Award Winning Photographs

Lately, I have been enjoying crossing off things off of my goal list for the year.  One of them is to win a photo contest.  I suppose that the first step is actually entering a contest in order to win it.  I have to admit that I am a bit intimidated when I see so many amazingly beautiful photographs submitted in a contest when I only use a point and click camera and don't use photoshop or lightroom.  The task of entering can seem a little daunting and pointless.

After thinking about it for a while...I wondered what really constitutes an "award winning photograph?"  I think anything that is displayed on your wall or on a shelf at home would be an award winner.  It doesn't have to be the best photograph, just one that brings up memories that you are proud of or that you will cherish forever.

The day you graduated from high school, a family reunion, the day your child was born, the picture of you after you completed a race....all moments in time to be proud of.  All award winners.  Even if you are not in the photograph, it could be the beach you spent your summers on as a child, the city you fell in love in, the house you bought from working half of your life to afford.  All winners.

We are drawn to images that stir up feelings. Whether or not they win prizes, it's really the memory that means the most to us.  I would love to see your personal award winning photographs.  I hope you post it to my facebook fan page for others to see.  Click HERE to post.

For me, I will always have photographs of the places I've been to and the people in my life that I will cherish forever.  Those are my personal award winners.

39 Goals for My 39th Year

We all took the time and recapped what we did in 2009 and thought about what worked and what didn't in our lives, right?

Well, if you strive to better yourself or just want to have some fun in the new year, you might want to consider writing a list of new activity's to accomplsh in 2010.

I came across the yes and yes blog and she did just that. She listed 31 new things she is going to do before her 31st birthday. What a great idea! I have just a stitch more activities to do since I am, ahem...a teensy bit older.

I might do more of these things, or less but it's thinking about what I want to do and the key is putting it down on paper. Some are not new but they can still be considered a goal to achieve during the course of a year. Once it's written on paper, I can't undo it. Does anyone ever use white out anymore?

Once I achieve a goal, I will blog about them and put a link on the right side of my home page to track progress. I am holding myself accountable.

39 things I will do for my 39th year in this world:
-Read 5 books from beginning to end without skipping ahead
- Win one photo contest
- Go skiing at least once this season
- Take a picture of Max in the snow
- Go to a tattoo show
- Publish a travel article
- Sleep on a strangers couch
- Skinny dip in the ocean
- Try indoor skydiving
- Get a photo published somewhere
- Paint with something other than watercolors
- Complete my house project with 5 shots together in a custom frame
- Sell or donate everything in my garage
- Take a photography editing class
- Launch a site to sell photographs
- Host a dinner party
- Take an art class
- See SIA in concert
- Wear a dress and go somewhere fancy
- Spend a weekend without a phone, without texting, watching tv, or any kind of human contact
- Watch a local play production
- Take Max out on a camping trip with "trailie"
- Visit the Salton Sea
- Go to Mexico
- Bake a cake
- Spend a week in a cabin in the woods somewhere
- Run in a 5k race
- Go to a music festival
- Rent my home and live next to the water somewhere
- Spend time on an island
- Take pictures underwater
- Win the lottery (you never know...)
- Volunteer
- View a live show taping (preferably Oprah before she leaves)
- Have my photographs displayed in a cafe'
- Write a book review
- Surf again
- Ride on a train
- Take a long road trip (I think this is becoming a habit)

What do you have planned?

Released From The Computer

I am starting to bring some of the photographs I took to life on paper. It's been interesting to watch them come to life, so to speak. I had a new printer in a box that was given to me as a gift that I never used so I decided to pull it out and give it a try. Although it's not the highest quality, it's been fun seeing how some of the pictures look out of the information box.

I don't know how I chose the ones I did...I just picked a few to look at. It's exciting to see them and remember the moment they were taken.

It's good to dream. Recently I visioned owning a food truck to drive around the USA. Once I went to Venice to see the massive amount of trucks and the logistics of licenses, where to park and the whole timing of everything...it was a reality check. Oh, and yeah...I don't cook. Then there is that problem.

Anyway, taking pictures has been fun and I've only been yelled at once so that's a plus.

I am always striving to learn. This has been, and continues to be an exciting learning process. Traveling, taking pictures, being alone, learning about myself and all of the things that are associated with that combination.

This photo above is an output of a a few memories from my trip. I look forward to sharing more. In the meantime, I went out again last night and snapped some pictures in Long Beach. Here are a 3 of my favorites.


If you like the pictures, please become a facebook fan by clicking HERE.

I have a little contest going on.

If you (or a friend you recommended) are the 532nd fan, I will send you a FREE 5x7 image of your choice. That is anything you have seen on this blog. Well, except for pictures of me...that would be weird.

Thank you for the support on my photographs and journey!