***APRIL PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS***

[mnhtnbb]

Our theme for the contest this month was DU TRAVELS And, boy do we! We had a fabulous collection of photos submitted by photographers.

Without further ado

FIRST PLACE (with the right to choose the theme for the May Contest) goes to:

Church of the Good Shepherd, New Zealand by Grumpy Old Guy



SECOND PLACE goes to:

Dawn, Upper Yosemite Falls Trailhead by Mz Pip



THIRD PLACE goes to:

Midnight Sun, 12:08 AM, Norway by none other than also Mz Pip!



As Host, I am privileged to award Honorable Mention to a DU'er I had the privilege to meet--almost 10 years ago-- when we were both traveling in France and our itineraries happened to coincide in Strasbourg!

Josselin, Brittany, France... hiking by the chateau...with a friend. by CurtEastPoint



The other FINALISTS were:

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band In Minneapolis 3-3-26 by WIVoter

Crater Lake by markie

Gentoos in Antarctica by sinkingfeeling

Ice, Snow, Mountains and Penguins; Antarctica by edhopper

"Turkish Sunset" by bif

"Worcester Cathedral" by bif

Thanks again to all the photographers who entered the April Contest and to the members of DU who voted and shared their comments about each of the photos! We photographers really enjoy the chance to show our work to the DU community.

[Solly Mack]

1. Congrats all!

[HAB911]

2. Excellent contest, congratulation to everyone!

[brer cat]

3. Congratulations to all!

[Diamond_Dog]

4. Congratulations, Winners! All were worthy of first place. Really great job by all entrants!

[a kennedy]

5. Yahooooooo, congrats to all the winners AND to all who entered their photos.

But damn, that “Breakfast in Paris” really makes we want to go there just to give it a try.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. Thank you so much, my dear a Kennedy! 👍🏻❤️😁

[AltairIV]

6. Congratulations to all!

Thanks for sharing your work with us.

[planetc]

7. It was a beautiful contest.

[Oppaloopa]

8. Thank you everyone

[MustLoveBeagles]

9. Congratulations to the winners 🏆

A big thanks to all who submitted photos.

[blogslug]

10. Congratulations to all!

Beautiful stuff! 📷 🏆

[cate94]

11. Congratulations!

All beautiful pictures, but that night sky is a definite wow!

[Mira]

12. Enchanted

Congratulations to Grumpy Old Guy and to Mz Pip.
Two wins for her, that is so awesome!!!!!

I am enchanted by the winning photos, and also by other photos I see.
I Iove that mnhtnbb listed the names of other entrants.
She is a very accomplished hostess.

Never has a contest gone by so quickly that I missed the entry window.
The entries were already turned into voting threads and voted on before I noticed.
Fastest contest ever. I have not missed one in many years of participating.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

15. Thank you Mira!

[Totally Tunsie]

14. Stunning photos!

Congratulations to all winners and participants.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

16. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

(Sorry it took me so long to respond).

Thank you all for your support. I am flattered. Congratulations to Mz Pip for their second and third place wins. It's clear to see that a good deal of effort went into creating both of these images. Thanks also to Betty (mnhtnbb) for running another superb contest. I know how much work goes into it. CurtEastPoint's photo of the chateau and the donkey was great. Sinkingfeeling's Gentoos in Antarctica got my vote in the finals. Finally, congrats to all the finalists and all who entered.

For those who are interested, I shot this in February 2024 during a month long road trip through New Zealand. This is one of those photos that photographers from all over the world come to capture. I was surrounded by at least one hundred others, most of whom were trying to get the shot with their phones. I was happy to give advice on technique while taking my exposures. As best I remember the exposure was twenty five seconds at F/4 with a 16mm lens, Iso 3200, with a Canon R5. I brought up the exposure on the church and foreground a little since they were completely dark in the original exposure and did my best to highlight the Milky Way against the rest of the sky. You may notice a nebulae in the upper right corner as well, but don't ask me which one it is. New Zealand was amazing in that the skies were this clear throughout the entire country.

Thanks again. I'm open to suggestions for the theme of the next contest.

Ross
aka Grumpy Old Guy

[Beringia]

17. Congrats to Grumpy Old Guy

[Grumpy Old Guy]

18. Thank you!

[Mz Pip]

19. Great theme

Thanks so much for liking my photos. I haven’t been able to post for quite awhile and was glad I finally was able get it working again.

I really loved those 🐧 penguins.

Mz Pip

[CurtEastPoint]

20. thanks for prodding me to enter! I'm 'honored' to be 'honorable mention!"