A wet rose

This is the same rose I photographed yesterday, except this was taken today in the rain. It rained all morning until about 10am and it has been dry since then, and now the sun is out again. I did think that the droplets do look pretty on it.

Last night we had an excellent commentary and judging on our exhibition entries by the best judge I have ever met. We always get accredited judges, usually a Surrey Photographic Association (SPA) judge but the judge last night was of a higher level, a PAGB accredited judge (Photographic Association of Great Britain) and he was excellent. (A member of our club is involved in the training and selecting of judges so we get access to the best judges). What made him good is that he understood all genres of photography and gave very thoughtful comments. We have had SPA accredited judges in the past who clearly don't understand wildlife photography as they don't appreciate just how tricky it is to get certain shots of animals in certain habitats, we even had one lemon who loved the soft background of an image but complained about the foreground not being pin sharp, and everyone knows that when using a long lens with a shallow depth of field to get the out of focus background, the foreground will also be out of focus and creamy. This judge seemed very knowledgeable about subjects and camera craft. He definitely expected good lighting in landscape images which is what landscape photography is usually about, the light, the light, the light!

As I mentioned yesterday we each can enter six prints and six PDIs so there was not enough time to discuss all of them at the meeting last night, so he ensured that he discussed at least one print and one PDI from each member and then awarded Highly Commended to a couple of images and then 3rd, 2nd, and 1st place. I was very pleased to get a HC for my print of a San mother - in extras (top right), and came 3rd with my elephant image - top left. I also got highly commended with the bottom two images which were PDIs so I was pleased with that outcome. I was particularly pleased because at a previous competition the judge did not really like the San mother image, but this judge loved it, just shows how judges differ. He also was very impressed by the fungi image so that was good. 

Today has been a quiet day at home, other than two walks for Xena.