Camera Club Competition Winners for February 2019

Strawberry Splash

First Place Prints

I always wanted to try one of these types of photos.  It was tricky photographing in my bathtub and not getting my camera wet!

Barbara was in digital theme photo competition, since I planned to add 3 prints and had several extra headshot photos of my friends. 

First Place Theme Headshots

Angel

Third Place Prints

I decided to try prints this year for competition in St. Mary's County Camera Club.  I need more printing practice, since I usually send my photos out to a professional printer for displaying my best work.  Unfortunately, prints aren't as popular in our club, so I had to get a few people interested in trying it with me.  If there aren't enough prints, they don't get judged.  There weren't enough photos in January, but several people competed with me in February.  Thank you camera club friends.

Parrots from Nature Visions conference Nov 3, 2018

I got to practice my pet photography at the conference.  I like to photograph both wildlife and pet animals for my business.  Usually, I photograph owls or hawks.  We enjoyed photographing the refuge parrots instead at a new seminar this year.  The exhibitors were very helpful and offered to use a white backdrop and even set 2 sun conures on Jim's shoulder to nibble gently on his ear.  The birds had such personality, talking, eating, playing, and interacting with us.  Parrots are fun!  

If you are interested in getting your pet photographed in St. Mary's County, please e-mail me at calmreflectionsphotography@gmail.com. Pet photo sessions make a unique holiday gift.

The Hollywood Volunteer Fire Dept Craft Fair yesterday was the best ever.  There was quite a crowd. (If only we could bring the dog.)

     Zeus and Scarlet.  These two were bickering.

     Angel doing a pedicure

     Winston was a real character.  We tried to get him to raise his head feathers.

      He talked ALOT!  He was very cute  eating here and dropping his food.

Yucatan Mexico Trip Feb 1, 2018 Uxmal

We visited Uxmal, a large Mayan ruin for the day.  There were several pyramids to see and lots of doorways and trees to frame photographs.  The Pyramid of the Magician (Piramide del Adivino) was fascinating with its rooms way up on the temple.  The stairs were extremely steep, so you couldn't go up to see them.

 Behind the Pyramid of the Magician were 2 quadrangles aligned in similar fashion.   This outdoor corridor was behind the Pyramid lined up on the south side of the Quadrangle of the Birds.

This bird, maybe 8 feet up, looked like a fanciful parrot.

 Directly behind the Pyramid, this unusual opening framed the view.

 Here are some details on the buildings.  I think these masks represented Chaac.

The side of the Pyramid of the Magician.

The second quadrangle was the Quadrangle of the Nunnery (Cuadrangulo de las Monjas).  There was never a nunnery there however, the Conquistadores thought it reminded them of a Nunnery.

An iguana lounged in the grass above the quadrangle.

 This gives you an idea of the steepness of the stairs.

  

To the south was the Ball Court or Juego de Pelota.  The game was very popular in Mayan times.  The players would hit a ball through the rings high on the wall using their hips.

We didn't climb the Grand Pyramid or Gran Piramide to the southwest, since it was quite steep, but more adventurous folks climbed up.  (There were no handrails on pyramids we visited in Mexico)

Close by was the House of the Turtles or Casa de las Tortugas.

I actually climbed up the Governor's Palace or Palacio del Gobernador.  It was too steep for me, but I climbed up for Jim.  The decorations were quite detailed and the view was nice.  The only difficulty was getting the courage to go back DOWN the steep stairs when I was very hot and very tired.

The view of the Pyramid of the Magician from up top.

Some elegant details on the Governor's Palace.

An interesting painting in the Visitor's Center.

Some good artwork where we had an outdoor lunch was across the street.