Robert Thoresen
Pete Murphy’s winning first place picture of the sandstone feature Ear-of-the Wind was taken on a club overnight photo field trip to Monument Valley in November 2011. The trip also included a Navajo guided tour of Antelope Canyon and Mystery Valley. Pete took over 1100 pictures on the trip, discarded a bunch, but kept about 350. What prompted the taking of the picture was the way the image was framed by the Y of the dead tree. [CoolPix P100V1.0, f6.3, 1/262 sec, ISO-160, f/l 5mm, aperture 3.0, no flash]. January’s contest theme was drawn from the club’s many past photo trips over the last four years.
Second place was garnered by Bob Johnson. Prior to moving to Quail Creek Bob lived for many years on the north side of San Diego, a short distance from The San Diego Wild Animal Park and the San Diego Zoo. He initially had little interest going to the Reid Park Zoo, a much smaller operation. Luckily, he decided to go on the club’s trip and much to his surprise came away much impressed. He took a load of pictures with his SONY NEX-3. When the group got to the giraffe viewing terrace the giraffes seemed very friendly. Bob revisited his trip file two years later and realized the giraffe thought there was vegetation on the woman’s blouse. Bob now recommends the zoo for taking great pictures. [SONY NEX-3, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO-200, focal length 30mm, aperture 4.34, no flash, auto].
On the trainer’s cue, the red tailed hawk swooped down and flew a few feet above the spectators’ heads. A tasty treat awaited the raptor as it lit on the trainer’s gloved hand. Bill Martone took his third place picture on a specifically planned club trip to observe the raptor demonstration at the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum last fall. Bill joined the club last year and has been having great success in placing high in club contests and having his pictures appear in Quail Creek Crossing articles. The raptor demonstration came on one of Bill’s first photo trips. [Canon 60D, digital SLR 28-135mm EF telephoto lens, 1/320 sec, focal length 10, ISO 320. No flash].
The Photography Club of Quail Creek has monthly photo contests for its members and schedules numerous photo field trips throughout the year. Guests are invited to attend monthly meetings held on the second Wednesday of most months throughout the year in the Gold Room at the Madera Clubhouse at 6:30 p.m. For club details visit the club’s website: http://www.pcqc.org.