Pictures at an Exhibition

Well, the new exhibit -- Nature's Best Photography's 2008 Windland Smith Rice Awards -- opened at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History last weekend! Since I haven't seen any pictures of the exhibit yet, I was anxious to see it. And since my "Cheshire Cat Grin" lemon shark won the Oceans category (my first major contest win!), I was understandably especially anxious!

Well, I just happened to have an excuse to "swing by" from Seattle , so I stopped in with my sis to see it today. All I can say is WOW!

Below are a few photos I took (not great quality because I was trying - mostly unsuccessfully - to use both a flash and ambient light trying high ISOs, which - ugh - I regret now, but that's another story...). These photos don't begin to do the exhibit (or any of the individual photos) justice. The print quality is absolutely astounding! My photo looked so much better than any print I've made of it that my jaw was on the floor, especially since it is HUGE! The gorgeous color and detail in ALL of the prints is just fantastic! I highly recommend that any of you who have the opportunity be sure to stop in and visit the exhibit!

There are only a few underwater photos in this exhibit (3 as I recall). Gary Brennard's napoleon wrasse (which they placed right next to mine) is spectacular, with deep rich blues you can almost taste! There's also a beautiful spotted dolphin shot by Toshio Minami...but that was it for uw photos. Maybe they chose more "topside" stuff because the previous exhibit was NBP's Ocean Views... Anyway, here is the wall with Gary's wrasse and my shark:

A high point of my visit was getting to meet Steve Freligh, the publisher and CEO of Nature's Best Photography. We spoke at some length about NBP, the work they're doing in conjunction with the Smithsonian, and photography in general. What a GREAT GUY - very down to earth and dedicated to expanding photography as an art form, starting with young kids...and all the way up to us older kids!

Here are some shots from the rest of the exhibit. You'll see all of these photos in the next issue of NBP, which is being printed as we speak and should be out in a week or two!

Thanks for posting Bruce, yours looks great.

Regards

Gary

wow

wow, these look great, thanks for posting. really nice grin there (the shark I mean )

I hope NBP is available here in Hungary, I'll give it a try...

Your shot looks great in large print! And that Grand Prize shot is pretty amazing too.

Congrats again

Todd

That is such an awesome honor to see your photo in the Smithsonian. I saw the previous exhibit last year, and I was green with envy at the remarkable photography.

Congratulations!!!

Thanks, everybody! It really IS cool seeing your photo that big...and in a place like that! And having it in the company of such great photos was very humbling and a real honor.

I forgot to mention that the exhibit will be up through May 3, 2009. It is located on the 2nd floor, just around the corner from the IMAX theater.

Here's a link: Natures Best Exhibit in Museum of Natural History

Wish I could see the exhibit this year! Congrats, Bruce.

Fantastic Bruce. Congratulations!

Hi Bruce,

That is fantastic. The picture looks amazing at that size.

Many congratulations.

Alex

Wow. What an incredible honor. Those photos are incredible. I just love the one of the baby lion and the mom.

Wow, totally impressed, just great! on a side note, where do you get something like that printed? Scott

Wow, totally impressed, just great! on a side note, where do you get something like that printed? Scott

Nowhere I know can make prints like these. I'd LOVE to get one, too, but no can do. Apparently the Smithsonian does their own tweaking/optimizing/enlarging of the photo files and does their own printing, and then they own the exhibit prints (for possible future use in their other exhibits, etc.). If anyone knows where to get prints like that, I'd love to know. They have some sort of plexiglass-like coating - maybe 1/8" thick - bonded to the print itself, and Steve says that actually allows light in from the sides (like fiber optics?), which seems to make the photos "pop" even more!

Reviving this thread... because I ahve been looking for sources for printing lately. My guess woulld be that those great prints at the Smithsonian are Lightjet prints with laminated coating. Here's one source http://www.calypsoinc.com/calypso/prefjet.php

Just when you think you've seen it all along comes a load of breath-taking images... WOW and double WOW !!!!...

Cheers Bruce and well done, what a honour to be amongst all those incredible shots ...and well deserved...

Dive safe

DeanB

Marjo,

Thanks for the link; you might be right. The testimonials are sure glowing, including several from photographers I know and would trust their opinions. I will probably give them a try and see if they indeed compare with what the Smithsonian did (I really could hardly fathom how they got that big a print from my 8mp original JPG, and got it that sharp/clear!).

well done Bruce, great work!

your shark shot was in the Sunday Times here in the UK last week - I'll email you a scan if you like, I think I still have it

Steve

well done Bruce, great work!

 

your shark shot was in the Sunday Times here in the UK last week - I'll email you a scan if you like, I think I still have it

 

Steve

Thanks, Steve, but I think I already have a copy coming from someone else.

Apparently, the shark was a tabloid star all over Europe last week! I'll have to post some of the scans I got of the various papers. My favorites were one where it was next to a girl snorting coke, and another (Polish I believe) where they placed it so it looked like it was leering at t topless girl!