Mini-Challenge 234 - Animals Here and There - RESULTS

sapphire73

Thank you all for participating in this mini-challenge focusing on mammals! Before posting the results, I am going to share comments on each set of photos.

JAG – Always enjoy seeing your contributions here! My favorite of this set might just be 3: Hitching a ride, highlighting an unexpected encounter with a sea mammal!

Sarasphotos – Fun to see these photos of cows! I especially like no. 2, featuring one cow in a lovely setting. (Also fun to see a photo of you with your very first cow in California!)

BlueHoseJacket – My favorite among your entries is the baby panda, with its relaxed pose and the amount of detail you captured.

StueveShots – I love all 3 of your entries. I remember seeing nos. 1 and 3 in the past, and they are a great fit for this mini. And I really like your photo of the elk in Yellowstone with that soft background of flowers.

Moose135 – Hard to pick a favorite as you have captured 3 very different subjects quite nicely. the photo of the elk keeps growing on me - partly because of that vegetation draped on its antlers – but I also like your portrait of Hobbes.

Cavalier – Another great set of photos! I love the overall effect of the Tule Elk shot but my favorite is 1: Where’s Waldo, showcasing two raccoons posing on the rocks.

Jørgen_Bjerring – I have been enjoying seeing your photos on dgrin and appreciate your taking the time to enter some photos here! Again, it is difficult to pick a favorite here. The young lions are adorable, of course, and I know how hard it can be to get a good shot of them. But I am drawn to the sledgedogs in Greenland.

grandmaR – Your entries always provide a window into your travels and that photo of the monkey is no exception. And I think your 3rd photo “Motherhood” is quite fitting for this mini!

Slpollett - Another fun set of photos! While my favorite is no 2 of the momma and baby orangutans, I also like your 3rd photo framing a bison with your car window!

Pegelli – My favorite is the elk with his harem, capturing this animal’s behavior in a lovely photo. But I am also drawn to your first entry. In general, I appreciate sharp focus on the eyes of an animal, but that wasn’t really an option for you with # 1195. Still, you captured a lot of detail there!

Hammy8241 – Thank you for sharing these photos. You’ve captured some great detail in the photos of the field mouse and the squirrel. But my favorite is your shot of the Amur tiger and cub, with the focus on the cub. Great shot!

El Gato – Welcome to the dgrin challenges! I think I’ve seen some of your work before and enjoyed it then and now. This shot of the husky is a great capture! I would have loved to see a sharper focus on the eyes but appreciate how challenging it was to get this shot in such frigid temperatures. I also want to thank you for taking the time to comment on some of the images in this thread!

Gatto – Happy to see your contributions here! I love the overall feel of Texas down time but also like your “Calm before the storm” photo of the horses. Impressive that you got a photo of a bobcat, too!

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)

Hammy8241: Amur tiger and cub

El Gato: Husky (photo taken in Bettles, Alaska)

Gatto: Horses, Utah the calm before the storm

It was very difficult to rank these last three, but here goes!

3rd Place - Cavalier: Where’s Waldo
The raccoons almost appear to be posing for this photo but it is a pleasing composition and one senses the innate curiosity (and intelligence) of these animals with those bright eyes.

2nd Place - StueveShots: Our goat, the fashion model
I love this photo primarily because of the way it seems to communicate the “personality” of this goat, but I also appreciate the processing and sharp definition of the face.

1st Place - Pegelli: Keeping the harem together
Having had several opportunities to capture similar photos, I appreciate the way you managed to catch the stag protecting his harem (and/or maintaining his position among his rivals). It is the combination of the animal behavior depicted, the clear definition of the main subject, and the pleasing capture of this natural setting that make this a winner in my opinion. Congratulations!

JAG

Congrats to Pegelli and runner ups! Thank you for the comments and running the mini challenge @sapphire73 .

Gatto

Good Job Sapphire, congrats Mr. Pagelli

sarasphotos

Gretchen, thanks so much for taking the time to comment on all the photos - what a great bunch of entries and difficult decisions for you. Congratulations to the well-deserved winners!

Cavalier

This was a fun mini, Gretchen - and as Sara said, thanks for taking the time to comment.. Thanks for selecting my raccoons for third place - they bow in appreciation . Congratulations to Stueveshots for second place- my favorite animal, the goat - great catch. And congratulations Pieter for the outstanding elk herd!

grandmaR

Great mini idea, and I also appreciate the time it took to do comments on everyone. And congratulations to Peter and Jo for great photos to illustrate the mini

sapphire73

Joyce, Gatto, Sara, Jo and GrandmaR - thank you all for your comments. With so many excellent entries, I found it very difficult to judge this mini!

Thanks again to all who participated in this mini!

redleash

Congrats to everyone! Great animal shots are hard to resist and this group shows why. Good job judging Sapphire!

StueveShots

Thank you! This was such a fun one to participate in...and even though I'd been away a while, I'd missed it. I love your comments and appreciate my placing. I REALLY loved the raccoons...one of my favorite shots in a long time. And the stag shot is such a wonderful capture...it deserves the win. Well done, all!

pegelli

Just saw this last night after coming back from a week vacation. Thanks for the honours and comments, and also congrats to Cavalier and StuevoShots for 3rd and 2nd place. In both these pics I like how these animals look at the viewer, gives a real good connection.

Pls. give me a few days to set up the next mini, I'm quite busy after my return and there's some stuff I need to finish before I can spend time on this.

sapphire73

@pegelli said:
Just saw this last night after coming back from a week vacation. Thanks for the honours and comments, and also congrats to Cavalier and StuevoShots for 3rd and 2nd place. In both these pics I like how these animals look at the viewer, gives a real good connection.

Pls. give me a few days to set up the next mini, I'm quite busy after my return and there's some stuff I need to finish before I can spend time on this.

Welcome home, pegelli! Looking forward to seeing what you post for the next mini when you get a chance.

MoonMan04

These are fantastic! I can't wait to participate in such mini-games. By the way, those raccoons might be the fattest on the face of this Earth lol