1st place, advanced monochrome prints, 1/17/05, Northern Virginia Photographic Society

This was, at least to me, a surprise winner. Using my mentor's 3 "C" criteria - Craftmanship, Compostition, & Creativity - I didn't think it was anything special on the 3rd C, Creativity. I guess I was lucky to run across a judge who placed little, if any, emphasis on that particular C. Also got a blue ribbon for enhanced prints - but my biggest surprise was that neither of my colored print entries even made the first cut. Never would have guessed it. Just goes to show something - but not sure what.
For folks wondering about the quality of large prints from a Nikon D70 6MP camera - this was presented as a 12x18 monochrome print and the judge (and a number of observers) thought that it might have been shot with a medium format camera because of the sharpness & detail. (Printed at Costco for $2.99)