Saturday, December 26, 2009

Winners of Tis the Season

FIRST PLACE - Christmas Reflections by Monica Griffey

SECOND PLACE: Zeeland Winterscape by Shers Gallagher 



HONORABLE MENTIONS:


Let it Snow by Catherine SweetPotato 


Winter Walks by Val Juneman

Best of Theme/Photographer's Choice picked by Monica Griffey winner of Street Art.  Monica says, "I selected this photo for the composition and quality as well the love and tradition of a special ornament hung each year on the tree. Well done!"

All Things Bright and Shiny by Jacqui Binford-Bell

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Winners of Quirks and Oddities

This was a definitely fun themed event this week with lots of odd and quirky entries but lots of really beautiful photography too.

FIRST PLACE - Ghost Fish by Deborah Binford Baker



 SECOND PLACE - Boat Hut by Val Juneman
 


HONORABLE MENTIONS


Thru and Thru by Eagle Finegan
 

Quick Advert by Stephen Prendergast


 BEST OF THEME - Spires by Brian Crossland


 
Best of theme was picked by last week's winner, Ron Shook, and he had this to say about his choice:

'I'm going to go with Brian Crossland's spiral steeple. It's just the sort of thing I was thinking about; the steeple is subtly odd, so that you have to look at it to realize it's not straight. It looks like it was built by a man who had a crease in his blueprints.'

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Street Art - Signs and Symbols Around Us

Congratulations to this week's winners.

1st Place: Monica Griffey, Symbols of a Time


2nd Place: Terri Byron, Turn Sign Tree



Honorable Mention: Ruthie Benjamin, Pacific Beach Mural



Best of Theme: Ron Shook, The Woman's Tonic

Best of theme chosen by last week's winner, Eagle Finegan, is Ron Shook for The Woman's Tonic. Eagle says, "I believe not only does it represent the theme, I personally love the shot. It has everything. And then the mountains in the background give me that extra surprise. It is framed nicely, level, and depth of field is amazing, It's in focus, the color is sharp, clean! It lets me travel to another place, time, life, and I get cold just looking at it. An artist painted it, an artist could write about it, an artist's eye took the shot and showed it to us! Well done, Ron. Thank you!"

Saturday, December 5, 2009

All About Water

Another terrific week with a new record for participation, and increasingly wonderful photos.  The following are our winners for the week:

FIRST PLACE:  Ron Shook, Lace in the evening sun.


2nd PLACE:  Brian Crossland, Lumsdale


HONORABLE MENTION:   Terri Byron, Mist from Niagara Falls.


BEST OF THEME: Bob McLaughlin, The summit of Whiteface Mountain, in the Adirondacks

Selected this week by the administrators, we debated the merits of the many submissions this week and finally decided on Bob's photo, which incidentally also tied for Honorable Mention.  We felt that in addition to being a beautiful photo, this photo presented an omniscient-like view of 'water everywhere'.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

People in Transit Winner's Circle

Another extraordinary week of marvelous photos on Picture Picks. This week's event was People in Transit and we had 45 entries.

FIRST PLACE: My Sandra, by Eagle Finnegan


SECOND PLACE: Chance Meeting_Road to Lebrang, Gansu, by Val Juneman


HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Singapore Chrome World: Sonja Blietschau


Driving to Work in Venice: Val Juneman

BEST OF THEME: He is Homeless by Heidi Breuer

Statement of Judge Brian Crossland on Best of Theme:

"The subject, surrounded by bags, seems to be not only in transit geographically but also in a transitionary state in their lives. The bridge towards which he is looking one imagines to be full of people also in transit unaware of the onlooker.

The bridge can be viewed as a symbol of success in contrast to the onlooker but bridges and their crossing are also often used as symbolic representations of transitions in people's lives. This element, as well as adding to the overall composition of the photograph, in combination with the main subject of the man, to me adds an extra dimension to the scene" (Brian Crossland, 28 Nov. 2009)

Saturday, November 21, 2009

People In Places Winner's Circle

We had 35 participants in this week's Picture Picks Event - People in Places. And we had another tie for first place. Both photos received eight votes and we decided to post them both as first place while foregoing a second place winner for this event. They are both equally stunning photographs!


Castlerigg Stone Circle by Val Juneman
First Place



On the Boardwalk by Catherine SweetPotato
First Place




Honorable Mention goes to Monica Griffey with her photo Sunday's Song

This week we are also beginning a new award category: Best of Theme. This award is not picked by popular vote as the others are but by the previous winner who picked the theme. Jacqui Binford-Bell picked the theme People in Places and picked this weeks winner of Best of Theme: Brian Crossland for his photo Walking on the Edge.


Walking on the Edge by Brian Crossland - Best of Theme

Statement on Best of Theme by J. Binford-Bell: "This was a very difficult choice this week. Several photos fit the marriage between place and people that I was looking for. I chose Brian's photo because the hikers in the foreground give perspective to the winter valley below and their dress tells us about the weather. The wintery background and their companionable poses says a lot about our intreped hikers.One could almost use this photo as a springboard for a short story."


Saturday, November 14, 2009

Furry, Fuzzy, Feathered Friends

A new record this week in the number of participants and photos posted. The selections were wonderful.  Here are this week's winners.

First place:  Brian Crossland - 'Chatsworth Park Deer'

Second place:  Eagle Finnegan - 'Horse in Snowstorm'


Honorable Mentions:
Val Juneman - 'Laughing Horse'


Donna Palmlund - 'Lllama & Horses'

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Showcase for Winners

We are testing out the concept of having a special showcase for the winning photographs of Picture Picks Group on FaceBook. In the short time we have been in existance we have been amazed at the quality of the photographs submitted for our weekly themed contests and we invite you to go to that site and explore the Events Tab and the pictures posted.

The purpose of this blog is to post the weekly winners of the themed events and showcase the talents of our members and participants.

Travel / Places

Very active and tight voting this week and we thought we should add some Honorable Mentions. First Place this week went to Through Mesa Arche by Jacqui Binford-Bell.

Second Place was for St. Anne's submitted by Catherine SweetPotato.


Honorable Mentions:
Great Wall from Shers Gallagher

And the Ingalls Homestead from Donna Palmlund.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Hallowe'ed Eve - Oiche Samhain

Jean Acosta is our 1st Place winner with Scary Pumpkins.


Suzanne Stout is our 2nd Place winner with Scary face in the fireplace.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

No Theme Week

Our winner of NO THEME WEEK is Ruthie Benjamin with her ‘Lead Pipe Factory of Melbourne’ photo,

Suzanne Stout is the runner-up with her 'Champagne Rose' photo.

This week's voting resulted first in a four-way tie, necessitating a run-off vote.  The other two photos are shown here for Honorable Mention.  Catherine SweetPotato for her waterfall in the woods of NC.

And Suzanne McLaughlin Stout for her old car.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Changing Seasons

Shers Gallagher was first with Heksenbos: the Witches Forest of Belgium.

Heather Lossie was second with Winter in fruit growing country.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

In Motion

The winner of our “In Motion” contest is Jacqui Binford-Bell with her fabulous action shot of the Rubicon through mud.

2nd Place to Becky Stauffer with her hummingbird.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Mother Nature's Gifts

Jessica Duke with her fantastic photo of mountain dawn won this week's event.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Takin' It To the Streets

Winner of this event is Ruth Benjamin with her fall street scene of Marysville, Victoria, Australia before the fires.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Real Estate

Shers Gallagher with her delightful seaside cottage won the first ever Picture Picks Event - Real Estate.