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Congratulations to Aaron Kraft of Jackson, Wyoming who the jury as voted PFRE Photographer of the month for October 2016.
As you can see from the comments on Aaron's entry the jurors disagreed as to whether Aaron's shot looked elevated enough to fit this month's theme of "Elevated exterior shot- Pole Aerial
Here are all the entries that the jurors awarded points to this month:
Matt Parvin and Travis Rowan tied for 3rd place.
Great news from MA: Tyra Pacheco is recovered enough from her June chopper accident to vote as a juror in this month's contest! Tyra was the first PFRE Photographer of the month (called PFRE Idol back then) back in July of 2008. Tyra says her goal it to be back to work shooting real estate this spring!
Here are Aaron's comments on the winning photo:
Thank you to the jury members and everyone that takes the time to comment on images. This is a great community of professionals to be a part of. It seems like this image of mine was controversial in the way that many people didn't think that it met the criteria of this month's contest. I entered it not because I wanted to push the envelope, but to share a technique that works for me. I don't do a lot of aerial or elevated
photography because in most cases, I feel like the elevated position of the camera will diminish the architecture. In some cases its a necessity as with most of the entries this month when it makes sense to see directly into a second story. This home sits at the top of a hill and as I would back up to get the entire structure into the frame, I found myself shooting at such a low angle that it looked horrible.Since I don't own a drone, I figured that I would back up several hundred yards to a nearby hill and set up my *PMD* Poor Mans Drone and shoot long. I rigged a ball head to fit on the arm of my 12' C-stand which raised the camera up somewhere between 14'-15' off the ground and provides a somewhat sturdy base for my camera when creating images for a panorama, when sandbagged heavily. I then place my ladder next to it so I can control the camera. With the 15' of height on top of another hill combined with an almost 300mm focal length i was able to get the foreshortening effect of bringing the Tetons in closer and the height needed to be near ground level of the home. I took "Elevated exterior shot- Pole aerial photography, aerial or UAV" to mean that the camera needed to be elevated such as on a pole.
Thank you again for choosing my image as the winner this month, it is an honor.
Congrats, Aaron! Such a great shot!
Congratulations Aaron!
Well done Aaron!
Stunning shot Aaron. All the extra effort paid off. Congrats.
Nice one, Aaron.
Strangely, I use my pole more frequently indoors than out. I didn't have anything spectacular to enter of an exterior elevated image, but I have a few interior elevated images that I would have entered if they were included in the brief.
Congratulations Aaron! Definitely a stunning image.
Larry, Thanks for the update on Tyra. Great news indeed.
Congrats Aaron, beauty shot!
Truly stunning shot Aaron - Congrats on the win!
Considering the vantage point, I don't understand the controversy over whether this photograph is elevated enough to be considered an elevated pole photograph. In my opinion this is a gorgeous shot of this house amid the background landscape. Well done and congratulations.
WOW. It helps when the backdrop is just as stunning as the subject. Great work Aaron.
Thanks much everyone! Much appreciated.
Epic shot!