The North Austin Pfotographic Society (www.napfs.org) is a photography club that was founded in Pflugerville, Texas, in late 2015. Part of their agenda was to hold a monthly photo competition.
I joined the club in late 2017 and attended the club meetings to learn how the photo judging worked. The club allowed two photos to be entered per competition (changed to one in January, 2024). In the first few years of my membership, the judging was handed by external volunteer judges. Later, the club started using members as volunteer judges.
I carefully observed the judges and the criteria that they used to judge photos. Finally, in February 2019, I submitted my first photo. I quickly learned that the judging is extremely subjective. The things that one judge would look for one month were the opposite of the judge for the next month.
The judging has also become much more strict that it used to be.
Anyway, enough complaining... The following slideshow and table shows the winners that I submitted from February 2019 through May, 2024. Just before the slideshow is a is a link to a slideshow of all the losers I submitted.
Click here for instructions to run the slide show.
This is a table of my winning entries
The 2019 entry was in the basic level competition. All other entries were in the intermediate level.
1st, 2nd, 3rd, and HM (Honorable Mention) awards are determined via judges. From 2015 through early 2019, only one judge was used and that judge was also the speaker. Starting in late 2019 (which includes all my winning photos), three judges were used.
Medals (Gold, Silver, and Bronze) are awarded via a popular vote where all club members can participate. Popular voting started in 2020 when we started using the Visual Pursuits website and software.
Click on a title to see a large version of that photo.
| Year | Month | Place, Medal | Title | That Month's Results | Theme | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | October | 1st | Hungry Squirrel | Results | Open | Basic |
| 2020 | March | 3rd | Daisies by the Fence | Results | Leading Lines | Intermediate |
| 2020 | April | 3rd, Bronze | Tiny Home Planet | Results | Open | Intermediate |
| 2020 | June | HM | Texas May Wildflowers | Results | Open | Intermediate |
| 2020 | October | HM | Self Portrait | Results | Open | Intermediate |
| 2021 | January | HM | Atlantic Storm | Results | Oldies | Intermediate |
| 2021 | September | Silver | Seventeen Shades of Blue | Results | The Blues | Intermediate |
| Bronze | The Blues and a Yellow | |||||
| 2022 | April | 1st | Red Explosion | Results | Open | Intermediate |
| 2024 | February | 2nd | Croquet Church | Results | Open | Intermediate |
| 2024 | April | 1st, Gold | Manual Camera | Results | Human Hands | Intermediate |
| 2024 | May | 2nd, Gold | Bell Pepper, Book and Candle | Results | Artificial Light | Intermediate |
| 2024 | July | Silver | A Very Old Dirty Car | Results | Monochrome | Intermediate |
| 2024 | August | 3rd | 120 Year Old Railroad Watch | Results | Macro | Intermediate |
| 2024 | September | 3rd | West Texas Wind Turbine | Results | Motion | Intermediate |
These are my winning photos submitted from February 2019 through September 2024.
To see my losing photo entries, click here.
