Just a quick post . . . I just saw the notice for the winner of Flickr’s contest. Specifically, the Nature category winner.

https://blog.flickr.net/2022/09/29/world-photography-day-meet-your-contest-winners/

I’m like . . . “What?! A hummingbird Photo?”

I mean, I have hundreds of hummingbird photos. Heck, this past Sunday’s SmugMug Appreciation post had three photos of hummingbirds that I think are just as good.

Here they are:

OK, so the last one probably isn’t as interesting.

Anyway, I’m going to have to rethink my policy of not entering contests . . .

. . . then again, prior experience with contests tells me I’d not have won, or even placed . . . because I don’t have a photo of a hummingbird with a yellow flower in the shot.

That’s not a joke . . . something worked for the judges when they looked at that photo. A combination of all those elements hit them in a way that other photos didn’t.

. . . unless the winner was chosen by readers (I didn’t dive into how the contest was run), in which case, it’s likely there were a lot of hummingbird lovers who voted.

Some of you are likely to toss words of encouragement my way, but rest assured I don’t really need them. They’re appreciated, of course, but it won’t change my cynicism about photo contest, writing contest, or almost any contests.

Lest I sound like I’m chewing on sour grapes, I think that’s a nice shot, and I’m glad it won . . . it just surprised me because it’s the first time I saw a shot like that win.

Meaning, I don’t see it as an extraordinary shot beating out 2,500 other contestants.

Anyway, readers should check out the winners of the other categories.

That’s it. This post has ended . . . except for the stuff below.

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