I am very pleased to say that I have received an Honorable Mention in the Flora and Macro category for the 2011 submissions. You can see the page with my image here and all the winners can be seen here.
Naturescapes.net is a fine site with many members posting thousands of images each year. It is very gratifying to have one of my images selected among all those superb nature photography pictures.
Please click the image for a larger view.
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
Wow, Steve, that is fantastic! Congratulations! Spectacular shot! LOVE the image title, the composition and the soft background. Well deserved accolade! 🙂
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Thank you Tracy. I appreciate the compliment on the image. I wish I had been able to see it morph into a gorgeous adult, but seeing the little plumper was a treat just the same.
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Congratulations Steve. It’s well-deserved recognition indeed. It’s a mighty fine image.
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Thank you pj. I appreciate your praise for the image.
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It’s great that you managed to keep all parts of the caterpillar so sharp; I know how hard it is to do that. Good for you.
Steve Schwartzman
http://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com
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Thanks Steve.
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Congratulations Steve. I looked at your shot on naturescapes where I could see it larger. I’m so impressed. I would like to get a macro lens. I like how sharp the caterpillar is and the wonderful bokeh behind it. Those little red knobs are so cool on it’s head (I guess its his head. :-))
Sharon
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Thank you Sharon. I appreciate that. Yes, that is it’s head and I guess evolution put them there to appear, possibly, as lady bird beetles and a discouragement to predators. Doesn’t work on the tachnids though.
BTW, if you click the image it’s just as large as Naturescapes and a bit larger file than there as they limit the size. Sorry. I usually mention to click the image but forgot. I’ll correct that.
Thanks again.
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I first saw it in NatureScapes but did not make the connection to you. Congratulations on a well deserved honor!
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Thank you, Frank.
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I think the judging for the contest may have been unfair to you because the winning picture in the macro category was artificially set up, particularly by having artificial rain. I don’t know what the rules allowed, but it seems there should have been a separate category for staged or otherwise manipulated scenes.
Steve Schwartzman
http://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com
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Thanks for the support, Steve. It’s hard for me to argue the point either way. Taking a spray bottle is not an uncommon strategy in photography and the use of his flashes was superb. While I would certainly have been happy to be the winner, I find his shot very good and his plan of action admirable. When I look at several of the shots in all the categories, I feel that those folks actually put a lot more into the images than I did. When I complain, it involves the harming of the subject…say picking a flower or mushroom or baiting a wildlife/bird subject. One well-known macro photographer will pick something, say a skunk cabbage leaf, and use it as a background if he doesn’t like what Nature has provided. That I would complain about.
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Congrats, Steve! It’s a super image.
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Thank you Tom. Much appreciated. I am looking forward to our getting together again this year.
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Congratulations, Steve!
Sorry to be so late w/this comment… adjusting to new schedule (up way early on Sundays) is taking over at the moment.
Quite a breathtaking image!
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Thank you Gretchen. Sorry about the change, but I am sure you are happy to adjust for the new position. Congratulations once again on landing that.
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Thanks!
People say they get used to it eventually… it only took my brother 3 yrs.!
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Congratulations Steve! This is a very well-deserved honor that couldn’t go to a nicer guy.
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Thanks very much for the nice compliment Greg. Coming from a pretty nice guy yourself I really appreciate it.
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