Today I awarded two prints of a lovely image I created. I call the image "Roses" as the statue in the image is holding a pair of roses in a casual manner.
One print goes to Karyn in Winnipeg and the other to Terry in Peterborough.  Thank you ladies for playing along.  Both of your answers were so similar that I felt it was right to award 2 prints instead of one.

It's not often that I enter photo competitions, but this is one that I wanted to be part of.
The Spark Photo Festival is very similar to the CONTACT photography festival in Toronto. Both go on for an entire month. CONTACT in May and Spark in April.

I think it is a terrific idea to have such an event, celebrating the beauty that is photography in Peterborough.  SPACE[s] is a Juried Exhibit, and is part of Spark.  
I was intrigued to be part of the festival in any capacity that thought I could be, so the juried exhibit was the perfect fit for me; at least until next year.
If I had a decent body of work, and access to printing facilities in Peterborough where I could control the printing, and display processes I would certainly have entered the Spark gallery display component.

Starting off my involvement in the festival by entering the juried exhibit is the perfect first move.
Today was the last day to enter. Uncharacteristically, I waited until the last day to enter.  That was fine, as it gave me a little bit of pressure to make sure I got the images just so.

I'm still a bit weary about handing over a disk with digital files, as it leaves me no longer in control.  If in fact one or more of my submissions are chosen to be printed and put on display, it will be out of my hands, out of my control.  Maybe that's the control freak in me. I don't think I'm alone in how I feel. 

I made each image to be exactly what they are. Handing them off to a stranger to be printed just feels wrong; and it leaves me feeling uneasy. I don't know what the printer is thinking when they look over the image. I don't know if they will make any adjustments, and if so in what way. 

Printing is an art in itself. Yes, I wish every day that I had a professional quality printer hooked up to my computer. I do not.  My major purchase this year perhaps.  I feel a fund raising campaign coming on.
Wish me luck in the competition, and please come out to see the Spark exhibits in April.

Last week I attended an information session with the organizers of the Spark Photo Festival, and learned a lot about what is involved in putting together show.

This year I'll be spending time getting a body of work put together, in preparation for getting a show together next year.  An offshoot of the Festival is a Juried Exhibit called Spaces.  I can submit up to 3 pieces for this show. I'm working on that now.   A few images in the website gallery will probably go into the Spaces competition.   

I'll have the results of the Spaces competition posted here in the blog, so stay tuned.

I've all of a sudden become much more interested in entering photo contests and similar vehicals as a way to spread my name around in the local community.

The latest is a celebration of the local business area. In particular it is a contest that has photographers shooting images of business owners in front of their establishments.

I've submitted my proposal for the image I intend to submit, and now we play the waiting game until the end of this month.  Then, if the accept my proposal I have to get my chosen biz owner to play along and allow me to make a cool image of them in front of their shop.

I guess now we just wait and cross our fingers.

I used to have all sorts of crazy ideas for photographs that would require me to set things up and organize people.  I even pulled off a couple of them.  One successfully and the other not-so-much.

I've learned my lesson. This next one will be awesome.