Monday, January 30, 2012

AND THE WINNER IS...

Sweetie and I had a nice weekend get-away, taking a 3 1/2 hour drive down to Pineville, KY to stay at the Pine Mountain State Resort Lodge.  They have a winter photo weekend every January and this was the first year Sweetie competed. 

The weekend is put together well with a guest photographer/speaker on Friday and Saturday nights.  This year's speaker was nature and travel photographer, Richard Bernabe.  His programs were wonderful even for a non-photographer like me, filled with gorgeous photos and information about how to use light and composition to get the best photos.  He was one of the 3 judges, too. 

You were allowed to start shooting Friday at noon and could shoot up to Sunday morning at 6 AM - the only requirement is that everything had to be shot within the 3 counties surrounding Pine Mountain State Park.  They normally have at least a dusting of snow on Saturday morning but nothing this year - so the Winter Landscape category of the competition was a bit tricky and called for some more inventiveness than usual, but the 200+ images (from about 53 photographers registered for the event) were amazing, fun, and creative.

Each photographer registered was allowed to enter 4 photos spread out however they wanted them over the 4 categories of Winter Landscapes, Small World (macro shots), Lines & Patterns, and Odd & Old. 

Sweetie entered one photo in each category and got First Place in the Small World Category in Accomplished Photographer class (there was an Amateur Photographer class, too).  His photo, of 3 buds from a shrubby tree outside the lodge building, was a striking image and I'm glad he got a plaque (no money, but a nice plaque to take home for all winners  in each category and class).




Here is his Small World photo
that took First Place.


Photo by Jerry H. Carpenter











And here are some photos I took during a Saturday trail hike while Sweetie and his photo buddy, Bob, drove over to Cumberland Gap to shoot there.  Nothing spectacular with my point-and-shoot, but you get the idea of the weather and some nice areas in the trails.



While Sweetie was out, leaving early, I got ready and walked a short trail.  I had a buddy with me, too - a little white dog that came up to me and started following me around.  I asked inside the lodge to see if it was someone's dog who had gotten out (he had no collar or tags), but they said it had come up the hill from the Bible College at the bottom and was just wandering. 

So, he wandered with me.  He'd walk ahead, looking back over his shoulder as if to say, Come on, slowpoke, let's go!  He was fun to be with but disappeared again when I went inside my room to get him a drink of water, so guess he figured I was done and went on back down the hill.  I hope whoever was missing him found him again.


I should have taken a photo of him, but I didn't think of it until he was long gone and I was wondering about him and how he was doing.  I sure appreciate him keeping me company that morning.











Even though we were gone only Fri-Sun, I have lots of catching up to do and errands to run today.  So probably no painting until tomorrow...

Hope your week is starting well!  (Can you believe January is almost over - and it's supposed to be 61F tomorrow for us in northern KY!)

13 comments:

irinapictures said...

Congratulations to your husband and thank you for great photos of yours.

JANE MINTER said...

stunning photo rhonda ...congratulatons jerry ! ..sounds like you had a good break .

Carol Blackburn said...

Congratulations to Jerry. How wonderful is that. What a talented household. That is awesome!

Christiane Kingsley said...

Congratulations to Jerry: a well-deserved award!

Barb Sailor said...

It sounds like you had a wonderful weekend in beautiful surroundings. I think it is great that you were able to have this restful get-a-way. Congratulations to your husband on his award.

debwardart said...

Give Jerry my congratulations!

Autumn Leaves said...

Congratulations to your sweetie, Rhonda! And I suspect that your time wandering the trail was super uplifting and I too am glad you had the little dog to keep you company.

http://carolking.wordpress.com said...

Congratulations to your husband on winning! I always like his photos. He is quite talented.

Caroline Simmill said...

Congratulations to her husband Rhonda, what a lovely photo it is very striking indeed.

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks so much, Irina, Jane, Carol, Deb and Sherry - I forwarded the comments to Jerry and he said to say thank you very much!

Thanks, Carol and Caroline - Jerry is quite pleased and loves when a photo of his work garners such great comments :)

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks, Barb (I missed your comment somehow but will let Jerry know). He is quite talented and skilled in photography, having done it for many many decades.

Arena Shawn said...

I really like the pictures you took -- actually I can see how easily they would translate to beautiful landscape paintings! A painter's eye is easy to spot, even on a photohunt trail... ;-)

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks so much, Arena :) You have a beautiful name, BTW!