Springs. Jory and I were in Northwest Arkansas for the Youth State Wrestling Championships (2013). He was coaching and I was with a group of photographers photographing the event. I was exhausted, he was too, and we were about to drive the 4 hour drive home. I desperately wanted to find a sunset and we went driving… we had no clue where to go but I was trying to find a place or two on the map. Jory was getting annoyed and I was getting annoyed that he wouldn’t stop and let me get out. Finally I saw this pasture and the cows. We turned on the small road and I jumped out of the car and crossed the road. I stayed for a while and took a few pictures as the sun set, but this was my favorite. By the time I hopped back in and we went to the end of the road the sun was gone. This has turned out to be one of my favorite sunsets. It looks stunning on metallic paper. This photo won Editors Choice in the Out In The Ozarks Challenge. There were so many good pictures entered, when I won I was so surprised the Editors picked mine. But I sat down and looked, and truthfully I feel like this picture really captures Rural Northwest Arkansas and Arkansas life. It’s not your run of the mill pretty picture of Petit Jean or Mount Magazine. Instead there’s something peaceful about it, much like Rural Arkansas life, and much like the cow’s life in the picture I imagine… This image was also featured in “Get Out In The Ozarks” Magazine in July 2013.
Elegant
This image features a Gulf Fritillary perched on some Echinacea. Probably one of my first macro shots, this was taken in my garden in the sweltering hot summer of 2012. I spent a lot of time in the gardens that year. Much to my dismay, 2013 proved to be quite the difficult year for butterflies and insects, and I look forward to what the future brings.
This image was originally featured on the Capture Arkansas website, and has since been published in the Capture Arkansas III book, in December 2013. There were 213 photos chosen out of 186,934 photo submissions to be published in this book. I had 4 photos out of the 213 that were published.
Mason Bee
Yet again the work in the sweltering heat in my gardens has paid off. This time in the form of a Mason Bee. This was taken in the summer of 2012, with a macro lens and extension tubes: no easy feat. This Mason Bee pokes around a flower and he is covered in pollen. I guess bees don’t have allergies!
This is another of my images to be featured in the Capture Arkansas III book, released in December 2013. There were 213 photos chosen out of 186,934 photo submissions to be published in this book. I had 4 photos out of the 213 that were published.
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Who Says Pets Aren’t Family?
Tessa was the final of my 4 images selected for the Capture Arkansas III Book. There were 213 photos chosen out of 186,934 photo submissions to be published in this book. I had 4 photos out of the 213 that were published. This was taken around Thanksgiving 2012.