All 3 of the following Weekly Google+ Theme Recognition Winners have won a complimentary large print of their winning pictures from our sponsor, Vivyx Printing!

Also, as weekly winners, they are each in the running for the monthly Grand Prize of a $100 print credit with Vivyx Printing. Last month’s Grand Prize winner was Joe DiFlorio. The next monthly Grand Prize winner will be announced at our June 13, 2013 PAC meeting – our featured speaker will be Melissa Jill!

::Google+ Weekly Photography Theme Recognition – “Armed Forces”::

From last week’s Google+ PAC Photography Community weekly “Armed Forces” photography theme challenge, the judges have chosen to highlight another photo from one of last week’s winners! They chose Garrick Morgenweck’s picture of students in the military learning how to insert IV’s into each other, while in flight!

Congratulations, Garrick!

Why the judges love this picture:
“Great lighting, so much going on, and just invoked reaction of “what is going on?” Concern and Curiosity are invoked when looking at this.”

“There are many details to glean from this image I count at least four different uniforms, they are in an aircraft and it must be large as I believe there are eight different people in this image. I also noted the slapping of the right arm to assist in blood flow to the vein. It leaves you searching for more clues as to the story within. Training or a real patient? It is also a great use of available light.”

“Love this! Great lighting, and I love that they captured a real moment in action.”

“The focus of everyone in this photo makes this image intense, from my point of view.”
When asked about the story behind this picture, Garrick told us:

“During several of the courses I teach in, we take the students on flights in the back of helicopters. While flying, they do certain procedures, like intravenous lines, on each other so they can learn how different the environment is that they are going to be working in and how something as simple as an IV can be complicated by the environment. To complicate the issues, the actual flying of the aircraft is generally being done by flight students, making the rides less than smooth.

In this shot, one of the instructors is supervising students as they attempt to start IVs on each other during a flight in a CH-47. The only light the students had to work with was coming from the small porthole near the tail as the ambient light was pretty low. This also complicated my shot in that I had to crank the ISO to 1600 just to reach 1/50 and I was forced to shoot handheld due to the environment. This was one of about 50 shots and the only one in a series of 10-15 of these particular students to come out without motion blur.”

Garrick, a semi-professional photographer who lives in Fort Rucker, Alabama, made this picture using his Nikon D600.

His settings are as follows:
ISO 1600
Shutter Speed 1/50s
Focal length 68mm
Aperture f/4.5

Garrick’s background in photography may be found here.

Garrick is an active poster in our Google+ Community, as well as in our Facebook Group. His web presence can be found at: http://www.mweck.com and of course on Google+.

Congratulations, Garrick, on the well-deserved G+ Weekly Photography Theme Recognition!

——————————————————————————

::Google+ Weekly Photography Theme Recognition – “PRO – Graduation & Seniors”::

For last week’s Google+ PAC Photography Community theme, “PRO – Graduation & Seniors” our judges have chosen to highlight the picture of a High School Senior who also happens to be a Pro Wakeboarder, made by Nick Cardona. (Nick also recently won for the G+ Theme “May Flowers!”).

Congratulations, Nick!

Why the judges love this picture:
“I like that it’s outside the box and it’s well composed.”

“I love that this is a little edgy and provocative. It definitely has impact.”

Nick is a semi-professional photographer, at Nick Cardona Photography. who lives in Gilbert, Arizona. He made this picture with his Pentax K10d.

His settings are:
ISO 100
Shutter Speed 1/90
Focal Length 35mm
Aperture f/11

When asked about the story behind this picture, Nick told us:

“This was the last shot that we took from the session. We were talking though the session about his wakeboarding and how important it is to him. He would get up at 5am to go ride before returning home and going to school. We wanted to get a picture that really showed the importance and dedication that he has to riding and we came up with this shot as a modern take on the Adam and the fig leaf image. It was more just playing around and goofing off getting the shot and it turned out to be his favorite from the session. He even had it printed and sent it out to certain friends and family with his grad announcements.

The shot was taken on white seamless paper with 3 lights and a reflector. 2 Lights crossing the background to make it nice and even. The back lights were feathered just enough to provide a slight rim light. The main light was camera right and a silver reflector was to the left to fill in shadows.”

Nick’s background in photography may be found here.

Nick is active in our G+ and FB groups. We appreciate your participation, Nick, and look forward to more of your photos! Congratulations, again!

——————————————————————————

::Google+ Weekly Photography Theme Recognition – “In Memory Of …”::

For last week’s Google+ PAC Photography Community theme, “In Memory Of …” our judges selected David Hunter’s haunting black & white picture, “Never Forget.” Congratulations, David!

Why the judges love this picture:
“This is a haunting photo. These hallowed reminders of pain, suffering, and sacrifice are astonishing. Who were the people who once occupied the helmets and what stories would they tell. A fantastic image with an equally fantastic story.”

“B&W is great, pure heart emotion comes through… who were these people? What happened to them? Just so many questions and emotions. The pile looks like nothing above then leads you down to the single helmets at the bottom…”

“Oh my God! This is very impactful and has emotion. Definitely love this image. So many thoughts and emotions floating through my head with this one.”

David is a Professional Photographer, whose work may be found here: https://www.facebook.com/PhotographybyDavidOHunter David lives in Michigan City, Indiana. He made this picture with his Sony a100.

His settings for this picture are as follows:
ISO 100
Shutter Speed 1/100sec
Focal Length 35mm
Aperture f/5.0

David shared with us the story behind this picture:

” I took a trip from LA to Indiana to travel off the beaten path and take some Americana type images in 2006. (The images from this trip sat on hard drives for almost five years before I reviewed them.)

I really had no set course other than a stop in Sun Valley, ID to see a friend. I was looking for small towns and to capture the beauty of America along the way. As I traveled I arrived in Utah. Once I was in Utah, I decided I wanted to photograph some the churches and other icons in Salt Lake City.

As I was heading into the city I saw a Army Surplus store that was massive. I decided to turn around and check it out. What I found was amazing. There were tanks, very large unused bombs and many other things you don’t see everyday. As I walked around I found an enormous mound of WW II helmets stacked up and spewed all over the place. The pile struck me and I can recall sitting in awe for awhile just wondering where they traveled, who wore them, who died in them and whose lives were saved by them. To this day when I look at this image I still wonder the same things. It was such a brutal war and we sometimes forget that.

This pile of helmets represent that forgetfulness and how we often forget the past and repeat the same mistakes. Hence the title of Never Forget!

I also wonder if they are still there or whether they have moved on to another destination.

From this area it seems they are gone. They were next to what I think is the rail car.

Here is another image that was to the right of the one I took.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theindianalinephoto/8942993792/“

When asked about his photography background David said:

“I have been shooting everything I could while I traveled in the Film Production business over the past 12 years. Over the last two years I have been gradually making the transition from part-time photographer to full-time photographer. I have recently rented a space to have a gallery as well as a studio in Harbert, MI. I feel like this is this the moment I have been waiting for since 2003 and I feel it’s my time to combine everything I know and simply take the chance on doing what I love for a living. I will be open for business mid-July. I will primarily focus on intimate portraits of people, blogging and telling human interest stories as well as selling my more artistic images from my travels. I dream of filling every square in of my wall space with images of the world as I see it.”

David is active in our G+ Community. We appreciate your participation, David, and look forward to more of your photos! Congratulations, again!

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Please comment on this post to show our three PAC Weekly Photography Theme Recognition winners some love! Also, don’t forget to take some time to check out the other awesome themed photos, on Google+ and on Facebook, get inspired to go out and shoot!

To be considered for this PAC challenge, simply check the calendar for the weekly photo assignments.
• Photos submitted for the Google+ Community Weekly Theme must be shot during the assignment week—no archived
photos.
• Hash tag #PACWeekly.
• Photos submitted for the 3-day Themes may be archived, or shot during the run of the theme.
• Post your BEST three shots each week based on the current theme.
• Any details you can add to your post, such as: camera used, settings, caption, and/or a brief story of your
subject, will also be considered a plus!
The winning photographers will have their photos published here on the PAC blog for all to enjoy, and will receive
a large print of their winning photos, compliments of our sponsors, Vivyx Printing!
To learn more about our Amazing Photo community check out our website here: www.PhotoAdvClub.com (Open to all States and Countries!)

~ Sarah Hales
on behalf of the PAC Community Leaders