Upper Antelope Canyon

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Upper Antelope Canyon, originally uploaded by djhinrich, All Rights Reserved.

For our First Anniversary as a Flickr group, we ran a Special Challenge. Players were tasked to find 10 photos for a scavenger hunt within 15 days and to win gold or silvers medals on those photo from our group's competitions. We ended up with over 300 entries. We narrowed that field to 30 and came up with our champion, djhinrich, Dan, from Omaha, Nebraska, USA. We awarded him a free year of a Flickr Pro account. Thanks and congratulations, Dan!

What equipment do you use?

I have a Canon XT with the standard 18-55 lens. What's the story behind this shot? We went to Arizona over Memorial Day weekend, kind of on a whim. I have always wanted to go to Antelope Canyon, so that was on top of our list. I booked the light beam tour, but when we arrived the weather was rainy and overcast. I still wanted to go see the canyon so we went ahead with the tour. This shot was the hardest shot I have probably ever taken. For a brief moment the clouds parted and the lightbeams came in. The canyon was full of people so the guides had to hurry to get everyone out of the way so we could take pictures. When the view was clear the guides then threw sand into the air so we could photograph the beam. I was only able to get two shots before beam went away. I was lucky that the photo actually came out at all! What was it like gathering the photos for the special scavenger hunt? Very tough! I went into the scavanger hunt thinking this was going to be a piece of cake, after all it was only ten photos. I quickly learned how hard it was, especially to shoot in the themes I hardly ever shoot in, let alone play in PFO. Very few of my shots were winning gold in the regular challenges, and after seeing some of the other great photos being posted in the scavenger hunt it was a little discouraging. I continued to take more photos and play challenges until all ten categories were filled. Overall, I had a great time and hope to maybe do it again. This challenge really expanded my range in photography. You scored with 3 entries into the Finals -- how did that feel when you found that out? I was completely shocked. I wasn't expecting to win one let alone three! There were a lot of amazing photos in the different categories, I didn't think there was a chance for one of my photos to continue to the finals. Here is our 2nd place winner, from heritagefutures entitled "Willandra Drought" -- All Rights Reserved

not long for this world

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not long for this world, originally uploaded by Five eyes. All Rights Reserved.

Wow -- this is our One Year Anniversary Jubilee Celebration Month -- Happy Birthday, Photo Face-Off Challenges!

In this month's Brackets, Mary easily blew past the competition to gain her slot in the Final. Despite the toughest challengers ever (see the slideshow to the left of this post), she squeaked into 1st place with this capture of a hungry heron. Here's what Mary, "Five eyes", of Holland, Michigan USA, has to say:

What is the story behind your Brackets entry?

I feel like a bit of a fraud, but I’ll just be up front: I watched this Great Blue Heron catch this little white fish, but only because someone tossed it to him. He was a beggar, hanging out near a fishing pier on Anna Maria Island, Florida, where we were vacationing this spring. The human factor aside, though, it was fascinating to watch him work on the poor thing, flipping her into the air and catching her again to get her positioned just right to slide down that narrow throat. It was hard not to feel sorry for the fish, given the evil eye of her captor and the pleading look in her own, but I exploited her demise anyway.

You would have, too.

Any tips you have for how to take a great photo?

A popular saying in the world of writers is, “Apply ass to chair,” which means to get over yourself and just sit down and write already. In photography it could be, “Peel ass from chair,” or just get out there and take photos.

I have no illusions that my photos match the caliber of many of our PFO photographers (the fact that I can win the Brackets means anyone can get lucky with a strong photo), but I think I continue to improve because I take a gazillion shots and then, of course, re-apply my ass to chair and play at PFO, paying attention to what speaks to me in my own work—and in all the phenomenal photographs in our pool.

It's PFO's First Anniversary. Any reflections on the past year of our group you would care to share?

I can’t believe that PFO is a year old and that I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of it that long. It’s been a year of dynamic growth—PFO Platinum, new and improved Hall of Fame, Special Anniversary Challenge, Check Play tool, etc—and I unabashedly and unbiasedly believe PFO has evolved into the best group on flickr. Criz continues to introduce ideas that raise the bar, and I see PFO as this wonderful little alternate universe—or maybe university—where people can learn and grow together.

That’s it: PFO University. Guess that would make me one of the deans. How cool is that?