Winners

I enter very few photo contests.  One reason is that there are so many good photographers out there and I know I am a decent photographer, but I don't have a lot of the equipment it takes to be a fantastic photographer.  Yes, compared to many people, I have good equipment.  I have had photos published in "Birds and Blooms Extra."  I have had a lighthouse picture on the front of a catalog.  That was exciting.  I got a $100 gift card for that.  One of my winter lighthouse scenes got a second place one year in the "Lighthouse Digest" magazine.  But I have never won anything really big.  With the following picture of the St. Joseph lighthouse, I received a first place in the category "storms."  When I saw that category, I knew I had to enter this picture.

That is about as stormy as it gets.  Those waves were awesome.  And for winning I get to stay in a Light Station in Maine.  That is so exciting.

On that same day I was notified that my picture of a Monarch Butterfly was one of four that were chosen as the best butterfly pictures that were entered.  This has always been a dream of mine---just to have a one in four picture in the "Birds and Blooms" photo contest.  I will post the picture below.  If you would like to vote for my picture, please go to www.birdsandblooms.com/contests  Then go to "Backyard Photo Contest" and vote for number 3.  I took this picture in South Dakota at the state capitol.  There were lots of butterflies among the red, white, and blue flowers.  It was beautiful to see.

If my picture is chosen as the best, I will get $100.  But it isn't about the money--it is just that people like my pictures.  God has created it all.  He has given me the means to capture his creation.  He gets all of the glory.