1 – Second Place at the Prince William County Fair
This has not been a good summer for my routine lunchtime bike rides. A combination of frequent rainy days intermixed with days of oppressive heat, compounded by being very busy at work, and topped off with an injury, prevented me from riding every day. Hopefully, as we get past this Labor Day weekend and closer to autumn’s arrival, I will be able to go back to consistently riding every day.
However, it was a good summer nonetheless. And one of the good things that happened this summer involved photographs I have taken in the past during my lunchtime bike rides. I entered a few photographs in some local photo contests. And half of them won. I won a second and a third place in one contest, and came in first in the other contest.
One of the contests was part of the nearby Prince William County Fair, which I entered because it is the largest county fair in the state of Virginia. I entered the maximum number allowed, five photos in five different categories (see thumbnails below). I won second place red ribbon and two dollars prize money in the category of “Flowers”, and a third place white ribbon and one dollar in the category of “Manipulated Black and White Photograph.” Personally, I honestly thought my photos were the best of all the ones entered in these two categories. But there’s one positive aspect of not winning – there’s room for improvement. So perhaps next year I will be able to win a first place blue ribbon like my youngest daughter won for her photography last year, and my oldest daughter did this year for crafts.
The other contest was sponsored by the Georgetown University Grilling Society (GUGS). For the GUGS (the first “G” is soft, as in “genius”) Summer Photo Contest I entered one photograph. And I won first place. But better than a blue ribbon, I won the grand prize of a free GUGS burger (worth five dollars), and a pass to the front of the line so that I did not have to wait (which no amount of money can buy). I claimed my prize during today’s first GUGS grill of the fall season, and enjoyed the burger for lunch today.
So from now on, you will no longer see snapshots accompanying by blog posts. From now on, you will see photographs from an award-winning photographer.
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
8 – Entered in the GUGS Summer Photo Contest, and captioned, “As I left the last grill this past Spring, there was a sadness in my heart knowing that it would be months until the next grill. And through my tears, as I happened to glance upward through the trees, God shone a light down through the smoke from the grill as if to say, “It’s going to be okay.” This photo captures that moment. A moment that represents what I love about GUGS Friday grills – everything.”
9 – My prize for coming in first place in the GUGS Summer Photo Contest – this burger and a pass to skip to the front of the line.
[Click on the photos to view the full-size versions]
The DC Bike Blogger 