Tom Cadwalader won first place with his photo Green Anole.
Bruce Hartsell
Members of the Photography Club of Quail Creek recently voted to select winners in the Second Quarter Challenge, which focused on color.
Tom Cadwalader won first place with Green Anole, a photo he took on a trip to Florida with his wife Gloria. While photographing a brown anole in Gamble Rogers Park near Flagler Beach, he noticed movement nearby, this green anole, which may have extended its dewlap as a territory-defending measure. Tom captured the image with his Olympus OM-1 fitted with an Olympus 150-400 mm zoom at 220 mm, manual exposure, 1/800 sec at f8 and an ISO of 3200. He processed the raw image in Adobe Lightroom Classic.
Denny Huber placed second with Graduation Chairs, which he captured at his grandson’s graduation from Northern Illinois University in May before the seats filled with students. Denny used a Panasonic DC-ZS80, 30.9 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec, ISO 3200, and no flash.
Denny said, “The original image was a bit grainy, since it was indoors,” so he used the Denoise feature in Lightroom, which gave him a silky-smooth texture that he really liked.
Voting produced a three-way tie for third place: one by Shari Rodgers and two by Larry Hudson. Shari’s photo, Festive Umbrellas, was from Umbrella Street in Puerto Plata, “a vibrant and colorful pedestrian street with touristy establishments offering a beautiful sight and great photo opportunities,” so, Shari “had to take some pics!”
Larry’s captured Cactus Flower Closeup in Desert Meadows Park, his favorite park in Green Valley. He used his iPhone 11 ProMax, 4.25 mm, f/1.8, 1/1600 sec, ISO 32, and no flash. His other winning shot, The Color of Water photo, was taken at Silverbell Lake in Tucson with his Canon EOS R6. His main interest was the bird, but he was “struck by the color of the water as the bird was hunting for a meal.” Settings were 300 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 sec, ISO 800, and no flash.
The Photography Club of Quail Creek has a quarterly photo challenge with an established theme, and members vote for the best photos. Photos submitted to the quarterly challenge must have been taken within the quarter, and extensive post-processing is allowed.
Club meetings are held the second Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m., usually at the Kino Conference Center, Mesquite Room. The club also schedules episodic photo field trips and educational meetings. Consult the club’s website www.pcqc.org as well as the weekday HOA What’s Happening for additional information. Membership is open to all Quail Creek residents.