SUMMER CONTEST: WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

!!Post up to three photos taken in the Pacific Northwest between June 22, 2013 and September 21, 2013 in this thread to enter our Summer PNWNP Seasonal Photo Contest!!

The winning photo will be displayed on our splash page this fall, and be added to our forum banner for one year.

Please keep in mind these guidelines:

-Any NPN member may enter up to three images.

-The image must be taken in the Pacific Northwest ("anything you can see from Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia") in the current season (for example, see the dates above for the current contest).

-Submitted images must follow the NPN Posting Guidelines and fit within one of the Gallery Guidelines for the Avian, Environmental Photojournalism, Flora, Landscape, Macro/Close-up, Man & Nature, Photo Art, and Wildlife Galleries.

-One winning image and two honorable mentions will be chosen by the PNWNP moderators, and thus PNWNP moderators are not allowed to enter images.

-The winning image will be featured on the Cover Shot for the following season and in the forum banner for four seasons.

Good luck, and good shooting!

Alright. I'll give it a shot. I think these are the best 3 for me this summer:

#1 Wallowa County Barn

#2 Honey Bee on Fireweed


Third will come later...still debating and tinkering.

Surely PNWNP Photogs have doing SOMETHING this summer besides work, work, WORK?

Marylynne has 2 good prospects for the PNWNP home page and banner. How about some more candidates!!!
So, I'll put in 3, but I'm not eligible to win. Just priming the pump, so to speak.

#1: Dancing Dahlia

#2: Nooksack Falls Detail in B/W

#3: Ah! Summer

"Awakening" Summer wildflowers and sunset light at Mt St Helens National Volcanic Monument. June 27, 2013.

This is one of the only images I was able to make this summer in the PNW. I'm hoping to get out more this fall and winter! It was a busy summer for me since I was studying for a board exam and we traveled to Iceland for 2 weeks in July.

"Three Graces and Sunburst" was taken, on a camp out down by Garibaldi, at sunset. These stacks are found just south of the Bar View Campgrounds and part of the Tillamook Bay area. There's a parking area close by and you can cross the railroad tracks to a trail along the tracks for viewing. At low tide you can climb down the rocks and boulders to get at sea level and tide pools.

"Haystack Rock/Cape Kiwanda Sunset was on another camp out at Pacific City. The weather was beautiful and warm with a cloudless evening and sunset. The low tide created some interesting pool patterns and reflections along with the moon in a good position, too.

"Cape Kiwanda and Haystack Rock In The Fog" is from the Pacific City camp out. This was after sunrise and a hike to the top of the cape. It was interesting watching the fog move in and out across the cape. This one cleared on the cliff side and the surf below, but still left Haystack Rock, off in the distance, in the fog.

Here are my three. These are all relatively recent. The first was taken on the Sourdough Ridge Trail above Sunrise on Mt Rainier on August 27th. Coincidentally, the scientific name of the plant is Rainiera Stricta or Tongue-leaf Rainiera. It may appear in some books as Luina stricta as it was moved to another genus for awhile (then moved back). I don't know anything about the species of bumble bee, but it was interesting to see it so hard at work on a quite cool morning with blowing mist. This shot was taken with a 300mm f4 lens and 1.4TC on my 7D. While I was primarily interested in photographing plants, I didn't want to stray off the trail in the alpine meadows, so I decided to take a long enough lens to hopefully pull in the plants even though they might be a bit off-trail. This is still a fairly substantial crop to bring out the bee a bit better.

This was a spur of the moment shot. A Praying Mantis managed to find its way onto our porch and one of the cats was harassing it. It assumed this really cool defensive posture in which the wings were spread to increase the body size and the forelegs were arranged beside the thorax and head to create a mask with spots on the inside of the legs forming artificial eyes, like those on butterfly wings. This image doesn't quite capture the mask effect as well as I'd have liked, but does give the idea. Taken on my back porch near Littlerock, Washington on September 3rd.

Changed my mind on the third one and went back to the beginning of summer. This was taken near Seabeck on Hood Canal on June 22nd.

Okay, here's a few...

#1

Marina Sunset

Desmoines, WA

#2

Sound Sunset

Federal Way, WA

#3

Rainier Morning

Chinook Pass, WA

Congratulations to the Summer Contest winners:

FIRST PLACE- Marylynne for her Honey Bee on Fireweed. Technically a great macro shot and a quintessential summertime activity of pollination. And Fireweed, our PNW summer wildflower.

1st Hon. Mention- Scott's lovely image of Mt. St. Helens framed in Penstemon.

2nd Hon. Mention- Dennis' Alarmed Praying Mantis.

Thanks to all, who posted images for the Contest.

Yay! Thanks a bunch. Sometimes my best work happens 10 feet from the front door.

Congratulations to the winners. Cover page and Banner have been updated. You might need to refresh your browsers.

Congrats to the winners!