California Poppies

I have never entered a photo contest before, but I responded to a request to enter the May photo contest at Midwest Photo Exchange (MPEX).  The theme was “Spring” so I submitted an early April photo of California Poppies. Photographers from all across the United States entered photos. Winners were announced June 3 and I won the “People’s Choice” award for the photo that was voted for the most by other photographers and visitors to the site. This is a first for me and I am thrilled!

The photo was captured in Northern California on Fujichrome Velvia slide film (ISO 50). The camera was inches from the ground and my face was literally in the dirt as I tried to see through the viewfinder.

The camera was a Canon Elan IIe set to E.I. 40. The shutter speed was about 1/30 second. A Canon 15mm fisheye lens (with a 180 degree diagonal field of view) was set to an aperture around f/16 to provide depth of field from a few inches in front of the lens all the way to the horizon. The small aperture also created the natural sun star as sunlight bent around the aperture blade junctions.

Screen Capture, California Poppies at MPEX