Today we wrap up our 2024 Spring Photography Contest, featuring our third place winner, Grasshopper on Gourd Flower, by Kat Mincz. She will receive a $100 cash prize plus regular payment for publication.
Kat talks below about what led to her picture taken in Sandston, Virginia:
Nature always inspires me to take photos. I particularly enjoy taking photos of insects and flowers, and came upon the gourd flower and the grasshopper randomly after my sister threw some seeds out in our yard. If there is any kind of insect on a flower anywhere, I will take photo after photo. It amazes me what I can find in my own backyard.
Patricia Joynes, our judge and photographer, said this about Kat’s image:
Insects in nature can be fascinating subjects in photos, but they are not always so easy to photograph. Here, the timing was perfect as is the composition and lighting. The close-up of the solitary green alien-looking grasshopper against the contrasting yellow background allows one to view every minute particle along with a seemingly giant pair of compound eyes. It looks as though he or she is just about to speak.
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Thank you to everyone who participated in our contest! Thanks also to Patricia Joynes for evaluating our submissions and choosing three winning photos. As part of our review, we accepted a number of contest photos for regular publication and will feature all in the weeks and months ahead. Stay tuned.
Congratulations! A truly amazing and impressive photo! Really hard to capture the image of an insect without letting it get away, especially inside a flower! It really looks like it’s looking at you from across the page….
Thank you so much Viviana! I really appreciate your kind words. Boosts my confidence to go out and be the paparazzo to other bugs!
Viviana is right. It is hard to capture insects before they fly away. Great photo.
Thank you, Patricia! Luckily, this guy (gal?) was very cooperative. And I do mean “luckily.”
Congratulations, I see all of those great pictures you post on Facebook and they are all amazing!!! I love this one with the grasshopper!!! The lunch with good friends, we must do again soon! <3
Congratulations to all the winners. It was a challenge to pick the top three as so many photos were really excellent.
Thanks for the nice comment, my friend. it was hard to find a photo that I hadn’t posted on facebook. (They didn’t want one that had been on social media.) My feeling is that some of my “better” photos have been posted on facebook and I couldn’t use them. Lunch would be grand!
Patricia, I do not envy you having to choose the winners! I know it was a hard choice. Thank you so much!