Switched Keys

I discovered a new photo contest web site. If you enjoy amateur (competitive) photography then you might want to check out the photo contests at http://www.pbase.com/cslr_challenge. The name of the site is Canon SLR Challenges and the challenges are hosted by members of the Canon DSLR forums at DPReview.com

The entries are generally high quality and the contest is challenging and educational. The last contest had something to do with the rule of thirds. The current challenge is to include bokeh (aka boke bocca) in a photo. Within each challenge there are two galleries/categories that you can enter submissions into: Eligible and Exhibition. In the Eligible category photos must be taken during the designated time-frame and must be taken with a Canon Digital SLR camera. The Exhibition category can be used for photos taken with any camera at any time.

At the end of the contest the photographers vote for the best dozen or so photos. There are also more than 70 previous contests you can browse through from this site. And of course there is a maze of photos on the main pbase.com site. pbase has really supported the photography community for several years and sites such as these are great resources for study and ideas. You can also see some of my pics at http://www.pbase.com/dbell154/

I'm also a contributor at another site for Canon photographers the cdrebel group. Though they don't have a contest they do have a variety of galleries a weekly gallery and a weekly assignment. Yes it's also coordinated by the photography group on groups.yahoo.com by the same name (cdrebel).

In looking through the many galleries on pbase one of the questions that I've had is with so many good photos why do I need to take pictures. The answer is really simple I like to. The creative spirit doesn't demand that a need exists and often the creative spirit doesn't even demand to be rewarded or recognized. It is one of the things that differentiates us from animals. It is a characteristic that we are given from our Creator.