This isn't a gimmick, or a 'just because', or an attempt at a brown, or just being silly. When I entered this, it was because to my eyes, and for me personally, this was the best photograph I took all year. I thought it had a transcendent quality. Something that put it above most everything else I took. It took me back to a time when I was still discovering this wonderful thing called photography and still found the hobby to be something that I seem to have lost lately. Fun.
I think the fact that I wasn't worried about camera settings or focal lengths or auto-focus modes or aperture, or all that stuff we get so caught up with in our cameras these days, I think it all shines through in this photo. It brings to my mind a simpler thing. Shooting because we're experiencing life and we want to keep a little bit of that experience with us. Shooting because it's fun.
So while the score is right there in the middle of the scale, it doesn't matter. I put forth my very favorite and best shot for all to see, and it just happened to be taken with one of the least regarded imaging devices we have today, but it makes me smile every time I see it and I'm glad that I took it, and I'm glad that I was able to share it, and that others found it pretty nice to look at too.
For the icing on the cake, of course, I was given the Posthumous Blue Ribbon, and I'll cherish that as well. Thank you.
