Congratulations to the DSS Mega-Challenge #2 Winner!

[Greensquared]

A Massive congratulations to our Mega-Challenge Winner -

PaulThomasMcKee with "Kickin' Back in the Meadow of My Imagination" !!! :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap

http://paulthomasmckee.smugmug.com/photos/428081782_dotik-L.jpg

SO many awesome entries and the votes were really varied, but this was our clear winner. Paul receives the SmugMug Mega Prize package as listed in the Challenge rules...tons of goodies all thanks to SmugMug.

Here's the stats guys:

Place - Photog - Title - Points

1st - PaulThomasMcKee - Kickin' back in the meadow of my Imagination - 38
2nd (joint) - Llywellyn - Home - 32
2nd (joint) - thebigsky - Moving On - 32
3rd - richtersl - Burgess Lea in Bucks County, PA - 31
4th - Tylwydd - Plein feu sur l'univers moderne - 24
5th - cmorganphotography - Near a Canvas - 19
6th - RebeccaHelm - Under the Stars - 14
7th - jeffmeyers - A Shelter in the Time of Storm - 12
8th - pyry - In the snow! - 10
9th - HumpreyCogay - A cool Morning - 8
9th (joint) - Sherstone - Rain or Shine the Beach is Mine - 8
10th - SherwinJames - My Lazyboy-Relaxing with Wife - 7
11th - VisualXpressions - Fortress of Solitude - 6
11th (joint) - pemmett - With my family on the beach at sunset doing crazy stuff - 6
12th - bch2300 - ...out there - 5
12th (joint) - Roaddog 52 - Greeting the Morning - 5
12th (joint) Michael Atkins - Moment After The Snow
13th - jwear - Any Place - 3
13th (joint) - cmurph - In the Saddle - 3
13th (joint) - idion - In My Child's Eyes
14th - KevXman - Anywhere With Sand and Saltwater During the Off-Season - 2
15th - PyroPrints - Behind the Camera - 1
15th (joint) - achambers - Trail to Eagle - 1

[thebigsky]

Woot, congrats Paul :clap:clap:clap:clap:clap:clap

Charlie

[pyroPrints.com]

I bet you're in your happy place now :D grats

[divamum]

Congratulations to Paul and... TO EVERYBODY! Great shots from each and every one of you!!

[Llywellyn]

Congrats, Paul! :clap

And nice to be rubbing shoulders with you, Charlie. Your images still floor me. :thumb

[VisualXpressions]

Congrats, Paul :thumb

Winston

[pyry]

Congrats Paul! Dreamland is a good place to be :D

[richtersl]

He's in his "happy place" now for sure! :rofl

Well done, Paul! :clap

[achambers]

Congrats Paul

[bch2300]

a well deserved congrats, paul! super pic- :thumb
lots of great shots this round!

-bh

[PaulThomasMcKee]

Holy Mackerel!!!! I’m in a state of shock! Thank you so much!!! I can’t wait to tell my wife! Her first reaction to this image when she saw it was “OMG Paul, OK. I’m just going to pretend I never saw that.” I'm pretty sure she thinks I’ve lost a couple of cards out of the deck when it comes to photography and especially this challenge series.

This is truly an incredible honor and one that I will cherish forever. Thank you to Smugmug, B&H Photo & Fotoflot for their fantastic support. A HUGE THANK YOU to Emily for all of the time and effort she puts into running this series and for putting up with all of us wacky photographer types. But the biggest and bestest thank you goes to all of you folks here in Dgrin land for your wonderful camaraderie, support and feedback…this is truly a great place to hangout, share and learn and I’m so very glad to be a part of it! :lust

:barb WAH-WHOOOOO!!!:barb

[The Curious Camel]

Congrats Paul, your photography rocks!!!

[KevXman]

:bow PAUL

[annnna8888]

Congratulations, Paul! I knew the photo would rank high from the moment I saw it for the first time! :clap

Ana

[idiom]

Congrats Paul.

[Halite]

Congrats, Paul!

I'm LMAO at your wife's response. Hope you achieve a bit of sweet vindication from this result.

[leaforte]

Congratulations! Excellent picture!

:clap:thumb

[Tentacion]

Paul, I believe your imagination is never on just a "Kickback", I believe it is always in High Gear. Congrats on your win !!

Peace,
Donna P.

[Kwarta]

Congrats. :clap

[sunita]

Congratulations, Paul! Awesome shot! :clap:clap:clap

[Nikolai]

Congrats to Paul, all the finalists and participants! :clap

[Tylwydd]

Congratulations !

[Karrie McD]

:clap :clap :clap
:lust That is one fabulous photo Paul!! :lust

Congrats to everyone else as well. Great photos and I learned a little something about all of you.:clap :clap :clap

[Roaddog 52]

Congrats to Paul for a great image and a well deserved win.

Phil

[Elaine]

Way to go Paul! Your cleverness and execution never cease to amaze me. Congratulations!

[HumpreyCogay]

Congratulations Paul... Very Well Deserving =).....:clap

[ic4u]

Congratulations Paul, What a fun image!
Well desreved!

[jeffmeyers]

. . . my wife! Her first reaction to this image when she saw it was “OMG Paul, OK. I’m just going to pretend I never saw that.”

Ahem. Manhood check, huh? Even so, it's a very well done photograph, Paul. Congratulations to you!

[cmurph]

Congratulations Paul..what a wonderfully whimsical idea..Loved it...so very creative you are! :clap

[Tango]

excellent!!! and congrats !!!

very sweet victory Paul!! now gear up for MC3!!!! :thumb :thumb :thumb


:clap :clap :clap

[PaulThomasMcKee]

Ahem. Manhood check, huh?

First of all, thanks to everyone for your kind comments.

Second...I called my wife to tell her the good news and it went something like this,

Me: Hi hon. Guess what. Remember that picture you saw me working on?
Her: Don't even!
Me: Yep!
Her: DO NOT EVEN TELL ME!
Me: Oh Yeah!
Her: I can't believe it!
Me: It's true!
Her: I can't believe that I've been making fun of you for two weeks about that silly thing and it actually won!
Me: (in my head...this is so SWEET!) out-loud: yeah, can ya believe it?!

She had several other choice comments (some about my manhood) and we had a really good laugh. She wanted to know how it was made and when I told her she was a little incredulous that I had gone to the store and bought flowers then driven to a park on my lunch hour with a change of clothes (it rained hard the night before so the ground was sotched), set up my camera, sprinkled the flowers out on the grass and took pictures of myself. I'll have to admit that the whole thing is kind of embarrassing...but so worth it.

Regarding the manhood issue...and even I almost can't believe this, but I actually went into a Fabric Store on my own volition yesterday to look for a backdrop for the Still Life challenge - and enjoyed it. I did notice that I was the sole male in the place...other than a photo of Christopher Lowell advertising his products.

But isn't that what these challenges are all about? Getting out of our comfort zones and stretching to grow both as photographers - and as sentient beings?

[divamum]

First of all, thanks to everyone for your kind comments.

Second...I called my wife to tell her the good news and it went something like this,

Me: Hi hon. Guess what. Remember that picture you saw me working on?
Her: Don't even!
Me: Yep!
Her: DO NOT EVEN TELL ME!
Me: Oh Yeah!
Her: I can't believe it!
Me: It's true!
Her: I can't believe that I've been making fun of you for two weeks about that silly thing and it actually won!
Me: (in my head...this is so SWEET!) out-loud: yeah, can ya believe it?!

She had several other choice comments (some about my manhood) and we had a really good laugh. She wanted to know how it was made and when I told her she was a little incredulous that I had gone to the store and bought flowers then driven to a park on my lunch hour with a change of clothes (it rained hard the night before so the ground was sotched), set up my camera, sprinkled the flowers out on the grass and took pictures of myself. I'll have to admit that the whole thing is kind of embarrassing...but so worth it.

Regarding the manhood issue...and even I almost can't believe this, but I actually went into a Fabric Store on my own volition yesterday to look for a backdrop for the Still Life challenge - and enjoyed it. I did notice that I was the sole male in the place...other than a photo of Christopher Lowell advertising his products.

But isn't that what these challenges are all about? Getting out of our comfort zones and stretching to grow both as photographers - and as sentient beings?

Ok, that is officially hilarious!! :D

[pyry]

She had several other choice comments (some about my manhood) and we had a really good laugh. She wanted to know how it was made and when I told her she was a little incredulous that I had gone to the store and bought flowers then driven to a park on my lunch hour with a change of clothes (it rained hard the night before so the ground was sotched), set up my camera, sprinkled the flowers out on the grass and took pictures of myself. I'll have to admit that the whole thing is kind of embarrassing...but so worth it.


You had a lie down in wet grass, for a picture?
I like the dedication, go Paul! :D

I had my runsamok in the snow wearing water resistant outdoor stuff...

[sherstone]

WAY TO GO!

http://sherstone.smugmug.com/photos/429979804_y57j3-X3.png

[Michael Atkins]

Congratz on your amazing photo! :clap

[lisap]

Congrats Paul!! :clap

[richtersl]

First of all, thanks to everyone for your kind comments.

Second...I called my wife to tell her the good news and it went something like this...



H I L A R I O U S! :rofl

[photo-funtasia]

H I L A R I O U S! :rofl

To be very honest, I kinda agree with your wife.... :rolleyes

Funny/funky looking... but it's very creative and nice :D

So it is not a composition, but actually a shot... ha! Even more astonishing!

Congratulations :clap :clap :clap

[jeffmeyers]

But isn't that what these challenges are all about? Getting out of our comfort zones and stretching to grow both as photographers - and as sentient beings?

Sometimes it feels more like finding the sentimental woman inside of me. Oh. Wait. She's not there! :whew