My First Contest - Afterwards

So all in all, the exhibition/contest was a great success.  For some reason, only one of my photos was displayed but I had heard that some people didn't have any of their work displayed at all.  So I guess I should be thankful to have had the one.

I had some friends stop by who I hadn't seen in over a year, and co workers drove about an hour to come to the show which was a huge deal to me as it was really unexpected that they would accept the invitation.  There was a huge turnout overall at the studio, so that was good to see.  A woman from an independent film company had given me her card and expressed interest in licensing my frog photo (the company is Bullfrog Films), so who knows where things go from there.  That was pretty unexpected and totally awesome!

Ready! Set........SHOW!

Well, yesterday I finished up with matting and framing my second photo for the contest.  Since I have already done one, I guess now I just think I'm some sort of pro or something, and decided to double mat the frog photo.  It actually looks great, although certainly not perfect.  There was a woman at a local crafting store that helped me pick out the mats and showed me how good a double mat looks.  I still don't think these particular photos will do well in this particular show, but if nothing else I'm happy to have learned how to use my mat cutter and frame my photos.

I'll be sure to keep you updated on any progress with the competition.  Here are actual, non-camera phone pictures of both photos framed and hung.

Because it is cold outside

I'm freezing my butt off right now in my office, so I thought I'd share some warm photos which I've taken over the last couple of years which remind me of sunshine and nicer weather.  Maybe just by looking at these photos, it'll bring the warmth and a smile to your face.

Preparations for the contest

This weekend I got the materials needed for matting and framing my photos for the contest I'll be entering.  I've gotten many photos matted and framed professionally, and I've even had a mat cut and mounted it myself into a frame, but from what I've learned I pretty much did it all wrong before.

A special thanks goes out to my girlfriend, Natalie, for buying me my mat cutter for christmas.  The mat cutter is a Logan 450 Intermediate + mat cutter and it worked great.  I have no experience with other mat cutters, but this one came with an instructional dvd which was all of 10 minutes long at most, and gave very clear and concise directions on how to use it properly.

My First Contest

So this week, I will be entering my first art contest.  I'm pretty excited, although I most likely won't win anything as the photos I'm entering are a bit of a stretch for the theme of the contest.  The theme is relating to farms and the photos I'll be submitting are taken at a farm, but not easily recognizable as being farm related in any way.  I've never had my photos displayed in an art gallery of any sort, so this excites me greatly.  Also, maybe someone will be interested in buying one of my photos!  A portion of the proceeds will go towards revitalizing the town in which I grew up, so it's a pretty good cause.

My mom will be entering a couple of her paintings as well, so on top of all the other excitement, it's pretty cool that this is something we can do together.  Anyways, if you happen to be local to the area be sure to stop by and check out all the artwork at Studio B in Boyertown PA on Friday January 21st from 5pm to 8pm.

Here are the two photos I'll be entering:

Winter Wonderland

One of my first "real" shots with my new Pentax FA 100mm f/2.8 Macro. Wanted to capture the tree in forground and in-focus with the lamp bg out of focus. Overall pretty happy. Was shot wide open so I'm hoping that's why there was some serious softness going on with the shot originally.

Pentax K-x and Sigma 10-20mm

Here are some shots taken with my Pentax K-x and Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC lens.  I haven't had the lens for all that long, so expect to see even better photos as I get better acquainted with this lens' traits.