And that's a wrap for 2022 - the final results day for the Guild of Photographers' Image of the Month competition! In some ways this year has felt more gruelling that any previous years I've entered, which I think is a combination of getting back to normal after the Covid pandemic, and most people having exhausted their back catalogue for entries while we weren't able to carry out any sessions. I'm not the only one to say that this year feels harder than ever before.
For October, I decided to enter images I liked - as strange as it might sound, that's not always a deciding factor in choosing the images for competition - and I am thrilled that all three were awarded Bronze. So here's a little bit about each image:
This shot of the gorgeous Bailey has a bit of a back-story! So, back in the summer I booked a branding photoshoot for myself with the wonderful Dorte Kjaerulff. One of the things I wanted to include was some professional 'behind the scenes' photos of me working, so we chose some locations in our villages (we live in adjacent villages) which we would offer a variety of settings.
One of the locations I particularly wanted to use was a little brook which is down a bridleway. It's not much to look at, but I thought it had potential!
Luckily Bailey's human was up for a little adventure, including wading through the stream to help us position Bailey. I set up the shot down in the brook, while Dorte captures behind the scenes footage and photos of me from the footbridge above. This is how the shot of Bailey turned out and I am thrilled with it - as Dorte said, it's an achievement to capture award-winning photos during your own branding session! 😉
The second image is something completely different! Lief the Kooikerhondje puppy had this portrait taken as part of the litter shoot session booked by her breeder (and permanent human, Lief was the puppy kept by the breeder).
This tiny chair is very cute but only suits puppies of a very specific size and age - normally by the time they are 8 weeks old they are too big for it! So it was great to be able to use it during the litter shoot and get a variety of images for the new puppy parents to choose from
And finally, the third image is of the gorgeous Aston Martini the labrador! This is Aston's second photoshoot with me, and his humans had been keen to book a lavender fields session last year, but the dates didn't work out right. Luckily this year they did, and Aston joined me in the lavender fields in June.
As you can see he is an absolute star (hence the tag!) and totally rocked his photoshoot session with me. Such a smiley boy too!
So that's it for 2022 - the good news is we get a two month break before the competition begins again, so time to refresh and rejuvenate!
