WEEKLY THEME: Best Reflection of 2013

[LinzRiverBalmer]

Hi all, I'm home, just in the nick of time, so happy to be back where I can actively participate.

So many takes on Reflections there can be and this one dawned on me...... A double reflection meaning.

This was by far the best Reflection for me to look back on in 2013, and It's a Reflection in a mirror.

This is the picture that won the Bosque Del Apache Crane Festival Contest in November for the "people on the refuge" category.... I was absolutely and pleasantly shocked... It was also chosen to be on the cover of "Habitat" the year long brochure for the Refuge and they used it as a wrap around image front and back cover.

It was a nice surprise and enabled me to meet many many more like minded bird loving photo people.

For the reflection well I will just tell you what I told the Contest.... I was waiting trying to get a picture of some of the Pro photographers watching a Bald Eagle to line up hoping to get a picture of them. Looked in the side mirror and a pair of Sandhills were strolling around the road/ditch area.

Took many shots, this one happened to be once the other crane was out of the mirror vision. Didn't know until we were home that any of them had worked.

For me it was a fun photo, to see the vastness of the Bosque, the geese in the pond, the far off cars.... I will add our car is a hybrid so we have never used a drop of gas on the refuge.

PP very basic, saturation on the crane in the mirror and some contrast.... the rest is as shot. almost full frame, it was a tad more panoramic but I had to crop for the entry rules on Ratio.

[Anita Bower]

A most creative photo. I can see why the refuge and magazine chose it--it shows the refuge landscape with geese, and a close up of the crane. It shows how birds and humans interact in non-threatening ways. It shows a sparkling day. It is sharp and clear and has lovely colors. Congratulations!!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Linz, I saw a framed version of this at the Visitor's Center and loved it. Congratulations on the win - it was well-deserved. It is a microcosm of Bosque - the crane pool, the mountains, the vastness, the geese and cranes and of course, the car:S3:

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Congrats Linz. I think it covers a lot of what goes on at Bosque. I like that the hand of man is minimal, and it gave me a smile to see the crane reflected:)

[Dennis Bishop]

What a delightful surprise! I don't pay much attention to the thumbnail versions, so I wasn't expecting the crane in the side-view mirror. Not only was it a great idea, but it's nice that the crane was facing into the image and the mirror was where it was in relation to the body of water. It certainly is wonderful for a cover image on their brochure. You deserve a lot of credit.

[LinzRiverBalmer]

Thank you all very much for the comments and input, it means more than words can say!

This was downright surprising to me when I won this, I really entered this image with a laugh, the only one I entered in "People on the Refuge" I didn't think that it really fit into either of their categories.

I think I was shocked speechless when they called.

The brochure was just icing on the cake, though coming from a Pre-Press background, my parents did Photography and Fine Art Pre-Press for 26 years, so when they said they were going to do a wrap around for the brochure send the full image, well I made sure to send the right size.

From that perspective, my Parents, once they got the brochure just couldn't figure out what the printers had done, so you open the brochure, its stapled in the middle, and the front and back covers don't line up on the horizon.... very strange, since its 1 piece of paper, not 2 put together. Like one big newspaper page with a fold in the middle.

How the printers managed that mess up is beyond anything my Parents or past associates can fathom.

I'm more than happy with the front, and it made my year that I was able to be at the Crane Festival as well and meet a bunch of people that I had only known previously by name.

in the process my camera messed up during this years festival and I wound up with almost no useable images ( camera is now back at the fixer for the 2nd time and about to be declared a lemon and replaced) so this image has really kept my spirits up, as I am now still using the "old" camera that took this image.