Shot Down

So, yesterday, thinking that I would enter an orchid photo in the Peninsula Orchid Society's photo contest, I went through the photos that I had taken, keeping a close eye on the ones that I could actually identify. It seemed to be important to the society that the photos be well-identified, so many of my pictures (the ones I loved the most) were disqualified, I thought, because I had NO IDEA what kind of orchid they might be. For some of them, I couldn't even tell you WHERE in the show I'd seen them. I guess after a while, all the incredible flowers sort of blended together.

I had one photo that I was particularly fond of. It was a close-up of a little odd-shaped orchid, and because I was photographing with available light, I'd had to open the aperture up wide, giving me a very shallow depth of field. But, as a result, it had fun, blurry bokeh in the background.

I had everything necessary for the identifying of the photo, seeing as right after I'd taken this shot, I'd taken a shot of its entry form, which said "Novice Class, Best Phytothallid"

As a courtesy, I also provided the link to the snapfish album that this photo was in. Just in case any of the members wanted to have photos of their own orchids (which I couldn't identify) for their records (as I'd seen very few of the 'regulars' there with cameras.)

I was set.

Or so I thought.

I just got an email back from the contest organizer:

"Dear Kemma, This is not your best photo."

Ouch.

OK, so it's not quite as bad as all that. But the opening line still stung a bit. She goes on to suggest that I submit 2 to 6 of *MY* favourite pictures from the snapfish album, and she might be able to identify the specimens for me. She also said that having photos with people in them was a good thing.

So here goes. I made a little gallery of some of my favourite photos, and I will rely on your incredibly good taste and fine eye for color and detail to help me choose the photos I should RE-submit to the contest.

I apologize for the photo overload.