A Photo Contest and a Little Bit of Love

The Region of Niagara has been recognized as a 2012 Cultural Capital of Canada.  Yay us.

During this year long celebration there will be a wide variety of events and projects going on to highlight our area.  One of these is a textile art project.  A call went out across Niagara looking for photographs that highlight the rich textures and natural beauty of the Niagara Region.  Chosen photos will be used as the design inspiration of the collaborative textile and mixed media art project.

Now, I don't pretend to know what all of that means or what the final product might look like.  I just got all excited at the idea of submitting photos of Niagara and perhaps having one of them chosen to be part of the final product.

We are allowed to submit five photos and the submission date is February 15th.  My original plan was to hunt through my existing photos for a few good specimens and then ask my friend Breanne (hi Breanne!) if she wanted to go on a photo date to see if we could snap a few winning shots.  Sadly, as the weekend approached, I felt myself getting sicker and sicker. I was forced to toss my photoshoot plan out the window (sorry Breanne).

Instead, I sat in front of my laptop on Sunday afternoon with my box of tissues and my Halls and I went through my photos looking for five to submit.

I was looking for photos that highlighted the beauty of Niagara (either on a grand scale or on a macro one) and photos that had texture of some kind (I figured they'd be looking for that).  On top of that they had to be photos that I loved.  I settled on five (three that were taken in the last year and two that are several years old but are my favourites).

Photo contests are always tricky because everyone has a different idea of what makes a winning photo.  So, here are my submissions for your review.  Let's see if any of them make the cut eh?

This photo (and the one below) were taken last May.  It was freezing cold and ridiculously rainy outside but Doug and I really wanted to capture the spring trees in full blossom.  So we bundled up, put raincoats on our cameras and headed out into the storm.  

This is a purple coneflower, one of my favourite flowers.  I remember perching beside a flower bed and trying to snap a photo as the flowers were buffeted by a strong breeze.  After multiple attempts I finally got one in focus and was thrilled with how it turned out .

Last spring, when it was still snowy and grey outside, Doug bought some irises at the market to brighten up the house.  I decided to do a little photoshoot but wasn't having much luck photographing the flowers.  So I tilted my camera down a bit and discovered the beautiful curves of the vase. 

I used to live near Port Dalhousie.  One night I happened to look out my apartment window to see a particularly spectacular sky.  I grabbed my camera and drove like mad to get to the pier.  It was windy and unwelcoming out there and the only people crazy enough to venture out were photographers.  

This was not one of the photos I submitted but I love it.  Doug took it when we were out on the freezing cold May afternoon together.  I think the look on my face captures the joy in our relationship.  The world is a much happier place when we are together and even the worst days are made better when he is there. 

Happy Valentines Day baby.