Jeff Krueger won first place with his photo Are We Lost?
The photo Looking for Fires, by Jim Burkstrand, placed third.
The Photo Club of Quail Creek (PCQC) continued with its monthly members’ contest with February having the topic of Leading Lines. Each club member could enter up to three photos taken in the last year. This subject was a tough one for the members and drew only 24 entries. All of the photos can be seen on our Flickr site tinyurl.com/mrysudaw.
Jeff Krueger won first place with his photo Are We Lost? Jeff commented, “A few months ago, I was able to be part of one of the last of the Arizona Highways Photo Workshops, which took place in the Lake Powell area and the surrounding Navajo reservation, which included the iconic Slot Canyons that are unique to that area of Arizona. Having a Navajo guide gave us some special access to Secret Canyon without the usual busloads of tourists. One of the really interesting features of these canyons is the texture and color of the rock. The challenge was the lighting, which was low, and trying to make sure that the colors and texture stood out using natural light. I was shooting a Canon mirrorless R5 camera with a 24-105mm zoom lens. I used a monopod, as you could not really use a tripod in the confined space, which allowed for a lower shutter speed and smaller aperture for better depth of field. This was one of many Slot Canyon photos I came home with. Clearly, the leading line into the canyon pulls your eye into the photograph.”
Larry Hudson took second place with his photo Cat Walk Canyon. Larry commented, “My photo was taken at Catwalk Recreation Area near Glenwood, N.M. The catwalks, which originally were built to service a water line in a narrow canyon, are a lot of fun to visit. We try to go by the site every time we visit Silver City.” Larry used his iPhone 11 Pro Max, shooting 1/20 sec at f/2.4. Post–processing was done in Lightroom.
Larry Hudson took second place with his photo Cat Walk Canyon.
The photo Looking for Fires, by Jim Burkstrand, placed third. Jim said, “I was traveling on the Durango to Silverton Railroad in Colorado last August. The train passes through the San Juan National Forest and along the Animas River. The scenery is spectacular. I rode most of the journey on the rear platform of the rear parlor car, so I had a great place to take photos from. A number of years ago, sparks from the engine started a small forest fire along the route. When the railroad finally settled up on the damages it caused, they also agreed to have a small work car follow the train to put out any fires that might have been started by sparks. It generally tried to stay hidden, but I was able to capture this shot as it emerged from behind a rock wall.” Jim used his Canon 90D, shooting at 92 mm, 1/800 sec f/5.6.
The Photography Club of Quail Creek has a monthly photo contest for its members and schedules numerous photo field trips for members throughout the year. Meetings are held on the second Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. at the Kino Conference Center, Ocotillo Room. Room venue could vary each month. Consult the club’s constantly updated website www.pcqc.org, as well as the weekday HOA What’s Happening for additional information.