Check out these photo editing free images:
Llangyfelach Cross Stone ghosts
Image by Mike's...Seat related tales
And here I Imported the original print as a layer on my shot then edited properties to merge using the multiply feature. It's not bad is it?
You see I can get the scale right on the cross stone or the headstone but not both due to positioning and so on.
My first attempt using Paint.net free photo tool on windows Vista.
Check out these online image editing images:
Maximum Allowed
Image by Denise Cross Photography
I'm trying out the Chase Jarvis' iPhone App that supports his book, The Best Camera Is The One That's With You™. The app lets you shoot, edit and share your images with their online community of iPhone images from around the world, as well as email, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. I’m loving it, so expect to see more!
A few nice image editing online images I found:
Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
Image by familymwr
PHOTO CAPTION: Awarded Honorable Mention Leaves on the Creek by CW3 DARLA SAUNDERS - Division 1 Active Duty Military
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
By Tim Hipps
FMWRC Public Affairs
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Brenda Walker strolled upon “one of those right places at the right time” alongside East Fork Indian Creek River when she photographed “Morning Serenity” on Fort Campbell, Ky…
Retired Col. Richard Pugh shot three photographs of “Point Lobos,” just south of Monterey, Calif., and combined them into one image by working 15 minutes with Photoshop…
Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra won a footrace with his wife to the bottom of a stairwell at Heidelberg Castle in Germany just before he looked up and photographed “9”…
…all three were winners in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest sponsored by the Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command.
There were 3,691 entries from around the world – 1,348 in Division I for active duty military personnel and 2,343 in Division II for other eligible MWR patrons. After Army garrisons selected their best entries, 664 Division I and 1,031 Division II photographs were forwarded for Department of the Army judging.
“There were many really excellent photos, which made the judges’ decisions a difficult task,” said Linda Ezernieks, who monitors the annual contest at Army MWR Headquarters in Alexandria. “Originality, creativity and technical quality were the main criteria in making final selections.”
Winners in each category – animals, digital darkroom, design elements, military life, monochrome, nature & landscapes, people, and still life – were posted on a website where Army Knowledge Online account-holders voted for their favorite photo in each division.
Walker’s “Morning Serenity” took first place in the nature and landscapes category and was voted the most popular photograph in Division II.
The subject of the photo is a fisherman wading and casting in the middle of East Fork Indian Creek River while the sun shines through the lush, green trees and casts a rainbow-like appearance off the steam hovering above the stream.
“It’s back on Fort Campbell,” Walker said. “I take my dog running back there early morning. It was really hot and the steam was rising and the rays were going through the trees. It was absolutely beautiful back there.
“I take my camera everywhere I go now.”
Walker left her business card on the windshield of a truck parked nearby and later learned the fisherman was Sgt. Randy Shorter of Fort Campbell.
About five years ago, Walker took some of her photographs to the MWR Custom Framing Shop at Fort Campbell, where she found out about the Army Photography Contest. She has produced prize-winning photos for the past three contests.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to get exposure, plus cash prizes,” said Walker, 48, a military family member. “I enjoy looking at everybody else’s work. It inspires me and motivates me to get out and get more interesting, different shots.”
What does Walker enjoy most about photography?
“Just being able to capture what I see through my eyes, my heart and my head,” she said. “A lot of it comes out through your emotion. It’s another form of art.”
Pugh, of Clarksville, Tenn., took first place in the Division II digital darkroom category with “The Owl,” second in design elements with “Blue Mosque,” and third in nature and landscapes with “Point Lobos.”
Pugh shot the high-tech looking photo of “The Owl” at Land Between The Lakes, a national recreation area located south of Paducah, Ky., and embellished it in Photoshop, as he did with “Blue Mosque,” a shot of the roof of a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.
“I like this contest,” said Pugh, 65, who photographed winning entries in each of the past three years after serving 30 years in the Army. “It gives people a chance to show off something they did, which is great.”
Piedro, 31, an Army recruiter in Douglasville, Ga., is a former combat photographer. His “9” earned first-place honors in the Division I design elements category. He took third place in digital darkroom with a self-portrait called “Beast within Me” that would make a dandy Halloween poster.
“I got the idea when I was in the gym working out with my partner and a couple people came up to us and said: ‘You guys are lifting like beasts.’ The idea just popped into my head, so I got home, took the shot, and just started editing,” Piedro said. “That’s where that photo came from.”
The subject of the photo looks like a cross between a werewolf, a vampire and an Avatar, complete with fangs, dagger-like fingernails and alien ears – seemingly howling at the moon that looms behind a naked tree.
“The fangs, the ears, the eyes and the hands are all Photoshopped,” Piedro said. “And the stomach that’s concaved a little bit, that was done in Photoshop. For the background, I took certain parts of images from other photos, adjusted them, and made everything into one image.”
So what’s real?
“The body, and the face,” Piedro replied. “That’s it.
“If you look closely, the eyes are actually black and the pupils are red, so that’s been Photoshopped.”
Piedro, however, does not think of himself as a Photoshop expert.
“I actually don’t do too much Photoshop,” he said. “I try to keep my images as pure as possible. But every now and then, I get my creative side and I do a little bit of Photoshop – just trial and error, playing around.”
Piedro won two categories and received an honorable mention in the 2007 Army Photography Contest but missed the competition the past two years.
“I think it’s a great, great program,” he said. “It’s a great way to get the creative process of people that do see the world and travel the world by being in the military, and not even just as Soldiers, but supporting staff, civilians, wives.
“It’s a great way to get recognition for something that we love to do.”
As is often the case with photography, Piedro did not know exactly what he shot that day in the stairwell to the gardens at Heidelberg Castle – until he downloaded the photo.
“When I got home and I looked at, I was like: ‘That’s 9, yeah.’ And that’s where the title came from.”
Piedro cherishes photography’s uncanny ability of giving him the opportunity of “freezing a moment in time that only I can see and sharing that with others.”
Several other military photographers earned multiple places in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest.
Holly Swegle of Fort Hood, Texas, took first place in Division II monochrome for “Dress Shop,” second in animals for “Painted Birds” and third in people for “American Woman.”
Lt. Col. Mark Bonica of Fort Sam Houston, Texas, took second in Division I still life with “Reflections in Soap,” third in monochrome with “… and We All Fall Down” and received an honorable mention in military life with “Free Gift When You Join Today.”
Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman of Fort Bliss, Texas, won the Division I popular vote contest for “Reaching Perfection,” which topped the still life category.
SIDEBAR:
Here are the results of the top three finishers in each category with photographer’s rank, name, installation and photo title:
2010 Army Digital Photo Contest
Division I
Animals – 1. Pfc. Amber Smith, Yongsan, Korea, What’s for Dinner; 2. Staff Sgt. Wilberto Sierra, Fort Bliss, Texas, Dragonfly; 3. Staff Sgt. Robert Curtis, Vicenza, Italy, Tough Love.
Digital darkroom – 1. Spc. Thomas Mort, Fort Knox, Ky., Over the Top; 2. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, On the Range; 3. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., Beast within Me.
Design elements – 1. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., 9; 2. 2nd Lt. Thomas Malejko, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Arch Elements; 3. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Sunset Under Glass.
Mililtary life – 1. Sgt. Darlene Martinez, Fort Drum, N.Y., The Sacrifices We Make; 2. Staff Sgt. Joey Suggs, Fort Meade, Md., Dental Care; 3. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, Remember Me.
Monochrome – 1. Sgt. 1st Class Lance Widner, Mannheim, Germany, Great Grandmother; 2. Col. John Powers, Camp Zama, Japan, Calm Morning at Mount Fuji; 3. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, … and We All Fall Down.
Nature & landscapes – 1. 1st Lt. Christopher Snell, (unknown location), Sunset Swim; 2. Spc. Juan-Pablo Marin, Fort Benning, Ga., Moon Set; 3. Spc. Jenny Lu, Hohenfels, Germany, Hong Kong at Night.
People – 1. Capt. David Callender, (unknown location), Anna’s Dream; 2. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Eval Fairy; 3. Col. Joseph Mancy, Stuttgart, Germany, Eyes that Speak.
Still life – 1. Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman, Fort Bliss, Texas, Reaching Perfection; 2. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Reflections in Soap; 3. Warrant Officer Larry Olson, Wiesbaden, Germany, Sunflower in Contrast.
Division II
Animals – 1. Susan Doran, Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., Defiance; 2. Holley Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Painted Birds; 3. Eric Armstrong, Camp Zama, Japan, Man O’ War.
Digital darkroom – 1. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., The Owl; 2. Stephen Cullum, Stuttgart, Germany, Volksfest FDR; 3. Gary Cashman, Yongsan, Korea, BMX Composite.
Design elements – 1. Robert LaPolice, Selfridge, Mich., Just Riveting; 2. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Blue Mosque; 3. James Holbrook, Stuttgart, Germany, What do I call this.
Military life – 1. Nell Williams, Fort Stewart, Ga., My Dad, My Hero; 2. Rebecca Colburn, Fort Carson, Colo., The Test Drive; 3. Ann Marie Detavernier, Baumholder, Germany, The Love Letter.
Monochrome – 1. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Dress Shop; 2. Barbara Underwood, Fort Lee, Va., Light and Shadows; 3. Jeffrey Kline, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Texas Snow.
Nature & landscapes – 1. Brenda Walker, Fort Campbell, Ky., Morning Serenity; 2. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Ash Clouds over Holland; 3. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Point Lobos.
People – 1. Sherry Keene Hobbs, Garmisch, Germany, Belly Dancer; 2. Eugenia Whittenburg, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, Happy Beach Feet; 3. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, American Woman.
Still life – 1. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Green Tomato; 2. Michael Slone, Fort Meade, Md., Morning Coffee; 3. Frank Leon, Fort Knox, Ky., The faucet chronicles.
Connect with us:
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
www.Twitter.com/FamilyMWR
www.YouTube.com/FamilyMWR
ks 110321
Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
Image by familymwr
PHOTO CAPTION: Awarded 3rd Place Hong Kong at Night by SPC JENNY LUI - Division 1 Active Duty Military
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
By Tim Hipps
FMWRC Public Affairs
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Brenda Walker strolled upon “one of those right places at the right time” alongside East Fork Indian Creek River when she photographed “Morning Serenity” on Fort Campbell, Ky…
Retired Col. Richard Pugh shot three photographs of “Point Lobos,” just south of Monterey, Calif., and combined them into one image by working 15 minutes with Photoshop…
Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra won a footrace with his wife to the bottom of a stairwell at Heidelberg Castle in Germany just before he looked up and photographed “9”…
…all three were winners in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest sponsored by the Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command.
There were 3,691 entries from around the world – 1,348 in Division I for active duty military personnel and 2,343 in Division II for other eligible MWR patrons. After Army garrisons selected their best entries, 664 Division I and 1,031 Division II photographs were forwarded for Department of the Army judging.
“There were many really excellent photos, which made the judges’ decisions a difficult task,” said Linda Ezernieks, who monitors the annual contest at Army MWR Headquarters in Alexandria. “Originality, creativity and technical quality were the main criteria in making final selections.”
Winners in each category – animals, digital darkroom, design elements, military life, monochrome, nature & landscapes, people, and still life – were posted on a website where Army Knowledge Online account-holders voted for their favorite photo in each division.
Walker’s “Morning Serenity” took first place in the nature and landscapes category and was voted the most popular photograph in Division II.
The subject of the photo is a fisherman wading and casting in the middle of East Fork Indian Creek River while the sun shines through the lush, green trees and casts a rainbow-like appearance off the steam hovering above the stream.
“It’s back on Fort Campbell,” Walker said. “I take my dog running back there early morning. It was really hot and the steam was rising and the rays were going through the trees. It was absolutely beautiful back there.
“I take my camera everywhere I go now.”
Walker left her business card on the windshield of a truck parked nearby and later learned the fisherman was Sgt. Randy Shorter of Fort Campbell.
About five years ago, Walker took some of her photographs to the MWR Custom Framing Shop at Fort Campbell, where she found out about the Army Photography Contest. She has produced prize-winning photos for the past three contests.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to get exposure, plus cash prizes,” said Walker, 48, a military family member. “I enjoy looking at everybody else’s work. It inspires me and motivates me to get out and get more interesting, different shots.”
What does Walker enjoy most about photography?
“Just being able to capture what I see through my eyes, my heart and my head,” she said. “A lot of it comes out through your emotion. It’s another form of art.”
Pugh, of Clarksville, Tenn., took first place in the Division II digital darkroom category with “The Owl,” second in design elements with “Blue Mosque,” and third in nature and landscapes with “Point Lobos.”
Pugh shot the high-tech looking photo of “The Owl” at Land Between The Lakes, a national recreation area located south of Paducah, Ky., and embellished it in Photoshop, as he did with “Blue Mosque,” a shot of the roof of a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.
“I like this contest,” said Pugh, 65, who photographed winning entries in each of the past three years after serving 30 years in the Army. “It gives people a chance to show off something they did, which is great.”
Piedro, 31, an Army recruiter in Douglasville, Ga., is a former combat photographer. His “9” earned first-place honors in the Division I design elements category. He took third place in digital darkroom with a self-portrait called “Beast within Me” that would make a dandy Halloween poster.
“I got the idea when I was in the gym working out with my partner and a couple people came up to us and said: ‘You guys are lifting like beasts.’ The idea just popped into my head, so I got home, took the shot, and just started editing,” Piedro said. “That’s where that photo came from.”
The subject of the photo looks like a cross between a werewolf, a vampire and an Avatar, complete with fangs, dagger-like fingernails and alien ears – seemingly howling at the moon that looms behind a naked tree.
“The fangs, the ears, the eyes and the hands are all Photoshopped,” Piedro said. “And the stomach that’s concaved a little bit, that was done in Photoshop. For the background, I took certain parts of images from other photos, adjusted them, and made everything into one image.”
So what’s real?
“The body, and the face,” Piedro replied. “That’s it.
“If you look closely, the eyes are actually black and the pupils are red, so that’s been Photoshopped.”
Piedro, however, does not think of himself as a Photoshop expert.
“I actually don’t do too much Photoshop,” he said. “I try to keep my images as pure as possible. But every now and then, I get my creative side and I do a little bit of Photoshop – just trial and error, playing around.”
Piedro won two categories and received an honorable mention in the 2007 Army Photography Contest but missed the competition the past two years.
“I think it’s a great, great program,” he said. “It’s a great way to get the creative process of people that do see the world and travel the world by being in the military, and not even just as Soldiers, but supporting staff, civilians, wives.
“It’s a great way to get recognition for something that we love to do.”
As is often the case with photography, Piedro did not know exactly what he shot that day in the stairwell to the gardens at Heidelberg Castle – until he downloaded the photo.
“When I got home and I looked at, I was like: ‘That’s 9, yeah.’ And that’s where the title came from.”
Piedro cherishes photography’s uncanny ability of giving him the opportunity of “freezing a moment in time that only I can see and sharing that with others.”
Several other military photographers earned multiple places in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest.
Holly Swegle of Fort Hood, Texas, took first place in Division II monochrome for “Dress Shop,” second in animals for “Painted Birds” and third in people for “American Woman.”
Lt. Col. Mark Bonica of Fort Sam Houston, Texas, took second in Division I still life with “Reflections in Soap,” third in monochrome with “… and We All Fall Down” and received an honorable mention in military life with “Free Gift When You Join Today.”
Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman of Fort Bliss, Texas, won the Division I popular vote contest for “Reaching Perfection,” which topped the still life category.
SIDEBAR:
Here are the results of the top three finishers in each category with photographer’s rank, name, installation and photo title:
2010 Army Digital Photo Contest
Division I
Animals – 1. Pfc. Amber Smith, Yongsan, Korea, What’s for Dinner; 2. Staff Sgt. Wilberto Sierra, Fort Bliss, Texas, Dragonfly; 3. Staff Sgt. Robert Curtis, Vicenza, Italy, Tough Love.
Digital darkroom – 1. Spc. Thomas Mort, Fort Knox, Ky., Over the Top; 2. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, On the Range; 3. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., Beast within Me.
Design elements – 1. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., 9; 2. 2nd Lt. Thomas Malejko, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Arch Elements; 3. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Sunset Under Glass.
Mililtary life – 1. Sgt. Darlene Martinez, Fort Drum, N.Y., The Sacrifices We Make; 2. Staff Sgt. Joey Suggs, Fort Meade, Md., Dental Care; 3. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, Remember Me.
Monochrome – 1. Sgt. 1st Class Lance Widner, Mannheim, Germany, Great Grandmother; 2. Col. John Powers, Camp Zama, Japan, Calm Morning at Mount Fuji; 3. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, … and We All Fall Down.
Nature & landscapes – 1. 1st Lt. Christopher Snell, (unknown location), Sunset Swim; 2. Spc. Juan-Pablo Marin, Fort Benning, Ga., Moon Set; 3. Spc. Jenny Lu, Hohenfels, Germany, Hong Kong at Night.
People – 1. Capt. David Callender, (unknown location), Anna’s Dream; 2. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Eval Fairy; 3. Col. Joseph Mancy, Stuttgart, Germany, Eyes that Speak.
Still life – 1. Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman, Fort Bliss, Texas, Reaching Perfection; 2. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Reflections in Soap; 3. Warrant Officer Larry Olson, Wiesbaden, Germany, Sunflower in Contrast.
Division II
Animals – 1. Susan Doran, Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., Defiance; 2. Holley Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Painted Birds; 3. Eric Armstrong, Camp Zama, Japan, Man O’ War.
Digital darkroom – 1. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., The Owl; 2. Stephen Cullum, Stuttgart, Germany, Volksfest FDR; 3. Gary Cashman, Yongsan, Korea, BMX Composite.
Design elements – 1. Robert LaPolice, Selfridge, Mich., Just Riveting; 2. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Blue Mosque; 3. James Holbrook, Stuttgart, Germany, What do I call this.
Military life – 1. Nell Williams, Fort Stewart, Ga., My Dad, My Hero; 2. Rebecca Colburn, Fort Carson, Colo., The Test Drive; 3. Ann Marie Detavernier, Baumholder, Germany, The Love Letter.
Monochrome – 1. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Dress Shop; 2. Barbara Underwood, Fort Lee, Va., Light and Shadows; 3. Jeffrey Kline, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Texas Snow.
Nature & landscapes – 1. Brenda Walker, Fort Campbell, Ky., Morning Serenity; 2. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Ash Clouds over Holland; 3. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Point Lobos.
People – 1. Sherry Keene Hobbs, Garmisch, Germany, Belly Dancer; 2. Eugenia Whittenburg, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, Happy Beach Feet; 3. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, American Woman.
Still life – 1. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Green Tomato; 2. Michael Slone, Fort Meade, Md., Morning Coffee; 3. Frank Leon, Fort Knox, Ky., The faucet chronicles.
Connect with us:
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
www.Twitter.com/FamilyMWR
www.YouTube.com/FamilyMWR
ks 110321
Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
Image by familymwr
PHOTO CAPTION: Awarded 2nd Place Ash Clouds Over Holland by DOD FM MYLAN DAWSON - Division 2 Other Eligible Patron
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
By Tim Hipps
FMWRC Public Affairs
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Brenda Walker strolled upon “one of those right places at the right time” alongside East Fork Indian Creek River when she photographed “Morning Serenity” on Fort Campbell, Ky…
Retired Col. Richard Pugh shot three photographs of “Point Lobos,” just south of Monterey, Calif., and combined them into one image by working 15 minutes with Photoshop…
Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra won a footrace with his wife to the bottom of a stairwell at Heidelberg Castle in Germany just before he looked up and photographed “9”…
…all three were winners in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest sponsored by the Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command.
There were 3,691 entries from around the world – 1,348 in Division I for active duty military personnel and 2,343 in Division II for other eligible MWR patrons. After Army garrisons selected their best entries, 664 Division I and 1,031 Division II photographs were forwarded for Department of the Army judging.
“There were many really excellent photos, which made the judges’ decisions a difficult task,” said Linda Ezernieks, who monitors the annual contest at Army MWR Headquarters in Alexandria. “Originality, creativity and technical quality were the main criteria in making final selections.”
Winners in each category – animals, digital darkroom, design elements, military life, monochrome, nature & landscapes, people, and still life – were posted on a website where Army Knowledge Online account-holders voted for their favorite photo in each division.
Walker’s “Morning Serenity” took first place in the nature and landscapes category and was voted the most popular photograph in Division II.
The subject of the photo is a fisherman wading and casting in the middle of East Fork Indian Creek River while the sun shines through the lush, green trees and casts a rainbow-like appearance off the steam hovering above the stream.
“It’s back on Fort Campbell,” Walker said. “I take my dog running back there early morning. It was really hot and the steam was rising and the rays were going through the trees. It was absolutely beautiful back there.
“I take my camera everywhere I go now.”
Walker left her business card on the windshield of a truck parked nearby and later learned the fisherman was Sgt. Randy Shorter of Fort Campbell.
About five years ago, Walker took some of her photographs to the MWR Custom Framing Shop at Fort Campbell, where she found out about the Army Photography Contest. She has produced prize-winning photos for the past three contests.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to get exposure, plus cash prizes,” said Walker, 48, a military family member. “I enjoy looking at everybody else’s work. It inspires me and motivates me to get out and get more interesting, different shots.”
What does Walker enjoy most about photography?
“Just being able to capture what I see through my eyes, my heart and my head,” she said. “A lot of it comes out through your emotion. It’s another form of art.”
Pugh, of Clarksville, Tenn., took first place in the Division II digital darkroom category with “The Owl,” second in design elements with “Blue Mosque,” and third in nature and landscapes with “Point Lobos.”
Pugh shot the high-tech looking photo of “The Owl” at Land Between The Lakes, a national recreation area located south of Paducah, Ky., and embellished it in Photoshop, as he did with “Blue Mosque,” a shot of the roof of a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.
“I like this contest,” said Pugh, 65, who photographed winning entries in each of the past three years after serving 30 years in the Army. “It gives people a chance to show off something they did, which is great.”
Piedro, 31, an Army recruiter in Douglasville, Ga., is a former combat photographer. His “9” earned first-place honors in the Division I design elements category. He took third place in digital darkroom with a self-portrait called “Beast within Me” that would make a dandy Halloween poster.
“I got the idea when I was in the gym working out with my partner and a couple people came up to us and said: ‘You guys are lifting like beasts.’ The idea just popped into my head, so I got home, took the shot, and just started editing,” Piedro said. “That’s where that photo came from.”
The subject of the photo looks like a cross between a werewolf, a vampire and an Avatar, complete with fangs, dagger-like fingernails and alien ears – seemingly howling at the moon that looms behind a naked tree.
“The fangs, the ears, the eyes and the hands are all Photoshopped,” Piedro said. “And the stomach that’s concaved a little bit, that was done in Photoshop. For the background, I took certain parts of images from other photos, adjusted them, and made everything into one image.”
So what’s real?
“The body, and the face,” Piedro replied. “That’s it.
“If you look closely, the eyes are actually black and the pupils are red, so that’s been Photoshopped.”
Piedro, however, does not think of himself as a Photoshop expert.
“I actually don’t do too much Photoshop,” he said. “I try to keep my images as pure as possible. But every now and then, I get my creative side and I do a little bit of Photoshop – just trial and error, playing around.”
Piedro won two categories and received an honorable mention in the 2007 Army Photography Contest but missed the competition the past two years.
“I think it’s a great, great program,” he said. “It’s a great way to get the creative process of people that do see the world and travel the world by being in the military, and not even just as Soldiers, but supporting staff, civilians, wives.
“It’s a great way to get recognition for something that we love to do.”
As is often the case with photography, Piedro did not know exactly what he shot that day in the stairwell to the gardens at Heidelberg Castle – until he downloaded the photo.
“When I got home and I looked at, I was like: ‘That’s 9, yeah.’ And that’s where the title came from.”
Piedro cherishes photography’s uncanny ability of giving him the opportunity of “freezing a moment in time that only I can see and sharing that with others.”
Several other military photographers earned multiple places in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest.
Holly Swegle of Fort Hood, Texas, took first place in Division II monochrome for “Dress Shop,” second in animals for “Painted Birds” and third in people for “American Woman.”
Lt. Col. Mark Bonica of Fort Sam Houston, Texas, took second in Division I still life with “Reflections in Soap,” third in monochrome with “… and We All Fall Down” and received an honorable mention in military life with “Free Gift When You Join Today.”
Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman of Fort Bliss, Texas, won the Division I popular vote contest for “Reaching Perfection,” which topped the still life category.
SIDEBAR:
Here are the results of the top three finishers in each category with photographer’s rank, name, installation and photo title:
2010 Army Digital Photo Contest
Division I
Animals – 1. Pfc. Amber Smith, Yongsan, Korea, What’s for Dinner; 2. Staff Sgt. Wilberto Sierra, Fort Bliss, Texas, Dragonfly; 3. Staff Sgt. Robert Curtis, Vicenza, Italy, Tough Love.
Digital darkroom – 1. Spc. Thomas Mort, Fort Knox, Ky., Over the Top; 2. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, On the Range; 3. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., Beast within Me.
Design elements – 1. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., 9; 2. 2nd Lt. Thomas Malejko, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Arch Elements; 3. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Sunset Under Glass.
Mililtary life – 1. Sgt. Darlene Martinez, Fort Drum, N.Y., The Sacrifices We Make; 2. Staff Sgt. Joey Suggs, Fort Meade, Md., Dental Care; 3. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, Remember Me.
Monochrome – 1. Sgt. 1st Class Lance Widner, Mannheim, Germany, Great Grandmother; 2. Col. John Powers, Camp Zama, Japan, Calm Morning at Mount Fuji; 3. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, … and We All Fall Down.
Nature & landscapes – 1. 1st Lt. Christopher Snell, (unknown location), Sunset Swim; 2. Spc. Juan-Pablo Marin, Fort Benning, Ga., Moon Set; 3. Spc. Jenny Lu, Hohenfels, Germany, Hong Kong at Night.
People – 1. Capt. David Callender, (unknown location), Anna’s Dream; 2. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Eval Fairy; 3. Col. Joseph Mancy, Stuttgart, Germany, Eyes that Speak.
Still life – 1. Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman, Fort Bliss, Texas, Reaching Perfection; 2. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Reflections in Soap; 3. Warrant Officer Larry Olson, Wiesbaden, Germany, Sunflower in Contrast.
Division II
Animals – 1. Susan Doran, Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., Defiance; 2. Holley Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Painted Birds; 3. Eric Armstrong, Camp Zama, Japan, Man O’ War.
Digital darkroom – 1. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., The Owl; 2. Stephen Cullum, Stuttgart, Germany, Volksfest FDR; 3. Gary Cashman, Yongsan, Korea, BMX Composite.
Design elements – 1. Robert LaPolice, Selfridge, Mich., Just Riveting; 2. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Blue Mosque; 3. James Holbrook, Stuttgart, Germany, What do I call this.
Military life – 1. Nell Williams, Fort Stewart, Ga., My Dad, My Hero; 2. Rebecca Colburn, Fort Carson, Colo., The Test Drive; 3. Ann Marie Detavernier, Baumholder, Germany, The Love Letter.
Monochrome – 1. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Dress Shop; 2. Barbara Underwood, Fort Lee, Va., Light and Shadows; 3. Jeffrey Kline, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Texas Snow.
Nature & landscapes – 1. Brenda Walker, Fort Campbell, Ky., Morning Serenity; 2. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Ash Clouds over Holland; 3. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Point Lobos.
People – 1. Sherry Keene Hobbs, Garmisch, Germany, Belly Dancer; 2. Eugenia Whittenburg, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, Happy Beach Feet; 3. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, American Woman.
Still life – 1. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Green Tomato; 2. Michael Slone, Fort Meade, Md., Morning Coffee; 3. Frank Leon, Fort Knox, Ky., The faucet chronicles.
Connect with us:
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
www.Twitter.com/FamilyMWR
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ks 110321
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Pollyanna
Image by Mona Loldwoman (Look for the good)
Be glad for the things I have, Spread a little cheer where ever I can. and Always look for the good. I haven't done resolutions for almost twenty years. But I do aspire to maintain a positive outlook on life with all the crap it keeps sending my way.I can't stand to see a frown. It is a challenge to me to turn every frown I see into a smile. I am always reaching for bubbles of happines. I carry a small bottle of bubbles every where I go. They ALWAYS make people smile. A little smile can change a persons day. and "I" get to share it.
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For: Mondays challenge for January 18th 2010
"in one picture illustrate your one word that describes your New Year's resolution, dream, ASPIRATION or goal"
. . . and use that one word as your title.
See other Challengers here:
Monday Photo Challenges and Thursday Retreads
www.flickr.com/groups/1091826@N21/
********************************************************************************
I was not able to get out to take the photograph I wanted to take, so I created this one from the two below. Using standard "Paint" program that comes with Windows for editing and PS8 for the "artist brush" effects
I know there is a lot to read here, but looking it up keeps me out of trouble. :D
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Long before Dr Norman Vincent Peel and “The Power of Positive Thinking”
Or what ever the current “guru” might be, There was a little girl….
Who learned the best part of the Bible and MOST important teachings of it.
In The face of adversity I have ALWAYS found at least one good thing. Though there have been times I had to look really hard for it. But then that is the key to aspiring to have a perpetual Positive attitude. One MUST LOOK for the good especially in the midst of most difficult situations. Prepare for the bad but look for and expect the Good. And That is what I aspire and have alway aspired to do.
Mona Loldwoman
****************************************
POLLYANNA
a Pollyanna,
"one who finds cause for gladness in the most difficult situations," 1921, in allusion to Pollyanna Whittier, child heroine of U.S. novelist Eleanor Hodgman Porter's "Pollyanna" (1913) and "Pollyanna Grows Up" (1915), noted for keeping her chin up during disasters.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
*************************************
POLLYANNA SYNDROME
Psychologists and ministers who use the derogatory term, “Pollyanna Syndrome” never read the book. That little girl didn’t deny the bad events in her life. She just didn’t wallow in self-pity and make everybody else miserable. And she based her philosophy on Christ’s teachings
**************************************
Positive Thinking; Pollyanna Syndrome
By Frances Hall
Why do we have such a downer on Pollyanna? After all, she is just a little girl with a big dose of positive mental attitude. Instead of mocking, may we should learn something from her. I’m not saying we have to turn into Pollyanna, but when you think about it, positive thinking is the only sensible way forward. Our thinking creates our reality, so isn’t it just a bit daft to be creating our reality based on negative thinking? When we realise this, we understand we cannot afford the luxury of negative thinking.
As Einstein said, “we are boxed in by the boundary conditions of our thinking”. Mind management is essentially the key to life management, and we all have the power to choose what we think. It may take time and effort to break the habit of negative thinking, but that is just what it is, a habit. So the trick is to cultivate a new habit of looking for the positive. And the first step is to catch yourself when you are thinking negatively. It may shock you just how many of those 60,000 thoughts that run through your mind every day are of the negative variety. Perhaps when you catch yourself thinking negatively, you can turn it into a positive “but”. Whatever it is, look hard for something way to turn it around by seeing an advantage. Focus on the fact that your outer world reflects your inner world.
so which way would you rather think………… Create the habit of positive thinking
A good tool for this is daily affirmations. These are sayings repeated on a daily basis to manifest a more positive reality. It is a way of harnessing the power of words for your benefit because your reality starts with a thought. Help the mind along a more positive path. Just remember the rule with affirmations is that they must be personal, present and positive, for example “today I achieve everything I want effortlessly” rather than “today I will not have any problems”. You can start with something simple like “I choose happiness” or “I create my own reality”. You can write them, say them, sing them, it’s up to you, but a minimum of six times a day is good.
As the saying goes, whether you tell yourself you can or tell yourself you can’t do something you are right. So what have you got to lose by thinking positive?
Frances Hall
After many years working in film and music, Frances changed career direction to find what for her is a more fulfilling way to live. Now an accredited life coach, massage therapist and writer, she is doing what she’d rather be doing - helping people get the most out of their lives. Her intention is to “Liberate, Inspire, Focus, Empower.
check out: www.lifematters.gb.com
Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Frances_Hal
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AND if you'd like to read my favorite part of the book....
******************************
Pollyanna By Eleanor H, Porter
From the book Pollyanna; part of Chapter 22
"Oh, he always said he was, of course, but 'most always he said, too, that he wouldn't STAY a minister a minute if 'twasn't for the rejoicing texts."
"The--WHAT?" The Rev. Paul Ford's eyes left the leaf and gazed wonderingly into Pollyanna's merry little face.
“Well, , that's what father used to call 'em," she laughed. "Of course the Bible didn't name 'em that. But it's all those that begin 'Be glad in the Lord,' or 'Rejoice greatly,' or 'Shout for joy,' and all that, you know--such a lot of 'em. Once, when father felt specially bad, he counted 'em. There were eight hundred of ‘em.
“eight hundred.!”
“Yes--that told you to rejoice and be glad, you know; that's why father named 'em the 'rejoicing texts.”
“Oh.!" There was an odd look on the minister's face. His eyes had fallen to the words on the top paper in his hands--"But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" "And so your father--liked those 'rejoicing texts,' " he murmured
“Oh yes” nodded Pollyanna, emphatically. "He said he felt better right away, that first day he thought to count 'em. He said if God took the trouble to tell us eight hundred times to be glad and rejoice, He must want us to do it--SOME. And father felt ashamed that he hadn't done it more. After that, they got to be such a comfort to him, you know, when things went wrong; when the Ladies' Aiders got to fight--I mean, when they DIDN'T AGREE about something," corrected Pollyanna, hastily. "Why, it was those texts, too, father said, that made HIM think of the game--he began with ME on the crutches--but he said 'twas the rejoicing texts that started him on it.”
“And what game might that be?" asked the minister
"About finding something in everything to be glad about, you know. As I said, he began with me on the crutches." And once more Pollyanna told her story--this time to a man who listened with tender eyes and understanding ears.
A little later Pollyanna and the minister descended the hill, hand in hand. Pollyanna's face was radiant. Pollyanna loved to talk, and she had been talking now for some time: there seemed to be so many, many things about the game, her father, and the old home life that the minister wanted to know.
At the foot of the hill their ways parted, and Pollyanna down one road, and the minister down another, walked on alone.
In the Rev. Paul Ford's study that evening the minister sat thinking. Near him on the desk lay a few loose sheets of paper--his sermon notes. Under the suspended pencil in his fingers lay other sheets of paper, blank--his sermon to be. But the minister was not thinking either of what he had written, or of what be intended to write. In his imagination he was far away in a little Western town with a missionary minister who was poor, sick, worried, and almost alone in the world--but who was poring over the Bible to find how many times his Lord and Master had told him to "rejoice and be glad.”
After a time, with a long sigh, the Rev. Paul Ford roused himself, came back from the far Western town, and adjusted the sheets of paper under his hand "Matthew twenty-third; 13--14 and 23," he wrote; then, with a gesture of impatience, he dropped his pencil and pulled toward him a magazine left on the desk by his wife a few minutes before. Listlessly his tired eyes turned from paragraph to paragraph until these words arrested them: "A father one day said to his son, Tom, who, he knew, had refused to fill his mother's woodbox that morning: 'Tom, I'm sure you'll be glad to go and bring in some wood for your mother.' And without a word Tom went. Why? Just because his father showed so plainly that he expected him to do the right thing. Suppose he had said: 'Tom, I overheard what you said to your mother this morning, and I'm ashamed of you. Go at once and fill that woodbox!' I'll warrant that woodbox, would be empty yet, so far as Tom was concerned!"
On and on read the minister--a word here, a line there, a paragraph somewhere else.
"What men and women need is encouragement. Their natural resisting powers should be strengthened, not weakened. . . . Instead of always harping on a man's faults, tell him of his virtues. Try to pull him out of his rut of bad habits. Hold up to him his better self, his REAL self that can dare and do and win out! . . . The influence of a beautiful, helpful, hopeful character is contagious, and may revolutionize a whole town. . . . People radiate what is in their minds and in their hearts. If a man feels kindly and obliging, his neighbors will feel that way, too, before long. But if he scolds and scowls and criticizes--his neighbors will return scowl for scowl, and add interest! . . . When you look for the bad, expecting it, you will get it. When you know you will find the good--you will get that. . . . Tell your son Tom you KNOW he'll be glad to fill that woodbox--then watch him start, alert and interested!"
The minister dropped the paper and lifted his chin. In a moment he was on his feet, tramping the narrow room back and forth, back and forth. Later, some time later, he drew a long breath, and dropped himself in the chair at his desk.
"God helping me, I'll do it!" he cried softly. "I'll tell all my Toms I KNOW they'll be glad to fill that woodbox! I'll give them work to do, and I'll make them so full of the very joy of doing it that they won't have TIME to look at their neighbors' woodboxes!" And he picked up his sermon notes, tore straight through the sheets, and cast them from him, so that on one side of his chair lay "But woe unto you," and on the other, "scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" while across the smooth white paper before him his pencil fairly flew--after first drawing one black line through Matthew twenty-third; 13--14 and 23 .”
Thus it happened that the Rev. Paul Ford's sermon the next Sunday was a veritable bugle-call to the best that was in every man and woman and child that heard it; and its text was one of Pollyanna's shining eight hundred.
“Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye righteous, and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart."
END OF CHAPTER
If perhaps you'd like to read the entie book, It is available online through:
Classic Book Library : Pollyanna
classicbook.info/books/pollyanna/index.html
Main page
Classic Book Library -The Classics Online
classicbook.info/index.html
Genres:
Historical Fiction
Romance
Children's Literature
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Science
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pollyanna 30a
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Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
Image by familymwr
PHOTO CAPTION: Awarded Honorable Mention FLATIRON PATTERN by PFC ANTONIO GONZALEZ - Division 1 Active Duty Military
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
By Tim Hipps
FMWRC Public Affairs
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Brenda Walker strolled upon “one of those right places at the right time” alongside East Fork Indian Creek River when she photographed “Morning Serenity” on Fort Campbell, Ky…
Retired Col. Richard Pugh shot three photographs of “Point Lobos,” just south of Monterey, Calif., and combined them into one image by working 15 minutes with Photoshop…
Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra won a footrace with his wife to the bottom of a stairwell at Heidelberg Castle in Germany just before he looked up and photographed “9”…
…all three were winners in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest sponsored by the Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command.
There were 3,691 entries from around the world – 1,348 in Division I for active duty military personnel and 2,343 in Division II for other eligible MWR patrons. After Army garrisons selected their best entries, 664 Division I and 1,031 Division II photographs were forwarded for Department of the Army judging.
“There were many really excellent photos, which made the judges’ decisions a difficult task,” said Linda Ezernieks, who monitors the annual contest at Army MWR Headquarters in Alexandria. “Originality, creativity and technical quality were the main criteria in making final selections.”
Winners in each category – animals, digital darkroom, design elements, military life, monochrome, nature & landscapes, people, and still life – were posted on a website where Army Knowledge Online account-holders voted for their favorite photo in each division.
Walker’s “Morning Serenity” took first place in the nature and landscapes category and was voted the most popular photograph in Division II.
The subject of the photo is a fisherman wading and casting in the middle of East Fork Indian Creek River while the sun shines through the lush, green trees and casts a rainbow-like appearance off the steam hovering above the stream.
“It’s back on Fort Campbell,” Walker said. “I take my dog running back there early morning. It was really hot and the steam was rising and the rays were going through the trees. It was absolutely beautiful back there.
“I take my camera everywhere I go now.”
Walker left her business card on the windshield of a truck parked nearby and later learned the fisherman was Sgt. Randy Shorter of Fort Campbell.
About five years ago, Walker took some of her photographs to the MWR Custom Framing Shop at Fort Campbell, where she found out about the Army Photography Contest. She has produced prize-winning photos for the past three contests.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to get exposure, plus cash prizes,” said Walker, 48, a military family member. “I enjoy looking at everybody else’s work. It inspires me and motivates me to get out and get more interesting, different shots.”
What does Walker enjoy most about photography?
“Just being able to capture what I see through my eyes, my heart and my head,” she said. “A lot of it comes out through your emotion. It’s another form of art.”
Pugh, of Clarksville, Tenn., took first place in the Division II digital darkroom category with “The Owl,” second in design elements with “Blue Mosque,” and third in nature and landscapes with “Point Lobos.”
Pugh shot the high-tech looking photo of “The Owl” at Land Between The Lakes, a national recreation area located south of Paducah, Ky., and embellished it in Photoshop, as he did with “Blue Mosque,” a shot of the roof of a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.
“I like this contest,” said Pugh, 65, who photographed winning entries in each of the past three years after serving 30 years in the Army. “It gives people a chance to show off something they did, which is great.”
Piedro, 31, an Army recruiter in Douglasville, Ga., is a former combat photographer. His “9” earned first-place honors in the Division I design elements category. He took third place in digital darkroom with a self-portrait called “Beast within Me” that would make a dandy Halloween poster.
“I got the idea when I was in the gym working out with my partner and a couple people came up to us and said: ‘You guys are lifting like beasts.’ The idea just popped into my head, so I got home, took the shot, and just started editing,” Piedro said. “That’s where that photo came from.”
The subject of the photo looks like a cross between a werewolf, a vampire and an Avatar, complete with fangs, dagger-like fingernails and alien ears – seemingly howling at the moon that looms behind a naked tree.
“The fangs, the ears, the eyes and the hands are all Photoshopped,” Piedro said. “And the stomach that’s concaved a little bit, that was done in Photoshop. For the background, I took certain parts of images from other photos, adjusted them, and made everything into one image.”
So what’s real?
“The body, and the face,” Piedro replied. “That’s it.
“If you look closely, the eyes are actually black and the pupils are red, so that’s been Photoshopped.”
Piedro, however, does not think of himself as a Photoshop expert.
“I actually don’t do too much Photoshop,” he said. “I try to keep my images as pure as possible. But every now and then, I get my creative side and I do a little bit of Photoshop – just trial and error, playing around.”
Piedro won two categories and received an honorable mention in the 2007 Army Photography Contest but missed the competition the past two years.
“I think it’s a great, great program,” he said. “It’s a great way to get the creative process of people that do see the world and travel the world by being in the military, and not even just as Soldiers, but supporting staff, civilians, wives.
“It’s a great way to get recognition for something that we love to do.”
As is often the case with photography, Piedro did not know exactly what he shot that day in the stairwell to the gardens at Heidelberg Castle – until he downloaded the photo.
“When I got home and I looked at, I was like: ‘That’s 9, yeah.’ And that’s where the title came from.”
Piedro cherishes photography’s uncanny ability of giving him the opportunity of “freezing a moment in time that only I can see and sharing that with others.”
Several other military photographers earned multiple places in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest.
Holly Swegle of Fort Hood, Texas, took first place in Division II monochrome for “Dress Shop,” second in animals for “Painted Birds” and third in people for “American Woman.”
Lt. Col. Mark Bonica of Fort Sam Houston, Texas, took second in Division I still life with “Reflections in Soap,” third in monochrome with “… and We All Fall Down” and received an honorable mention in military life with “Free Gift When You Join Today.”
Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman of Fort Bliss, Texas, won the Division I popular vote contest for “Reaching Perfection,” which topped the still life category.
SIDEBAR:
Here are the results of the top three finishers in each category with photographer’s rank, name, installation and photo title:
2010 Army Digital Photo Contest
Division I
Animals – 1. Pfc. Amber Smith, Yongsan, Korea, What’s for Dinner; 2. Staff Sgt. Wilberto Sierra, Fort Bliss, Texas, Dragonfly; 3. Staff Sgt. Robert Curtis, Vicenza, Italy, Tough Love.
Digital darkroom – 1. Spc. Thomas Mort, Fort Knox, Ky., Over the Top; 2. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, On the Range; 3. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., Beast within Me.
Design elements – 1. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., 9; 2. 2nd Lt. Thomas Malejko, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Arch Elements; 3. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Sunset Under Glass.
Mililtary life – 1. Sgt. Darlene Martinez, Fort Drum, N.Y., The Sacrifices We Make; 2. Staff Sgt. Joey Suggs, Fort Meade, Md., Dental Care; 3. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, Remember Me.
Monochrome – 1. Sgt. 1st Class Lance Widner, Mannheim, Germany, Great Grandmother; 2. Col. John Powers, Camp Zama, Japan, Calm Morning at Mount Fuji; 3. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, … and We All Fall Down.
Nature & landscapes – 1. 1st Lt. Christopher Snell, (unknown location), Sunset Swim; 2. Spc. Juan-Pablo Marin, Fort Benning, Ga., Moon Set; 3. Spc. Jenny Lu, Hohenfels, Germany, Hong Kong at Night.
People – 1. Capt. David Callender, (unknown location), Anna’s Dream; 2. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Eval Fairy; 3. Col. Joseph Mancy, Stuttgart, Germany, Eyes that Speak.
Still life – 1. Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman, Fort Bliss, Texas, Reaching Perfection; 2. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Reflections in Soap; 3. Warrant Officer Larry Olson, Wiesbaden, Germany, Sunflower in Contrast.
Division II
Animals – 1. Susan Doran, Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., Defiance; 2. Holley Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Painted Birds; 3. Eric Armstrong, Camp Zama, Japan, Man O’ War.
Digital darkroom – 1. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., The Owl; 2. Stephen Cullum, Stuttgart, Germany, Volksfest FDR; 3. Gary Cashman, Yongsan, Korea, BMX Composite.
Design elements – 1. Robert LaPolice, Selfridge, Mich., Just Riveting; 2. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Blue Mosque; 3. James Holbrook, Stuttgart, Germany, What do I call this.
Military life – 1. Nell Williams, Fort Stewart, Ga., My Dad, My Hero; 2. Rebecca Colburn, Fort Carson, Colo., The Test Drive; 3. Ann Marie Detavernier, Baumholder, Germany, The Love Letter.
Monochrome – 1. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Dress Shop; 2. Barbara Underwood, Fort Lee, Va., Light and Shadows; 3. Jeffrey Kline, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Texas Snow.
Nature & landscapes – 1. Brenda Walker, Fort Campbell, Ky., Morning Serenity; 2. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Ash Clouds over Holland; 3. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Point Lobos.
People – 1. Sherry Keene Hobbs, Garmisch, Germany, Belly Dancer; 2. Eugenia Whittenburg, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, Happy Beach Feet; 3. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, American Woman.
Still life – 1. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Green Tomato; 2. Michael Slone, Fort Meade, Md., Morning Coffee; 3. Frank Leon, Fort Knox, Ky., The faucet chronicles.
Connect with us:
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
www.Twitter.com/FamilyMWR
www.YouTube.com/FamilyMWR
ks 110321
Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
Image by familymwr
PHOTO CAPTION: Awarded 1st Place Defiance by DOD EMP SUSAN DORAN - Division 2 Other Eligible Patron
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
By Tim Hipps
FMWRC Public Affairs
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Brenda Walker strolled upon “one of those right places at the right time” alongside East Fork Indian Creek River when she photographed “Morning Serenity” on Fort Campbell, Ky…
Retired Col. Richard Pugh shot three photographs of “Point Lobos,” just south of Monterey, Calif., and combined them into one image by working 15 minutes with Photoshop…
Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra won a footrace with his wife to the bottom of a stairwell at Heidelberg Castle in Germany just before he looked up and photographed “9”…
…all three were winners in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest sponsored by the Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command.
There were 3,691 entries from around the world – 1,348 in Division I for active duty military personnel and 2,343 in Division II for other eligible MWR patrons. After Army garrisons selected their best entries, 664 Division I and 1,031 Division II photographs were forwarded for Department of the Army judging.
“There were many really excellent photos, which made the judges’ decisions a difficult task,” said Linda Ezernieks, who monitors the annual contest at Army MWR Headquarters in Alexandria. “Originality, creativity and technical quality were the main criteria in making final selections.”
Winners in each category – animals, digital darkroom, design elements, military life, monochrome, nature & landscapes, people, and still life – were posted on a website where Army Knowledge Online account-holders voted for their favorite photo in each division.
Walker’s “Morning Serenity” took first place in the nature and landscapes category and was voted the most popular photograph in Division II.
The subject of the photo is a fisherman wading and casting in the middle of East Fork Indian Creek River while the sun shines through the lush, green trees and casts a rainbow-like appearance off the steam hovering above the stream.
“It’s back on Fort Campbell,” Walker said. “I take my dog running back there early morning. It was really hot and the steam was rising and the rays were going through the trees. It was absolutely beautiful back there.
“I take my camera everywhere I go now.”
Walker left her business card on the windshield of a truck parked nearby and later learned the fisherman was Sgt. Randy Shorter of Fort Campbell.
About five years ago, Walker took some of her photographs to the MWR Custom Framing Shop at Fort Campbell, where she found out about the Army Photography Contest. She has produced prize-winning photos for the past three contests.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to get exposure, plus cash prizes,” said Walker, 48, a military family member. “I enjoy looking at everybody else’s work. It inspires me and motivates me to get out and get more interesting, different shots.”
What does Walker enjoy most about photography?
“Just being able to capture what I see through my eyes, my heart and my head,” she said. “A lot of it comes out through your emotion. It’s another form of art.”
Pugh, of Clarksville, Tenn., took first place in the Division II digital darkroom category with “The Owl,” second in design elements with “Blue Mosque,” and third in nature and landscapes with “Point Lobos.”
Pugh shot the high-tech looking photo of “The Owl” at Land Between The Lakes, a national recreation area located south of Paducah, Ky., and embellished it in Photoshop, as he did with “Blue Mosque,” a shot of the roof of a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.
“I like this contest,” said Pugh, 65, who photographed winning entries in each of the past three years after serving 30 years in the Army. “It gives people a chance to show off something they did, which is great.”
Piedro, 31, an Army recruiter in Douglasville, Ga., is a former combat photographer. His “9” earned first-place honors in the Division I design elements category. He took third place in digital darkroom with a self-portrait called “Beast within Me” that would make a dandy Halloween poster.
“I got the idea when I was in the gym working out with my partner and a couple people came up to us and said: ‘You guys are lifting like beasts.’ The idea just popped into my head, so I got home, took the shot, and just started editing,” Piedro said. “That’s where that photo came from.”
The subject of the photo looks like a cross between a werewolf, a vampire and an Avatar, complete with fangs, dagger-like fingernails and alien ears – seemingly howling at the moon that looms behind a naked tree.
“The fangs, the ears, the eyes and the hands are all Photoshopped,” Piedro said. “And the stomach that’s concaved a little bit, that was done in Photoshop. For the background, I took certain parts of images from other photos, adjusted them, and made everything into one image.”
So what’s real?
“The body, and the face,” Piedro replied. “That’s it.
“If you look closely, the eyes are actually black and the pupils are red, so that’s been Photoshopped.”
Piedro, however, does not think of himself as a Photoshop expert.
“I actually don’t do too much Photoshop,” he said. “I try to keep my images as pure as possible. But every now and then, I get my creative side and I do a little bit of Photoshop – just trial and error, playing around.”
Piedro won two categories and received an honorable mention in the 2007 Army Photography Contest but missed the competition the past two years.
“I think it’s a great, great program,” he said. “It’s a great way to get the creative process of people that do see the world and travel the world by being in the military, and not even just as Soldiers, but supporting staff, civilians, wives.
“It’s a great way to get recognition for something that we love to do.”
As is often the case with photography, Piedro did not know exactly what he shot that day in the stairwell to the gardens at Heidelberg Castle – until he downloaded the photo.
“When I got home and I looked at, I was like: ‘That’s 9, yeah.’ And that’s where the title came from.”
Piedro cherishes photography’s uncanny ability of giving him the opportunity of “freezing a moment in time that only I can see and sharing that with others.”
Several other military photographers earned multiple places in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest.
Holly Swegle of Fort Hood, Texas, took first place in Division II monochrome for “Dress Shop,” second in animals for “Painted Birds” and third in people for “American Woman.”
Lt. Col. Mark Bonica of Fort Sam Houston, Texas, took second in Division I still life with “Reflections in Soap,” third in monochrome with “… and We All Fall Down” and received an honorable mention in military life with “Free Gift When You Join Today.”
Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman of Fort Bliss, Texas, won the Division I popular vote contest for “Reaching Perfection,” which topped the still life category.
SIDEBAR:
Here are the results of the top three finishers in each category with photographer’s rank, name, installation and photo title:
2010 Army Digital Photo Contest
Division I
Animals – 1. Pfc. Amber Smith, Yongsan, Korea, What’s for Dinner; 2. Staff Sgt. Wilberto Sierra, Fort Bliss, Texas, Dragonfly; 3. Staff Sgt. Robert Curtis, Vicenza, Italy, Tough Love.
Digital darkroom – 1. Spc. Thomas Mort, Fort Knox, Ky., Over the Top; 2. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, On the Range; 3. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., Beast within Me.
Design elements – 1. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., 9; 2. 2nd Lt. Thomas Malejko, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Arch Elements; 3. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Sunset Under Glass.
Mililtary life – 1. Sgt. Darlene Martinez, Fort Drum, N.Y., The Sacrifices We Make; 2. Staff Sgt. Joey Suggs, Fort Meade, Md., Dental Care; 3. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, Remember Me.
Monochrome – 1. Sgt. 1st Class Lance Widner, Mannheim, Germany, Great Grandmother; 2. Col. John Powers, Camp Zama, Japan, Calm Morning at Mount Fuji; 3. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, … and We All Fall Down.
Nature & landscapes – 1. 1st Lt. Christopher Snell, (unknown location), Sunset Swim; 2. Spc. Juan-Pablo Marin, Fort Benning, Ga., Moon Set; 3. Spc. Jenny Lu, Hohenfels, Germany, Hong Kong at Night.
People – 1. Capt. David Callender, (unknown location), Anna’s Dream; 2. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Eval Fairy; 3. Col. Joseph Mancy, Stuttgart, Germany, Eyes that Speak.
Still life – 1. Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman, Fort Bliss, Texas, Reaching Perfection; 2. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Reflections in Soap; 3. Warrant Officer Larry Olson, Wiesbaden, Germany, Sunflower in Contrast.
Division II
Animals – 1. Susan Doran, Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., Defiance; 2. Holley Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Painted Birds; 3. Eric Armstrong, Camp Zama, Japan, Man O’ War.
Digital darkroom – 1. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., The Owl; 2. Stephen Cullum, Stuttgart, Germany, Volksfest FDR; 3. Gary Cashman, Yongsan, Korea, BMX Composite.
Design elements – 1. Robert LaPolice, Selfridge, Mich., Just Riveting; 2. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Blue Mosque; 3. James Holbrook, Stuttgart, Germany, What do I call this.
Military life – 1. Nell Williams, Fort Stewart, Ga., My Dad, My Hero; 2. Rebecca Colburn, Fort Carson, Colo., The Test Drive; 3. Ann Marie Detavernier, Baumholder, Germany, The Love Letter.
Monochrome – 1. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Dress Shop; 2. Barbara Underwood, Fort Lee, Va., Light and Shadows; 3. Jeffrey Kline, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Texas Snow.
Nature & landscapes – 1. Brenda Walker, Fort Campbell, Ky., Morning Serenity; 2. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Ash Clouds over Holland; 3. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Point Lobos.
People – 1. Sherry Keene Hobbs, Garmisch, Germany, Belly Dancer; 2. Eugenia Whittenburg, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, Happy Beach Feet; 3. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, American Woman.
Still life – 1. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Green Tomato; 2. Michael Slone, Fort Meade, Md., Morning Coffee; 3. Frank Leon, Fort Knox, Ky., The faucet chronicles.
Connect with us:
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
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ks 110321
Some cool photo editing images:
puzzlish
Image by ▓▒░ TORLEY ░▒▓
Hear me tell the story behind these photos!
Some cool photo editing online images:
Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
Image by familymwr
PHOTO CAPTION: Awarded 2nd Place Happy Beach Feet by MIL FM EUGENIA WHITTENBURG - Division 2 Other Eligible Patron
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
By Tim Hipps
FMWRC Public Affairs
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Brenda Walker strolled upon “one of those right places at the right time” alongside East Fork Indian Creek River when she photographed “Morning Serenity” on Fort Campbell, Ky…
Retired Col. Richard Pugh shot three photographs of “Point Lobos,” just south of Monterey, Calif., and combined them into one image by working 15 minutes with Photoshop…
Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra won a footrace with his wife to the bottom of a stairwell at Heidelberg Castle in Germany just before he looked up and photographed “9”…
…all three were winners in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest sponsored by the Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command.
There were 3,691 entries from around the world – 1,348 in Division I for active duty military personnel and 2,343 in Division II for other eligible MWR patrons. After Army garrisons selected their best entries, 664 Division I and 1,031 Division II photographs were forwarded for Department of the Army judging.
“There were many really excellent photos, which made the judges’ decisions a difficult task,” said Linda Ezernieks, who monitors the annual contest at Army MWR Headquarters in Alexandria. “Originality, creativity and technical quality were the main criteria in making final selections.”
Winners in each category – animals, digital darkroom, design elements, military life, monochrome, nature & landscapes, people, and still life – were posted on a website where Army Knowledge Online account-holders voted for their favorite photo in each division.
Walker’s “Morning Serenity” took first place in the nature and landscapes category and was voted the most popular photograph in Division II.
The subject of the photo is a fisherman wading and casting in the middle of East Fork Indian Creek River while the sun shines through the lush, green trees and casts a rainbow-like appearance off the steam hovering above the stream.
“It’s back on Fort Campbell,” Walker said. “I take my dog running back there early morning. It was really hot and the steam was rising and the rays were going through the trees. It was absolutely beautiful back there.
“I take my camera everywhere I go now.”
Walker left her business card on the windshield of a truck parked nearby and later learned the fisherman was Sgt. Randy Shorter of Fort Campbell.
About five years ago, Walker took some of her photographs to the MWR Custom Framing Shop at Fort Campbell, where she found out about the Army Photography Contest. She has produced prize-winning photos for the past three contests.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to get exposure, plus cash prizes,” said Walker, 48, a military family member. “I enjoy looking at everybody else’s work. It inspires me and motivates me to get out and get more interesting, different shots.”
What does Walker enjoy most about photography?
“Just being able to capture what I see through my eyes, my heart and my head,” she said. “A lot of it comes out through your emotion. It’s another form of art.”
Pugh, of Clarksville, Tenn., took first place in the Division II digital darkroom category with “The Owl,” second in design elements with “Blue Mosque,” and third in nature and landscapes with “Point Lobos.”
Pugh shot the high-tech looking photo of “The Owl” at Land Between The Lakes, a national recreation area located south of Paducah, Ky., and embellished it in Photoshop, as he did with “Blue Mosque,” a shot of the roof of a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.
“I like this contest,” said Pugh, 65, who photographed winning entries in each of the past three years after serving 30 years in the Army. “It gives people a chance to show off something they did, which is great.”
Piedro, 31, an Army recruiter in Douglasville, Ga., is a former combat photographer. His “9” earned first-place honors in the Division I design elements category. He took third place in digital darkroom with a self-portrait called “Beast within Me” that would make a dandy Halloween poster.
“I got the idea when I was in the gym working out with my partner and a couple people came up to us and said: ‘You guys are lifting like beasts.’ The idea just popped into my head, so I got home, took the shot, and just started editing,” Piedro said. “That’s where that photo came from.”
The subject of the photo looks like a cross between a werewolf, a vampire and an Avatar, complete with fangs, dagger-like fingernails and alien ears – seemingly howling at the moon that looms behind a naked tree.
“The fangs, the ears, the eyes and the hands are all Photoshopped,” Piedro said. “And the stomach that’s concaved a little bit, that was done in Photoshop. For the background, I took certain parts of images from other photos, adjusted them, and made everything into one image.”
So what’s real?
“The body, and the face,” Piedro replied. “That’s it.
“If you look closely, the eyes are actually black and the pupils are red, so that’s been Photoshopped.”
Piedro, however, does not think of himself as a Photoshop expert.
“I actually don’t do too much Photoshop,” he said. “I try to keep my images as pure as possible. But every now and then, I get my creative side and I do a little bit of Photoshop – just trial and error, playing around.”
Piedro won two categories and received an honorable mention in the 2007 Army Photography Contest but missed the competition the past two years.
“I think it’s a great, great program,” he said. “It’s a great way to get the creative process of people that do see the world and travel the world by being in the military, and not even just as Soldiers, but supporting staff, civilians, wives.
“It’s a great way to get recognition for something that we love to do.”
As is often the case with photography, Piedro did not know exactly what he shot that day in the stairwell to the gardens at Heidelberg Castle – until he downloaded the photo.
“When I got home and I looked at, I was like: ‘That’s 9, yeah.’ And that’s where the title came from.”
Piedro cherishes photography’s uncanny ability of giving him the opportunity of “freezing a moment in time that only I can see and sharing that with others.”
Several other military photographers earned multiple places in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest.
Holly Swegle of Fort Hood, Texas, took first place in Division II monochrome for “Dress Shop,” second in animals for “Painted Birds” and third in people for “American Woman.”
Lt. Col. Mark Bonica of Fort Sam Houston, Texas, took second in Division I still life with “Reflections in Soap,” third in monochrome with “… and We All Fall Down” and received an honorable mention in military life with “Free Gift When You Join Today.”
Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman of Fort Bliss, Texas, won the Division I popular vote contest for “Reaching Perfection,” which topped the still life category.
SIDEBAR:
Here are the results of the top three finishers in each category with photographer’s rank, name, installation and photo title:
2010 Army Digital Photo Contest
Division I
Animals – 1. Pfc. Amber Smith, Yongsan, Korea, What’s for Dinner; 2. Staff Sgt. Wilberto Sierra, Fort Bliss, Texas, Dragonfly; 3. Staff Sgt. Robert Curtis, Vicenza, Italy, Tough Love.
Digital darkroom – 1. Spc. Thomas Mort, Fort Knox, Ky., Over the Top; 2. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, On the Range; 3. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., Beast within Me.
Design elements – 1. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., 9; 2. 2nd Lt. Thomas Malejko, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Arch Elements; 3. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Sunset Under Glass.
Mililtary life – 1. Sgt. Darlene Martinez, Fort Drum, N.Y., The Sacrifices We Make; 2. Staff Sgt. Joey Suggs, Fort Meade, Md., Dental Care; 3. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, Remember Me.
Monochrome – 1. Sgt. 1st Class Lance Widner, Mannheim, Germany, Great Grandmother; 2. Col. John Powers, Camp Zama, Japan, Calm Morning at Mount Fuji; 3. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, … and We All Fall Down.
Nature & landscapes – 1. 1st Lt. Christopher Snell, (unknown location), Sunset Swim; 2. Spc. Juan-Pablo Marin, Fort Benning, Ga., Moon Set; 3. Spc. Jenny Lu, Hohenfels, Germany, Hong Kong at Night.
People – 1. Capt. David Callender, (unknown location), Anna’s Dream; 2. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Eval Fairy; 3. Col. Joseph Mancy, Stuttgart, Germany, Eyes that Speak.
Still life – 1. Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman, Fort Bliss, Texas, Reaching Perfection; 2. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Reflections in Soap; 3. Warrant Officer Larry Olson, Wiesbaden, Germany, Sunflower in Contrast.
Division II
Animals – 1. Susan Doran, Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., Defiance; 2. Holley Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Painted Birds; 3. Eric Armstrong, Camp Zama, Japan, Man O’ War.
Digital darkroom – 1. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., The Owl; 2. Stephen Cullum, Stuttgart, Germany, Volksfest FDR; 3. Gary Cashman, Yongsan, Korea, BMX Composite.
Design elements – 1. Robert LaPolice, Selfridge, Mich., Just Riveting; 2. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Blue Mosque; 3. James Holbrook, Stuttgart, Germany, What do I call this.
Military life – 1. Nell Williams, Fort Stewart, Ga., My Dad, My Hero; 2. Rebecca Colburn, Fort Carson, Colo., The Test Drive; 3. Ann Marie Detavernier, Baumholder, Germany, The Love Letter.
Monochrome – 1. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Dress Shop; 2. Barbara Underwood, Fort Lee, Va., Light and Shadows; 3. Jeffrey Kline, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Texas Snow.
Nature & landscapes – 1. Brenda Walker, Fort Campbell, Ky., Morning Serenity; 2. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Ash Clouds over Holland; 3. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Point Lobos.
People – 1. Sherry Keene Hobbs, Garmisch, Germany, Belly Dancer; 2. Eugenia Whittenburg, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, Happy Beach Feet; 3. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, American Woman.
Still life – 1. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Green Tomato; 2. Michael Slone, Fort Meade, Md., Morning Coffee; 3. Frank Leon, Fort Knox, Ky., The faucet chronicles.
Connect with us:
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
www.Twitter.com/FamilyMWR
www.YouTube.com/FamilyMWR
ks 110321
Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
Image by familymwr
PHOTO CAPTION: Awarded 1st Place Belly Dancer by DOD EMP SHERRY KEENE HOBBS - Division 2 Other Eligible Patron
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
By Tim Hipps
FMWRC Public Affairs
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Brenda Walker strolled upon “one of those right places at the right time” alongside East Fork Indian Creek River when she photographed “Morning Serenity” on Fort Campbell, Ky…
Retired Col. Richard Pugh shot three photographs of “Point Lobos,” just south of Monterey, Calif., and combined them into one image by working 15 minutes with Photoshop…
Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra won a footrace with his wife to the bottom of a stairwell at Heidelberg Castle in Germany just before he looked up and photographed “9”…
…all three were winners in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest sponsored by the Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command.
There were 3,691 entries from around the world – 1,348 in Division I for active duty military personnel and 2,343 in Division II for other eligible MWR patrons. After Army garrisons selected their best entries, 664 Division I and 1,031 Division II photographs were forwarded for Department of the Army judging.
“There were many really excellent photos, which made the judges’ decisions a difficult task,” said Linda Ezernieks, who monitors the annual contest at Army MWR Headquarters in Alexandria. “Originality, creativity and technical quality were the main criteria in making final selections.”
Winners in each category – animals, digital darkroom, design elements, military life, monochrome, nature & landscapes, people, and still life – were posted on a website where Army Knowledge Online account-holders voted for their favorite photo in each division.
Walker’s “Morning Serenity” took first place in the nature and landscapes category and was voted the most popular photograph in Division II.
The subject of the photo is a fisherman wading and casting in the middle of East Fork Indian Creek River while the sun shines through the lush, green trees and casts a rainbow-like appearance off the steam hovering above the stream.
“It’s back on Fort Campbell,” Walker said. “I take my dog running back there early morning. It was really hot and the steam was rising and the rays were going through the trees. It was absolutely beautiful back there.
“I take my camera everywhere I go now.”
Walker left her business card on the windshield of a truck parked nearby and later learned the fisherman was Sgt. Randy Shorter of Fort Campbell.
About five years ago, Walker took some of her photographs to the MWR Custom Framing Shop at Fort Campbell, where she found out about the Army Photography Contest. She has produced prize-winning photos for the past three contests.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to get exposure, plus cash prizes,” said Walker, 48, a military family member. “I enjoy looking at everybody else’s work. It inspires me and motivates me to get out and get more interesting, different shots.”
What does Walker enjoy most about photography?
“Just being able to capture what I see through my eyes, my heart and my head,” she said. “A lot of it comes out through your emotion. It’s another form of art.”
Pugh, of Clarksville, Tenn., took first place in the Division II digital darkroom category with “The Owl,” second in design elements with “Blue Mosque,” and third in nature and landscapes with “Point Lobos.”
Pugh shot the high-tech looking photo of “The Owl” at Land Between The Lakes, a national recreation area located south of Paducah, Ky., and embellished it in Photoshop, as he did with “Blue Mosque,” a shot of the roof of a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.
“I like this contest,” said Pugh, 65, who photographed winning entries in each of the past three years after serving 30 years in the Army. “It gives people a chance to show off something they did, which is great.”
Piedro, 31, an Army recruiter in Douglasville, Ga., is a former combat photographer. His “9” earned first-place honors in the Division I design elements category. He took third place in digital darkroom with a self-portrait called “Beast within Me” that would make a dandy Halloween poster.
“I got the idea when I was in the gym working out with my partner and a couple people came up to us and said: ‘You guys are lifting like beasts.’ The idea just popped into my head, so I got home, took the shot, and just started editing,” Piedro said. “That’s where that photo came from.”
The subject of the photo looks like a cross between a werewolf, a vampire and an Avatar, complete with fangs, dagger-like fingernails and alien ears – seemingly howling at the moon that looms behind a naked tree.
“The fangs, the ears, the eyes and the hands are all Photoshopped,” Piedro said. “And the stomach that’s concaved a little bit, that was done in Photoshop. For the background, I took certain parts of images from other photos, adjusted them, and made everything into one image.”
So what’s real?
“The body, and the face,” Piedro replied. “That’s it.
“If you look closely, the eyes are actually black and the pupils are red, so that’s been Photoshopped.”
Piedro, however, does not think of himself as a Photoshop expert.
“I actually don’t do too much Photoshop,” he said. “I try to keep my images as pure as possible. But every now and then, I get my creative side and I do a little bit of Photoshop – just trial and error, playing around.”
Piedro won two categories and received an honorable mention in the 2007 Army Photography Contest but missed the competition the past two years.
“I think it’s a great, great program,” he said. “It’s a great way to get the creative process of people that do see the world and travel the world by being in the military, and not even just as Soldiers, but supporting staff, civilians, wives.
“It’s a great way to get recognition for something that we love to do.”
As is often the case with photography, Piedro did not know exactly what he shot that day in the stairwell to the gardens at Heidelberg Castle – until he downloaded the photo.
“When I got home and I looked at, I was like: ‘That’s 9, yeah.’ And that’s where the title came from.”
Piedro cherishes photography’s uncanny ability of giving him the opportunity of “freezing a moment in time that only I can see and sharing that with others.”
Several other military photographers earned multiple places in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest.
Holly Swegle of Fort Hood, Texas, took first place in Division II monochrome for “Dress Shop,” second in animals for “Painted Birds” and third in people for “American Woman.”
Lt. Col. Mark Bonica of Fort Sam Houston, Texas, took second in Division I still life with “Reflections in Soap,” third in monochrome with “… and We All Fall Down” and received an honorable mention in military life with “Free Gift When You Join Today.”
Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman of Fort Bliss, Texas, won the Division I popular vote contest for “Reaching Perfection,” which topped the still life category.
SIDEBAR:
Here are the results of the top three finishers in each category with photographer’s rank, name, installation and photo title:
2010 Army Digital Photo Contest
Division I
Animals – 1. Pfc. Amber Smith, Yongsan, Korea, What’s for Dinner; 2. Staff Sgt. Wilberto Sierra, Fort Bliss, Texas, Dragonfly; 3. Staff Sgt. Robert Curtis, Vicenza, Italy, Tough Love.
Digital darkroom – 1. Spc. Thomas Mort, Fort Knox, Ky., Over the Top; 2. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, On the Range; 3. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., Beast within Me.
Design elements – 1. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., 9; 2. 2nd Lt. Thomas Malejko, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Arch Elements; 3. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Sunset Under Glass.
Mililtary life – 1. Sgt. Darlene Martinez, Fort Drum, N.Y., The Sacrifices We Make; 2. Staff Sgt. Joey Suggs, Fort Meade, Md., Dental Care; 3. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, Remember Me.
Monochrome – 1. Sgt. 1st Class Lance Widner, Mannheim, Germany, Great Grandmother; 2. Col. John Powers, Camp Zama, Japan, Calm Morning at Mount Fuji; 3. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, … and We All Fall Down.
Nature & landscapes – 1. 1st Lt. Christopher Snell, (unknown location), Sunset Swim; 2. Spc. Juan-Pablo Marin, Fort Benning, Ga., Moon Set; 3. Spc. Jenny Lu, Hohenfels, Germany, Hong Kong at Night.
People – 1. Capt. David Callender, (unknown location), Anna’s Dream; 2. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Eval Fairy; 3. Col. Joseph Mancy, Stuttgart, Germany, Eyes that Speak.
Still life – 1. Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman, Fort Bliss, Texas, Reaching Perfection; 2. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Reflections in Soap; 3. Warrant Officer Larry Olson, Wiesbaden, Germany, Sunflower in Contrast.
Division II
Animals – 1. Susan Doran, Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., Defiance; 2. Holley Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Painted Birds; 3. Eric Armstrong, Camp Zama, Japan, Man O’ War.
Digital darkroom – 1. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., The Owl; 2. Stephen Cullum, Stuttgart, Germany, Volksfest FDR; 3. Gary Cashman, Yongsan, Korea, BMX Composite.
Design elements – 1. Robert LaPolice, Selfridge, Mich., Just Riveting; 2. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Blue Mosque; 3. James Holbrook, Stuttgart, Germany, What do I call this.
Military life – 1. Nell Williams, Fort Stewart, Ga., My Dad, My Hero; 2. Rebecca Colburn, Fort Carson, Colo., The Test Drive; 3. Ann Marie Detavernier, Baumholder, Germany, The Love Letter.
Monochrome – 1. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Dress Shop; 2. Barbara Underwood, Fort Lee, Va., Light and Shadows; 3. Jeffrey Kline, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Texas Snow.
Nature & landscapes – 1. Brenda Walker, Fort Campbell, Ky., Morning Serenity; 2. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Ash Clouds over Holland; 3. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Point Lobos.
People – 1. Sherry Keene Hobbs, Garmisch, Germany, Belly Dancer; 2. Eugenia Whittenburg, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, Happy Beach Feet; 3. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, American Woman.
Still life – 1. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Green Tomato; 2. Michael Slone, Fort Meade, Md., Morning Coffee; 3. Frank Leon, Fort Knox, Ky., The faucet chronicles.
Connect with us:
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
www.Twitter.com/FamilyMWR
www.YouTube.com/FamilyMWR
ks 110321
A few nice image editing online images I found:
IMG_9050
Image by ThePhotoDept
These images are unedited! If you want one email me the number and I will crop & edit it for whatever size you want and take out the copyright stamp. These are not sized for printing, but you can use them online.
Check out these image editing online images:
Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
Image by familymwr
PHOTO CAPTION: Awarded Honorable Mention Tea for Two by MIL FM LACEY TELKAIN - Division 2 Other Eligible Patron
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
By Tim Hipps
FMWRC Public Affairs
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Brenda Walker strolled upon “one of those right places at the right time” alongside East Fork Indian Creek River when she photographed “Morning Serenity” on Fort Campbell, Ky…
Retired Col. Richard Pugh shot three photographs of “Point Lobos,” just south of Monterey, Calif., and combined them into one image by working 15 minutes with Photoshop…
Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra won a footrace with his wife to the bottom of a stairwell at Heidelberg Castle in Germany just before he looked up and photographed “9”…
…all three were winners in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest sponsored by the Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command.
There were 3,691 entries from around the world – 1,348 in Division I for active duty military personnel and 2,343 in Division II for other eligible MWR patrons. After Army garrisons selected their best entries, 664 Division I and 1,031 Division II photographs were forwarded for Department of the Army judging.
“There were many really excellent photos, which made the judges’ decisions a difficult task,” said Linda Ezernieks, who monitors the annual contest at Army MWR Headquarters in Alexandria. “Originality, creativity and technical quality were the main criteria in making final selections.”
Winners in each category – animals, digital darkroom, design elements, military life, monochrome, nature & landscapes, people, and still life – were posted on a website where Army Knowledge Online account-holders voted for their favorite photo in each division.
Walker’s “Morning Serenity” took first place in the nature and landscapes category and was voted the most popular photograph in Division II.
The subject of the photo is a fisherman wading and casting in the middle of East Fork Indian Creek River while the sun shines through the lush, green trees and casts a rainbow-like appearance off the steam hovering above the stream.
“It’s back on Fort Campbell,” Walker said. “I take my dog running back there early morning. It was really hot and the steam was rising and the rays were going through the trees. It was absolutely beautiful back there.
“I take my camera everywhere I go now.”
Walker left her business card on the windshield of a truck parked nearby and later learned the fisherman was Sgt. Randy Shorter of Fort Campbell.
About five years ago, Walker took some of her photographs to the MWR Custom Framing Shop at Fort Campbell, where she found out about the Army Photography Contest. She has produced prize-winning photos for the past three contests.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to get exposure, plus cash prizes,” said Walker, 48, a military family member. “I enjoy looking at everybody else’s work. It inspires me and motivates me to get out and get more interesting, different shots.”
What does Walker enjoy most about photography?
“Just being able to capture what I see through my eyes, my heart and my head,” she said. “A lot of it comes out through your emotion. It’s another form of art.”
Pugh, of Clarksville, Tenn., took first place in the Division II digital darkroom category with “The Owl,” second in design elements with “Blue Mosque,” and third in nature and landscapes with “Point Lobos.”
Pugh shot the high-tech looking photo of “The Owl” at Land Between The Lakes, a national recreation area located south of Paducah, Ky., and embellished it in Photoshop, as he did with “Blue Mosque,” a shot of the roof of a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.
“I like this contest,” said Pugh, 65, who photographed winning entries in each of the past three years after serving 30 years in the Army. “It gives people a chance to show off something they did, which is great.”
Piedro, 31, an Army recruiter in Douglasville, Ga., is a former combat photographer. His “9” earned first-place honors in the Division I design elements category. He took third place in digital darkroom with a self-portrait called “Beast within Me” that would make a dandy Halloween poster.
“I got the idea when I was in the gym working out with my partner and a couple people came up to us and said: ‘You guys are lifting like beasts.’ The idea just popped into my head, so I got home, took the shot, and just started editing,” Piedro said. “That’s where that photo came from.”
The subject of the photo looks like a cross between a werewolf, a vampire and an Avatar, complete with fangs, dagger-like fingernails and alien ears – seemingly howling at the moon that looms behind a naked tree.
“The fangs, the ears, the eyes and the hands are all Photoshopped,” Piedro said. “And the stomach that’s concaved a little bit, that was done in Photoshop. For the background, I took certain parts of images from other photos, adjusted them, and made everything into one image.”
So what’s real?
“The body, and the face,” Piedro replied. “That’s it.
“If you look closely, the eyes are actually black and the pupils are red, so that’s been Photoshopped.”
Piedro, however, does not think of himself as a Photoshop expert.
“I actually don’t do too much Photoshop,” he said. “I try to keep my images as pure as possible. But every now and then, I get my creative side and I do a little bit of Photoshop – just trial and error, playing around.”
Piedro won two categories and received an honorable mention in the 2007 Army Photography Contest but missed the competition the past two years.
“I think it’s a great, great program,” he said. “It’s a great way to get the creative process of people that do see the world and travel the world by being in the military, and not even just as Soldiers, but supporting staff, civilians, wives.
“It’s a great way to get recognition for something that we love to do.”
As is often the case with photography, Piedro did not know exactly what he shot that day in the stairwell to the gardens at Heidelberg Castle – until he downloaded the photo.
“When I got home and I looked at, I was like: ‘That’s 9, yeah.’ And that’s where the title came from.”
Piedro cherishes photography’s uncanny ability of giving him the opportunity of “freezing a moment in time that only I can see and sharing that with others.”
Several other military photographers earned multiple places in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest.
Holly Swegle of Fort Hood, Texas, took first place in Division II monochrome for “Dress Shop,” second in animals for “Painted Birds” and third in people for “American Woman.”
Lt. Col. Mark Bonica of Fort Sam Houston, Texas, took second in Division I still life with “Reflections in Soap,” third in monochrome with “… and We All Fall Down” and received an honorable mention in military life with “Free Gift When You Join Today.”
Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman of Fort Bliss, Texas, won the Division I popular vote contest for “Reaching Perfection,” which topped the still life category.
SIDEBAR:
Here are the results of the top three finishers in each category with photographer’s rank, name, installation and photo title:
2010 Army Digital Photo Contest
Division I
Animals – 1. Pfc. Amber Smith, Yongsan, Korea, What’s for Dinner; 2. Staff Sgt. Wilberto Sierra, Fort Bliss, Texas, Dragonfly; 3. Staff Sgt. Robert Curtis, Vicenza, Italy, Tough Love.
Digital darkroom – 1. Spc. Thomas Mort, Fort Knox, Ky., Over the Top; 2. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, On the Range; 3. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., Beast within Me.
Design elements – 1. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., 9; 2. 2nd Lt. Thomas Malejko, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Arch Elements; 3. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Sunset Under Glass.
Mililtary life – 1. Sgt. Darlene Martinez, Fort Drum, N.Y., The Sacrifices We Make; 2. Staff Sgt. Joey Suggs, Fort Meade, Md., Dental Care; 3. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, Remember Me.
Monochrome – 1. Sgt. 1st Class Lance Widner, Mannheim, Germany, Great Grandmother; 2. Col. John Powers, Camp Zama, Japan, Calm Morning at Mount Fuji; 3. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, … and We All Fall Down.
Nature & landscapes – 1. 1st Lt. Christopher Snell, (unknown location), Sunset Swim; 2. Spc. Juan-Pablo Marin, Fort Benning, Ga., Moon Set; 3. Spc. Jenny Lu, Hohenfels, Germany, Hong Kong at Night.
People – 1. Capt. David Callender, (unknown location), Anna’s Dream; 2. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Eval Fairy; 3. Col. Joseph Mancy, Stuttgart, Germany, Eyes that Speak.
Still life – 1. Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman, Fort Bliss, Texas, Reaching Perfection; 2. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Reflections in Soap; 3. Warrant Officer Larry Olson, Wiesbaden, Germany, Sunflower in Contrast.
Division II
Animals – 1. Susan Doran, Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., Defiance; 2. Holley Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Painted Birds; 3. Eric Armstrong, Camp Zama, Japan, Man O’ War.
Digital darkroom – 1. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., The Owl; 2. Stephen Cullum, Stuttgart, Germany, Volksfest FDR; 3. Gary Cashman, Yongsan, Korea, BMX Composite.
Design elements – 1. Robert LaPolice, Selfridge, Mich., Just Riveting; 2. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Blue Mosque; 3. James Holbrook, Stuttgart, Germany, What do I call this.
Military life – 1. Nell Williams, Fort Stewart, Ga., My Dad, My Hero; 2. Rebecca Colburn, Fort Carson, Colo., The Test Drive; 3. Ann Marie Detavernier, Baumholder, Germany, The Love Letter.
Monochrome – 1. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Dress Shop; 2. Barbara Underwood, Fort Lee, Va., Light and Shadows; 3. Jeffrey Kline, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Texas Snow.
Nature & landscapes – 1. Brenda Walker, Fort Campbell, Ky., Morning Serenity; 2. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Ash Clouds over Holland; 3. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Point Lobos.
People – 1. Sherry Keene Hobbs, Garmisch, Germany, Belly Dancer; 2. Eugenia Whittenburg, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, Happy Beach Feet; 3. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, American Woman.
Still life – 1. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Green Tomato; 2. Michael Slone, Fort Meade, Md., Morning Coffee; 3. Frank Leon, Fort Knox, Ky., The faucet chronicles.
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Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
Image by familymwr
PHOTO CAPTION: Awarded Honorable Mention Boots and Blushes by MIL FM ELIZABETH ALEXANDER - Division 2 Other Eligible Patron
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
Photographers expand horizons in 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest 110311
By Tim Hipps
FMWRC Public Affairs
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Brenda Walker strolled upon “one of those right places at the right time” alongside East Fork Indian Creek River when she photographed “Morning Serenity” on Fort Campbell, Ky…
Retired Col. Richard Pugh shot three photographs of “Point Lobos,” just south of Monterey, Calif., and combined them into one image by working 15 minutes with Photoshop…
Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra won a footrace with his wife to the bottom of a stairwell at Heidelberg Castle in Germany just before he looked up and photographed “9”…
…all three were winners in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest sponsored by the Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command.
There were 3,691 entries from around the world – 1,348 in Division I for active duty military personnel and 2,343 in Division II for other eligible MWR patrons. After Army garrisons selected their best entries, 664 Division I and 1,031 Division II photographs were forwarded for Department of the Army judging.
“There were many really excellent photos, which made the judges’ decisions a difficult task,” said Linda Ezernieks, who monitors the annual contest at Army MWR Headquarters in Alexandria. “Originality, creativity and technical quality were the main criteria in making final selections.”
Winners in each category – animals, digital darkroom, design elements, military life, monochrome, nature & landscapes, people, and still life – were posted on a website where Army Knowledge Online account-holders voted for their favorite photo in each division.
Walker’s “Morning Serenity” took first place in the nature and landscapes category and was voted the most popular photograph in Division II.
The subject of the photo is a fisherman wading and casting in the middle of East Fork Indian Creek River while the sun shines through the lush, green trees and casts a rainbow-like appearance off the steam hovering above the stream.
“It’s back on Fort Campbell,” Walker said. “I take my dog running back there early morning. It was really hot and the steam was rising and the rays were going through the trees. It was absolutely beautiful back there.
“I take my camera everywhere I go now.”
Walker left her business card on the windshield of a truck parked nearby and later learned the fisherman was Sgt. Randy Shorter of Fort Campbell.
About five years ago, Walker took some of her photographs to the MWR Custom Framing Shop at Fort Campbell, where she found out about the Army Photography Contest. She has produced prize-winning photos for the past three contests.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to get exposure, plus cash prizes,” said Walker, 48, a military family member. “I enjoy looking at everybody else’s work. It inspires me and motivates me to get out and get more interesting, different shots.”
What does Walker enjoy most about photography?
“Just being able to capture what I see through my eyes, my heart and my head,” she said. “A lot of it comes out through your emotion. It’s another form of art.”
Pugh, of Clarksville, Tenn., took first place in the Division II digital darkroom category with “The Owl,” second in design elements with “Blue Mosque,” and third in nature and landscapes with “Point Lobos.”
Pugh shot the high-tech looking photo of “The Owl” at Land Between The Lakes, a national recreation area located south of Paducah, Ky., and embellished it in Photoshop, as he did with “Blue Mosque,” a shot of the roof of a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.
“I like this contest,” said Pugh, 65, who photographed winning entries in each of the past three years after serving 30 years in the Army. “It gives people a chance to show off something they did, which is great.”
Piedro, 31, an Army recruiter in Douglasville, Ga., is a former combat photographer. His “9” earned first-place honors in the Division I design elements category. He took third place in digital darkroom with a self-portrait called “Beast within Me” that would make a dandy Halloween poster.
“I got the idea when I was in the gym working out with my partner and a couple people came up to us and said: ‘You guys are lifting like beasts.’ The idea just popped into my head, so I got home, took the shot, and just started editing,” Piedro said. “That’s where that photo came from.”
The subject of the photo looks like a cross between a werewolf, a vampire and an Avatar, complete with fangs, dagger-like fingernails and alien ears – seemingly howling at the moon that looms behind a naked tree.
“The fangs, the ears, the eyes and the hands are all Photoshopped,” Piedro said. “And the stomach that’s concaved a little bit, that was done in Photoshop. For the background, I took certain parts of images from other photos, adjusted them, and made everything into one image.”
So what’s real?
“The body, and the face,” Piedro replied. “That’s it.
“If you look closely, the eyes are actually black and the pupils are red, so that’s been Photoshopped.”
Piedro, however, does not think of himself as a Photoshop expert.
“I actually don’t do too much Photoshop,” he said. “I try to keep my images as pure as possible. But every now and then, I get my creative side and I do a little bit of Photoshop – just trial and error, playing around.”
Piedro won two categories and received an honorable mention in the 2007 Army Photography Contest but missed the competition the past two years.
“I think it’s a great, great program,” he said. “It’s a great way to get the creative process of people that do see the world and travel the world by being in the military, and not even just as Soldiers, but supporting staff, civilians, wives.
“It’s a great way to get recognition for something that we love to do.”
As is often the case with photography, Piedro did not know exactly what he shot that day in the stairwell to the gardens at Heidelberg Castle – until he downloaded the photo.
“When I got home and I looked at, I was like: ‘That’s 9, yeah.’ And that’s where the title came from.”
Piedro cherishes photography’s uncanny ability of giving him the opportunity of “freezing a moment in time that only I can see and sharing that with others.”
Several other military photographers earned multiple places in the 2010 Army Digital Photography Contest.
Holly Swegle of Fort Hood, Texas, took first place in Division II monochrome for “Dress Shop,” second in animals for “Painted Birds” and third in people for “American Woman.”
Lt. Col. Mark Bonica of Fort Sam Houston, Texas, took second in Division I still life with “Reflections in Soap,” third in monochrome with “… and We All Fall Down” and received an honorable mention in military life with “Free Gift When You Join Today.”
Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman of Fort Bliss, Texas, won the Division I popular vote contest for “Reaching Perfection,” which topped the still life category.
SIDEBAR:
Here are the results of the top three finishers in each category with photographer’s rank, name, installation and photo title:
2010 Army Digital Photo Contest
Division I
Animals – 1. Pfc. Amber Smith, Yongsan, Korea, What’s for Dinner; 2. Staff Sgt. Wilberto Sierra, Fort Bliss, Texas, Dragonfly; 3. Staff Sgt. Robert Curtis, Vicenza, Italy, Tough Love.
Digital darkroom – 1. Spc. Thomas Mort, Fort Knox, Ky., Over the Top; 2. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, On the Range; 3. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., Beast within Me.
Design elements – 1. Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra, Fort McPherson, Ga., 9; 2. 2nd Lt. Thomas Malejko, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Arch Elements; 3. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Sunset Under Glass.
Mililtary life – 1. Sgt. Darlene Martinez, Fort Drum, N.Y., The Sacrifices We Make; 2. Staff Sgt. Joey Suggs, Fort Meade, Md., Dental Care; 3. Sgt. Shawn Cassatt, Yongsan, Korea, Remember Me.
Monochrome – 1. Sgt. 1st Class Lance Widner, Mannheim, Germany, Great Grandmother; 2. Col. John Powers, Camp Zama, Japan, Calm Morning at Mount Fuji; 3. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, … and We All Fall Down.
Nature & landscapes – 1. 1st Lt. Christopher Snell, (unknown location), Sunset Swim; 2. Spc. Juan-Pablo Marin, Fort Benning, Ga., Moon Set; 3. Spc. Jenny Lu, Hohenfels, Germany, Hong Kong at Night.
People – 1. Capt. David Callender, (unknown location), Anna’s Dream; 2. Lt. Col. David Tygart, Stuttgart, Germany, Eval Fairy; 3. Col. Joseph Mancy, Stuttgart, Germany, Eyes that Speak.
Still life – 1. Staff Sgt. Brandon Quarterman, Fort Bliss, Texas, Reaching Perfection; 2. Lt. Col. Mark Bonica, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Reflections in Soap; 3. Warrant Officer Larry Olson, Wiesbaden, Germany, Sunflower in Contrast.
Division II
Animals – 1. Susan Doran, Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., Defiance; 2. Holley Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Painted Birds; 3. Eric Armstrong, Camp Zama, Japan, Man O’ War.
Digital darkroom – 1. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., The Owl; 2. Stephen Cullum, Stuttgart, Germany, Volksfest FDR; 3. Gary Cashman, Yongsan, Korea, BMX Composite.
Design elements – 1. Robert LaPolice, Selfridge, Mich., Just Riveting; 2. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Blue Mosque; 3. James Holbrook, Stuttgart, Germany, What do I call this.
Military life – 1. Nell Williams, Fort Stewart, Ga., My Dad, My Hero; 2. Rebecca Colburn, Fort Carson, Colo., The Test Drive; 3. Ann Marie Detavernier, Baumholder, Germany, The Love Letter.
Monochrome – 1. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, Dress Shop; 2. Barbara Underwood, Fort Lee, Va., Light and Shadows; 3. Jeffrey Kline, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Texas Snow.
Nature & landscapes – 1. Brenda Walker, Fort Campbell, Ky., Morning Serenity; 2. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Ash Clouds over Holland; 3. Col. Richard Pugh, Fort Campbell, Ky., Point Lobos.
People – 1. Sherry Keene Hobbs, Garmisch, Germany, Belly Dancer; 2. Eugenia Whittenburg, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, Happy Beach Feet; 3. Holly Swegle, Fort Hood, Texas, American Woman.
Still life – 1. Mylan Dawson, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Green Tomato; 2. Michael Slone, Fort Meade, Md., Morning Coffee; 3. Frank Leon, Fort Knox, Ky., The faucet chronicles.
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www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
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ks 110321
