Lisa said she couldn’t resist the way the light hit this hiker and his emotions in Watkins Glen, New York. And her own I might add. Light, splashing water and elation make a great combination. Put some simple elements together and they add up to a mutual thrill. Lisa took the simplicity one step further and removed the color, boiling it down everything that needs to be there and nothing more.    

Linda is flying over the Missouri River near Helena, Montana— I assume in an airplane. ( I ruled out a hang glider.) That’s a boat creating the pattern in the water. This is pure birdseye view—it’s straight down. The patterns that human beings create on the surface of the year viewed from the sky are incredible. I would love to join Linda one-day in whatever vehicle this is and go for an airborn photo safari. What glorious fun!

To be perfectly honest, I’m not exactly sure how Samantha did this. It could almost be a long shutter speed with the blurred head, but if that’s the case she did a fine job of holding the rest of her body still. And if she did it in her editing program more power to her. Like I said, I’m not exactly sure how she did it. But it doesn’t matter. This picture can be appreciated on so many levels. On one hand, it’s amusing and entertaining. But on another, It has a profound heavy psychological feeling to it. Where are….

Crystals execution of this nineteenth-century special effect is perfect. If you don’t know how she did it, I’m not going to spoil the magic for you. Hint: it’s a very judicious use of depth of field—she used a small f-stop. Everything needed to be sharp so there was no impression of her daughter and the fairy Queen being on different planes. For all we know, the winged–one is standing on her hand promising three wishes or a pot of gold or simply planning a piece of diabolical mischief. On a personal note, my boys LOVED this picture. And I was….

There are photographers who do volunteer work in cancer wards shooting last family portraits. It’s tough duty, but a wonderful calling. It wasn’t much easier for Helen to shoot this goodbye photograph of her family’s best friend. Thank God for autofocus when you can barely see through the viewfinder for the tears. That’s her daughter saying her goodbye to life long friend, Harley Girl.  

I was so thrilled when Michelle Obama finally posted a shot for consideration in the Radio Picture Show—it’s wonderful to see how Malia and Sasha start their day. Not!!! The thing I find most offensive about this photograph is that that’s peanut butter underneath those interplanetary colored sprinkles. Peanut butter is a beautiful thing. (I’ve eaten more peanut butter than any human you know. If peanut butter could kill you I would’ve been dead a long time ago.) This should never be allowed to happen to peanut butter. Anyway, I couldn’t resist giving Sandra a hard time. I really laughed….

Dawn says there’s one there’s one in every crowd and all of us with a few thousand group shots under our belts know she’s right. Best to play along for a while and let them get it out of their system, I say. But you just may be missing the boat if you don’t push the button when it happens. Fun and funny and sometimes even poignant things can happen when people start goofing off. Photograph it and move on, but don’t fight. Dawn wisely chose to go with the flow.