Congratulations Tim Cotter--June 2019 PFRE Photographer of the Month!

Congratulations to Tim Cotter from Bend, OR--June 2019 Photographer of the Month! The theme this month was Formal Dining and I had 44 entries from around the world. As always, a big thank you goes out to everyone who participated and to the jury who continue to volunteer their valuable time and thoughtful insights.

1. Tim Cotter - #10
2. Danielle Robertson -#32
3. Stephen Reed - #38
4. Matthew Stallone - #44
5. Dave Spencer - #22

Please feel free to view and comment on any of this month's entries here.

Here's what Tim had to say about the win:

I am incredibly humbled to have won this given the number of other amazing images in this month's contest. When I first joined PFRE, I used to look at the winning images from previous months and be awed at the skill level displayed by the photographers, never really thinking that I would be able to submit something that would get recognized as anything exceptional. Over the course of this past year, I have had the opportunity to photograph some pretty nice houses and started to come away with a few photographs that started to look pretty good, at least to my eye.

The dining room shot was taken in a remodeled house that had been staged. It was located up on a butte above Bend, OR and I had scouted the location with the agent a few days earlier. The main feature of the house was the view and the intent of the shoot was to maximize all of the views out of the east facing windows. On the day of the shoot, the butte was shrouded in fog and it was like the house was in a giant soft box. The primary agent was out of town and her stand in wanted to move forward with the shoot anyway. With the house painted white throughout, the light was perfect, and without any view shots to take, the focus became capturing a variety of non-view interior shots. So who knows--without the fog, I might not have even taken this shot at all! The primary agent also told me afterward that she would have very likely cancelled the shoot to wait for a clear day, so sometimes you just need to be lucky.

I also want to mention Garey Gomez, because this house was my first shoot after taking his course and I decided to shoot everything with the lights out (which was somewhat of a change for me) and use his method for blending ambient/flash exposures. So thanks Garey, I know I would not have approached this shoot the same way had I not taken your course! I have learned a ton from the PFRE community and am grateful for the ongoing sharing and advice. Thanks again to the judges for selecting this image.

PFRE Photographer of the Month Winners:

• May 2019 PFRE Photographer of the Month
• April 2019 PFRE Photographer of the Month
• March 2019 PFRE Photographer of the Month