Congrats to Melissa Groo!!!!

[Don Nelson]

Grand Prize winner in Audubon's Photography Awards
www.audubon.org (http://www.audubon.org) - Egret image on main Audubon page!

[Diane Miller]

Congratulations, Melissa!! What a wonderful image!

[Troy Lim]

From the technical and the level of difficulty aspects of an image, I totally disagree with the Grand Prize winner selection of this year's contest. The other images like David Salem's are more deserving than the simple preening Great Egret shot. With that said, congratulations to all who made it.

[gail bisson]

While you are free to express your opinion Troy I feel I have to say that it strikes me as unkind. As the saying goes- if you can't say something nice then say nothing at all.
Gail

[Troy Lim]

While you are free to express your opinion Troy I feel I have to say that it strikes me as unkind. As the saying goes- if you can't say something nice then say nothing at all.
Gail

Sorry that it came across and made you feel that way. It is just an honest opinion, you don't have to agree with me. It was not meant to be mean.

[John Guastella]

...level of difficulty...

What a ridiculous comment! We're not talking about Olympic diving or gymnastics. Photography is an artistic endeavor, and "degree of difficulty" should not have any bearing when evaluating the final product.

IMO, that photo of an Egret is a lovely image: perfectly composed, techs nailed, and completely deserving of recognition. It's an excellent example of how some photographers have the artistic eye, as compared to others who are too busy running around shooting flying birds to understand how great photography is made.

John

[Doug Brown]

What a ridiculous comment! We're not talking about Olympic diving or gymnastics. Photography is an artistic endeavor, and "degree of difficulty" should not have any bearing when evaluating the final product.

IMO, that photo of an Egret is a lovely image: perfectly composed, techs nailed, and completely deserving of recognition. It's an excellent example of how some photographers have the artistic eye, as compared to others who are too busy running around shooting flying birds to understand how great photography is made.

John

Photography most certainly is an artistic endeavor John. No argument there. But a good flight shot is no less artistic or deserving of recognition than a good perched shot. And the technical challenges of bird flight photography are usually far greater. You could have made your point about artistry without insulting all of the flight photographers on the forum.

[Doug Brown]

Not trying to hijack the thread, but I felt I needed to address John's statement. Congrats to all BPN participants who submitted winning images to the Audubon contest!

[Troy Lim]

Photography most certainly is an artistic endeavor John. No argument there. But a good flight shot is no less artistic or deserving of recognition than a good perched shot. And the technical challenges of bird flight photography are usually far greater. You could have made your point about artistry without insulting all of the flight photographers on the forum.

No one said the image did not deserve any recognitions. Melissa's shot is no doubt artistic and deserve to be selected. It is just that the shots like David Salem's are far more difficult to achieve and are on the top of my personal pick among them.
It is apparent that you, John, has no clue of what goes into getting a flight shot.

[John Guastella]

It is apparent that you, John, has no clue of what goes into getting a flight shot.
I know plenty about it.

But from what I've seen in the internet wildlife forums (not just this one), the BIF shots have been given a status that they don't necessarily deserve, just because of what they are: a photo of a bird in the air. The basic qualities of photography -- composition, framing, subject pose, lighting -- are in many cases given secondary consideration. Now, I'm not saying that a BIF shot can't have any or all of those photographic qualities. But a well thought-out, perfectly composed shot of a bird in an elegant pose -- such as the one under discussion -- is completely worthy of an award, despite the fact that it doesn't take very much physical skill to acquire it (and let's face it, the primary "technical" challenge of getting a good flight shot, compared to a shot where the bird is on the ground or perched, is being able to track the bird's trajectory).

John

[Loi Nguyen]

I just want to say congrats to Melissa and all the participants who made the finalist selection. For those of you who want to hijack the thread, please start a new one. Loi

[Hazel Grant]

Troy, may you never know the frustration of winning a major award only to have a stranger say in a public forum that you don't deserve it.
Congratulations Melissa. Well done!!!!!!!!!!

[Marina Scarr]

Congratulations to all of the Audubon winners!