It has been a very memorable week.

Of course the photo contest and all of the wonderful response has been the highlight! The outpouring of support and expressions of appreciation for my photography have been amazing. I love photography, one of the things I have been steadfast about is to shoot things I like to shoot and to shoot them for me first. I do not shoot for what might have wide appeal, what could be commercial, or what I think others might like. I try to get a different look at places and things that may have been photographed a million times before and put my own twist on them. Therefore, it is especially gratifying when others appreciate my images. Never have I felt as much appreciation for them as I have during this contest period. I’m excited to have won the contest and have a new tool in my tool belt, but the best thing about it all has been all of the kind words and warm wishes from near and far.

I’ve had very little time to play with the D7000 since Monday, but every time I do I continue to be impressed. Shot a couple of low light tests on Claire’s legos tonight and the performance at high ISO is a huge step up; even from the D300 which is no slouch on it’s own! Still much to learn before it becomes second nature like my other cameras, looking forward to getting more time with it.

I’ve been shooting graduation portraits at Portland State Bookstore’s Grad Fair the past two days. It has been a lot of fun and very well received, much higher response than I was expecting. Studio style portraits are far from my first love, but the students and families really made it a joy to do. I think we got some good photos and they all seemed very happy with the results and appreciative of the fact that the Bookstore was providing the service. I found out that Bill Purcell, one of the graduation vendors, is a photographer and Nikon shooter and look forward to talking to him more about it on a less busy day.

Speaking of fellow photographers; I’ve met and spent some time with some very interesting ones recently. Eric Leslie made contact just this evening after we met along the Umpqua River on my Crater Lake drive. I met Kenny Larson of ShutterSight Photography at the Stub Stewart Skate Jam and have enjoyed chatting with him and looking at his images. Last, but certainly not least, has been Rodney Evens whom I also met along the Umpqua River (at the same waterfall where I met Eric). In our conversations we started talking about longboarding and he ended up coming to shoot Stub Stewart with me. I always enjoy connecting and networking with other photographers and have been very fortunate to meet these gentlemen in the past few weeks.

Thank you all for making this such a great week!

The first Good Photo from my new D7000

What an exciting afternoon! I’m still a bit numb to it all, hasn’t quite sunk in!

As you know Column in Fog won the KGW photo contest that ended yesterday. I got the phone call from the folks at KGW shortly after returning from lunch. I arranged to go to the station later in the afternoon and collect the prizes and sign the papers required. The ladies were really great to chat with and told me there had been over 900 entries in the contest. Very long odds just to get selected as a finalist, and some excellent photos in the bunch so that makes be voted the winner just that much more exciting!

The prize package is really amazing! It includes overnight stays in Seaside & Astoria with great restaurant certificates in both locations. There is also a new Nikon D5100 two lens outfit from Pro Photo Supply (my camera store of choice). As I had dreamed about possibly winning this contest over the past few weeks I had an internal debate about what I would do with the camera should I win it. As most of you know I shoot Nikon and am very happy with them and I had been salivating over the D7000 since it’s introduction. Financial reality has been it was just out of reach at this time. So, if I were to win would I take the D5100 (a very nice camera in it’s own right but missing a couple of the features I use regularly in my D300) and run, or, would I talk to the folks at Pro Photo and see what it would cost to swap up to the D7000. I had pretty much decided to add the D5100 to my arsenal for it’s terrific video capabilities and light weight, but…

When I finished at KGW I still had some time before I had to pick up Claire from school and Pro Photo was just a few minutes away! After all, the D5100 would only be in a sealed box and exchangeable once (lord knows I couldn’t have it in my possession and not open it), so I’d better just go see what my options are! Long story short the folks at Pro Photo were terrific and I left with a slightly lighter wallet and a D7000 outfit!

After picking up Claire we headed to Mt. Tabor park to play. What a great camera and fun little model to play with! The battery out of the box only had a bit of charge so I didn’t get to  shoot too much and did one video, but it is really responsive and fun to use! It has terrific features, is weather sealed, and works with all of my lenses (new and old). I’m just over the moon about it!

To top it all off are all of the amazing notes, messages, and Facebook comments this evening! KGW posted the winner and the comments there are incredible! Friends, family, acquaintances and strangers have been posting on my personal and Kroll Images Facebook pages. My email has been flooded as well, it will take a while to get back to everyone!

Just an amazing day! I can’t wait to learn all of the ins and outs of my new camera! My wife and I will enjoy a getaway in Seaside and we’ll take the family for one in Astoria! It will take quite a while to wipe this smile off of my face!!!

Thank you again for all of your kind words, votes, and support!!!