Filmtessa
by Judi

Comment:
You are a true true artist! The things you create! They are mindblowing!

(Very) Blue Hour
by RSBImages

Comment:
This is breathtaking! Shot to absolute perfection!

marine event
by tanguera

Comment:
Wow! This is the type of epic, amazing art that has had me intimidated by Extended Editing challenges. I am in awe!

Survival Of The Fittest
by GolferDDS

Comment:
Ohmygoodness! That is truly amazing! He is riiiight out of the cooker! What a joy to get to watch the process every year!

River Dance
by SandyP

Comment:

Originally posted by vawendy: Is that a cattle egret?

We just call them snow egrets. I'm not anything close to a bird expert tho. I just find them beautiful and graceful and there are hundreds of them nesting over the river right now, so I have an annual field trip to the trees they call home during this time of year and try to get my next favorite image of them.

bird bath reflections
by roz

Comment:
This is amazing Roz! It was one of my favorites in this really difficult challenge! We have a birdbath, and I could sit for hours and watch the birds play.. I̢۪m with you also about defending the minimal processing you did on it. I don̢۪t see that at al! But, I got the same comment by the same person on my very minimally processed image entered in this challenge too.

I think it̢۪s marvelous!

gone in a blur
by tanguera

Comment:
This! It's just amazing! The blurry wings add it, I think. It shows motion and makes his tack sharp face look even more striking!

Shake, Shake, Shake - Shake, Shake, Shake - Shake Your Booty
by Ja-9

Comment:
Way to GO, Janine! It just doesn't get any cuter than this! I'd think I'd died and gone to heaven to see one of these!

Pond of gold
by Neat

Comment:
I really REALLY can not believe that this did not win side-by-side with Judi's! How can that be! It deserves to be! And I meant it about being one of the best bird images I've seen. I was so blown away by both yours and Judi's images. They are so similar. I showed them both to my hubby when we were looking at the entries, and he said, "Ummm... no offense but... they should win." I agree!

freedom
by roz

Comment:
It's funny. I think there are two schools of artists (probably more). A more classic style of artist; or a more edgy conceptual style. I've pondered it so often myself because I've had some of my photos selected for art gallery exhibits, but sometimes, the juror says, "No thanks", but when I look at what the juror gave thumbs up to, I think, "Whaaaa??????? Really?????" Likely, neither camp is going to appreciate the art of the other... so.... I'm thinking each artist should turn out work they love that makes them feel wonderful about their work... and just know that there will be some that don't appreciate it. That's the danger about entering contests like this... we end up suppressing our own style for a score, and sometimes the real artist inside us gets compromised or worse, silenced, in favor of winning. I have a friend who used to be very active here. She rarely made high scores, but she went on to become quite renown in the art community. She was represented by an art gallery, won tons of international and magazine competitions, and was asked to be a keynote speaker at some conferences. She also was asked to juror a competition at the art gallery that I've had my work shown. So... all that to say, I really think we should be true to ourselves, win or no, or risk losing that edge of excellence in the style we love and were created to turn out. That's my 2-cents worth of thought anyway.