I realized that it has been a while since my last blog post. I have been conquering grim tasks. First was the annual filing of my business property taxes which always leaves me depressed and tempted to quit pro photography and become a shoot and burner so that I wouldn't have to slog through a year of paperwork. The next was entering the International Print Competition which I probably shouldn't describe as grim, just plain scary. I am a CPP (certified professional photographer) but I would also like to get my Master of Photography degree. To do this I need 25 merits. Twelve are service/education merits and thirteen need to be print merits. Getting a print merit is brutal hard and one of the few ways to get one is by entering this competition. If you score high enough you get a merit and it ain't easy. I spent weeks staring at these pictures and tweaking then retweaking, then retweaking again to the point where I can't even look at them any more. I wasn't going to post them but in the interest of facing my insecurities I decided to do it anyway. Yay me.
Above is a picture I took of Green Pond trail here in the Valley. The colors were unbelievably beautiful that day. I changed the photograph into a painting using Painter and my Wacom tablet and pen. Every stroke is done by hand not a filter. Yes, it does take awhile. You are judged on the finished product so usually some sort of edge treatment is done.
This is a picture of my son when he was twenty days old. I turned this picture into a painting as well.The N.Y.C. skyline. I love this picture but it is so darn long that I have no idea what to do with it. I am still trying to figure out how to have it printed. So far it looks like my best bet is to break it up into five or six panels, either gallery or float wraps, to fill the entire wall in my den. I was nervous to enter it for the competition but I saw a picture that had done well reviously that was of the Grand Canyon. It was long and narrow like this one and they also had left the photo with no edging. I decided to just take the plunge because whatever I entered needed to stir me in some way and I couldn't worry to much about what everyone else might think. So I went with my heart and I'm glad though as I look at it I'm not sure if I wouldn't change the crop a little...like I said, I just can't hardly look at them any more.
Below is my favorite wedding picture that I've ever taken. I just love it. 
I believe the judging is in June and I paid to have a video review of my images. I wonder how long it will take me to get the nerve to listen to that. I'm not expecting anything, especially since this is my first competition but I'm glad I entered. The only way to accomplish anything is to try, right?
