I didn’t take a ton of behind the scenes pictures of the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. Not as much as I’m used to taking. But I took a few.

Here are a few of them from the judging night.

I have to be thankful to the judges:

Melissa Bell
Nathanial Brown
Angie DeWaard

And very thankful for the people assisted with administrative functions:

Teresa Kahler
Andy Sharp
Carla Stensland

And thankful for Monica for providing the meal.

There were 162 entries this year. Judging lasted almost 5 hours. If I’m being honest, the night of the judging is by far my favorite night of the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. I love the first time I get to see the pictures. And there is definitely a sense of relief when we tear down at Art in the Park and we’re done for the year, but judging night is my favorite. Just hanging out with other photographers and talking photography.

I like to tell people that I don’t judge the photos. My job is to judge the judges. And I’m always fascinated with the pictures they pick as the winners and what pictures I think they are missing out on. This is why I sometimes play with the idea of giving out The Chairman’s Award. An award for the picture I think the judges missed out on. But that would mean I would have to do some judging, which I don’t want to do. Yet I do. But I don’t. It probably won’t happen.

We grew by 41 entries this year. I don’t think we will grow by another 40 entries next year. But I hope we do. And if we do I think I will need to make some adjustments to the way we do the judging. I have some ideas on how to increase the efficiency, while giving the judges the time to give each photo the proper amount of time they deserve. I’ll keep tossing these ideas around in my head. Then I will toss them at the heads of other people.

I didn’t really make many changes to the photo contest this year. About the only thing I changed was adding “Honorable Mentions” to the mix. That was definitely a great idea, and maybe one year too late. I’ll definitely bring that back. But I might change how the Overall and the Best in Show prizes are awarded.

Still one more post about the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest still to come!