Congratulations Aaron Flores - PFRE Photographer Of The Month For September

Congratulations to Aaron Flores, Phoenix, AZ who has won the September Photographer of the month contest with his photo at the right. Click the image to the right to see a larger version of Aaron's image.

Aaron is a second time PFRE photographer of the month. He won this same theme (Patio, Deck or Garden Space) last September! I declare Aaron the king of Patio, Deck or Garden Space shots!

Here is the jury’s voting results:

1. 54 points, #18, Aaron Flores - Phoenix, AZ
2. 24 points, #6, Jonathan Davis - Big Island, HI
3. 24 points, #14, Robert Morning - Los Angeles, CA
4. 17 points, #12, Tony Colangelo - Victoria, BC
5. 8 points, #11, Jason Roehner - Tempe, AZ
6. 3 points, #2, Adrian Jones - Cape Town, South Africa

To the 22 entries in this contest that didn't get any points, this is a very competitive contest. Don't be discouraged. View it as much as a learning experience as a contest.

Here are Aaron's comments about his winning image:

I'm happy once again to be recognized by the PFRE jury for my hard work and effort I put into crafting my images. This particular image was a lot of fun to make and not my typical circumstance. Usually I'm responsible for many images to be done all during twilight so I kind of place my lights in a general are and pick which side of the yard I'm going to shoot first. For this home though the client for obvious reasons wanted to focus more on the yard and pool area as opposed to shots of the home itself.

This presented me with a great chance to capture this one point perspective looking down the stretch of the back yard which flows from the unique spa to spillway into the main pool and then the far side of the yard and all its massive green trees. Also since I was looking down the yard instead of towards the house or away from it I was able to place my lighting on either side and really highlight exactly what I wanted. For this setup I used 6 various hot lights ranging from 150 watt spot lights to a 1000 watt tota light to make sure the deepest part of the yard was properly lit. I placed my two 150s on either side of the spa to capture both the spa itself and just the edge of the tree branch closest to the camera. I then placed a 250 watt flood light in between the two gazebos to the right of the pool, lighting towards the house, and another between the two patios to the left of the pool, lighting back towards lounge chairs and that section of the pool. Finally, I had a 500 watt placed just behind the furthest gazebo on the right pointing back towards the far patio on the left.

Meanwhile setting up lights I left my camera in place and used an intervalometer to fire of a bracket every few minutes to make sure I captured the exact right light and time. I believe I ended up using 4 or 5 different exposures to piece everything together exactly the way I had envisioned it while shooting.

I'm definitely pleased with the results and again I'm so happy to be recognized for my efforts. I put a lot of care and passion into my work and truly love what I do and I'm just glad I can make a living doing what I love.

I've put the names of all the photographers on the images in the Flickr contest pool. Feel free to join the group and comment on the images.

PFRE Photographer of the Month Winners:

• January 2015 PFRE Photographer Of The Month
• November 2014 PFRE Photographer Of The Month
• October 2014 PFRE Photographer Of The Month