I am so excited to FINALLY be able to talk about the NAPCP Inspired Print Competition.  NAPCP stands for the National Association of Professional Child Photographers. They are a professional organization dedicated to the betterment of child photography. To quote their ideals:

"NAPCP grants membership to photographers who are dedicated to exhibiting quality images of children on a consistent basis. NAPCP members are expected to reflect exceptional skills in photography, originality, and creativity while promoting the honesty and spirit of the children they capture. NAPCP members should uphold the highest ethics and integrity within their business practices."

I joined NAPCP about a year ago and was awarded my Master Photographer Certification in the Child category earlier in the year. It was big and scary and stressful to be judged by some of the best child photographers in the industry and I am so very proud of that certification.

Once a year they hold a print competition that is open to all sorts of images, not just those of children. Images are submitted digitally. The judges choose the top 100 images to proceed to the final round. Those 100 images are printed and matted as 16x20s and displayed in the Atlanta NAPCP gallery for final judging and viewing.

Brown Bunny Photography submitted ten images and six were chosen to be a part of the Top 100! I am REALLY excited to have had so many chosen for round one. It is a HUGE honor. The categories this year were Black and White, Wild, and Self-Portrait.

In no particular order, here are the images that were chosen to be included in the Top 100. Scroll to the bottom for the most exciting part!

I taught this beautiful mother how to swim when she was a very small girl.  I have loved her family for a very long time.  Now she is a mother of a precious little one of her own.  It was my profound joy to be able to capture this moment of quiet and peace.  

This was entered in the Black and White category.

I have been a theatrical lighting designer for my entire adult life.  For decades I have had a steady stream of shows back to back.  Theatre is a collaborative art, so working a show means creating art with a lot of other really creative people.  It is fulfilling on so many levels.

When covid hit, everything went away.  Over the space of a week, all of the theatres were canceled.  Not only did my job go away, but the source of a great deal of artistic fulfillment went away, not to mention the creative relationships with other theatre artists.  It was a hard time.

Once we had a better handle on what was going on and ways we could keep ourselves healthy, I branched out and started taking dancer pictures.  It was great.  It was a lot like doing a tiny little show with one person.  Patrick was one of my first dancers and the art we created was unique.  This was my favorite image from his session.  His dancing is just beautiful.

He really, truly is on point on his Converse toes.  I did not photoshop out a balancing hand or a stool.  He went up on point and I took the image.  Magic!

This was entered in the Black and White category.

I am THE WORST gardener.  I so desperately want my yard to look like a cottage garden.  Instead the weeds defeat me at every turn.  I finally decided to just take pictures of what I've got out there.  Weeds.  Sigh.

This is a milkweed pod.  I think butterflies love them.  Maybe.  Maybe I'm making that up.  My garden loves milkweed, so I am taking the high road and calling it a butterfly preserve.  That's good, right?

This was entered in the Wild category.

I really struggled with the self-portrait category.  How do you define yourself in an image?  The entries in this category were really varied and interesting.

I make afghans for people that I love.  They are a simple crochet and about the size of a twin sheet.  Soft, warm and snuggly.  Plus you can throw them in the washer and dryer, which makes them very functional.  They take a while to make and yarn isn't cheap these days, so I have to really, really love you to make you one.  One of my nieces campaigned hard for one of her very own for years and I told her the qualifications were turning 40 or getting a doctorate (I caved and made her one for her high school graduation because I love her A LOT A LOT).  So that was the inspiration.  I worked up a couple of rows in this bright yarn and had my youngest niece keep crocheting on it.  I taught her to crochet when she was 12 and now she makes blankets too.  I love the continuity of that.  A self-portrait because making these afghans is what I do AND the inclusion of my niece because she is my crafty twin.

This was entered in the Self-Portrait category.

When my friend Brenda turned 40, she bought herself a horse.  According to her, she had always wanted a horse and she was a grownup now and could have a pony if she wanted one.  So now she has Andee and is so in love with her and Andee is living a great horse life.

Andee is gorgeous.  Her mom had bathed her and shined her up and this horse literally was glowing with beauty.  Photographing horse can be a lot like photographing toddlers, so I was prepared for the worst.  Not only was Andee a horse, she was a horse with a two week old baby of her own.  Things could have gone south very easily.  Instead, Andee was a Vogue model.  We took this one just outside the barn door while he baby galloped around enjoying his first dose of freedom.  I just love the look in her eye.

This one was entered in the Black and White category.

Remember how I said during covid I took dancer pictures?  Well Drew was part of that project.  Drew is an actor and singer as well as being a beautiful dancer.  He is truly the triple threat you hear of.  I 100% believe that he will make his mark on Broadway one day.  He is insanely talented.

I had so many favorites from his session, but this one is phenomenal.  I loved the curve of his extension and the energy in the pose.  As I can barely walk around without careening into things, I am always impressed by people who can dance.  I also loved the lighting in this image.  We had a single light source behind him so it would wash down his face as he reached back.  It worked out well.

This one was entered into the Black and White category AND IT TOOK SECOND PLACE!!!!!!  That is so huge and I am excited beyond words!!