Second place went to Tom Cadwalader’s Beach Post.
First place went to Jim Burkstrand’s Hot Peppers.
Deb Nesbitt
The Photo Club of Quail Creek (PCQC) hosted the February photo contest with the theme of Black and White. This presented a great opportunity to see the world through a different filter! Photos from the last three years were eligible with minimal post processing.
First place was awarded to Jim Burkstrand’s Hot Peppers. He reported that he took this photo in January 2021 on the photo club field trip to Tubac. “I enjoy walking around Tubac, as there is such a large variety of subjects to see and shoot. I was primarily there to shoot for the B&W challenge, but I shot these hanging peppers for the Texture challenge. It took a while to get the proper alignment of the peppers and the background that I wanted. I converted it to B&W using Lightroom, and I liked the final result a lot as I ended up with a full range of tones. I shot using a Canon EOS 90D, at 1/500 sec as there was a light breeze, and f/8 for a decent depth of field and good sharpness.” Other shooting parameters included ISO 250 and a focal length of 70 mm.
Second place went to Tom Cadwalader for Beach Post. Tom shared, “This image was from a winter RV trip that included a stopover in Destin, in Florida’s panhandle. It is a very simple high-key beach scene and one of our favorite beach landscapes. It is an image that my wife has used the color version of a few times in the note and greeting cards that she creates. I always felt that this image was a good candidate for a black and white version. In Lightroom I created a virtual copy, to preserve the original, and then did a Black and White conversion to the copy. The result is what I entered in the photo club’s February contest.” Shooting parameters for the Olympus E-M1MarkII included f/9, shutter speed of 1/1250 second, focal length of 420 MM, and ISO 640.
Steve Piepmeier’s Stare Down took third place. “This Mother Great Horned Owl had been sitting on her nest and allowed me to observe her several feet below. She let me watch her there for quite a while, and then she silently but very quickly flew up to the top of a nearby palm tree. I took a series of photos of her when suddenly she raised her wings up and had this wonderful display. She needed a good stretch and with my Panasonic Lumix I was able to catch this photograph.” The photo was shot using f/6.4, 1/250 second, focal length of 132 MM, and ISO 200.
The Photography Club of Quail Creek sponsors several opportunities for club members, such as monthly and quarterly photo contests, field trips, access to extensive photography resources, and timely presentations during our monthly meetings (Zoom format during COVID-19). Please consult our website at www.pcqc.org and the HOA What’s Happening for additional information.
Third place went to Steve Piepmeier’s Stare Down.