"After Hours" by Mike Busby Photography

"After Hours" is one of three images that merited at International Print Competition last week. The image was presented at State Competition with a telephone pole to the left of the church. There was mixed conversation by the judges as to if the telephone pole should be removed or not. I typically don't listen to blind critiques and fast comments, but I did talk one-on-one with two of the judges. The best advice was to remove the telephone pole as it removes the conversation entirely.

So, for myself, I leave the telephone pole in because I feel it's more interesting. However, it was taken out as a strategy for competition. The end result....the image scored a point lower at International Competition, go figure, but it did very well nonetheless.

The Professional Photographers of America is one of the very few  professional competitions I respect. One image didn't do as well as I thought, and that was disappointing. However, those shots that don't merit give credibility to the images that do, and I'm still 11 for 12 in high-end competition. Not too bad at all.

PPA Merited Image - 2019 - Mike Busby Photography

The second point is that it's my first astro shot to merit. A new genre to compete in. Star shots are becoming common, but doing them well is an advanced challenge. It was cool to merit, and the plan is to get exceptionally good at the stars. I've since picked up a quality lens for the stars and found a processing method that should kick some serious butt. Now it's just a matter of time and opportunity.

The moon goes dark this week, there's forecasted days with clear skies, and I've scheduled some to time to hit the road. It could be a very good week.

Thanks for Reading.

Mike

Mike Busby's School of Photography