9. Published Photo, 7/5/10

As most if not all of you know, I love to take photographs. My photography habit, or should I say addiction, stemmed I believe from my love of scrapbooking. I would see beautiful scrapbook layouts in magazines and dream that mine would look like that. Photographers who scrapbook have a different eye for things and born from this came my hunger to explore and shoot some wonderful places and beautiful things. Since I began taking photographs a few years ago, I have tried to get creative in things to shoot. Because of that, I have done a photo album of all the covered bridges in Oregon as well as all of the lighthouses in Oregon. I love taking photos of outdoor things such as flowers and scenery. I have seen some wonderful subjects: Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm, Swan Island Dahlias, Smith Rock, The Painted Hills, and the Oregon Coast, to name just a few. Over the last couple of years, I have submitted only a few photos into contests; however, for one of my "50" things I decided I really wanted to get a photo published.

I receive an e-newsletter from Travel Oregon. They sponsor a Photo of the Month contest. You chose your best photos of someplace in Oregon, submit them, and they publish their favorite every month. I was so excited to enter a few of my best shots, but I did have a hard time deciding which ones were the "best." After pouring over the Oregon shots, I finally settled on 8 to 12 photos. This one, the one that was chosen for July, was a last minute entry. It never has been one of my favorites, but a lot of my friends thought it was a good one so I entered it. I was surprised this month when I received my e-newsletter and saw my photo, my last minute entry, was the July Photo of the Month. This certainly would not have been my first choice (I thought there were some that were so much more worthy), but I am so thrilled it was theirs.

There is no prize for getting your photograph selected for the Photo of the Month, but that is not why I submitted my work. I did it for something much deeper...I have a desire to show others the beauty of the world in, a world that God has created, through my eye. Below is the photo with the blurb that appeared in the e-newsletter.

Photo of the Month
Tina shot this photo of Portland's Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens. She says the gardens are a "must-see" in the Portland area.