Day 15 - Photo Contest

Our state representative, Rebecca McClanahan, has an annual photo contest.  This year I entered the contest for my first time.  There is an adult (18 and older) contest and a youth (17 and below) contest.  I, of course, had to enter the 17 and under.  I entered four photos and one of them happened to win.  The top photo is the winner for the youth division.  It is called 'Feeding Time'.  It is my Dad and his horse, Annie.  The thing that is funny about it is that the other three photos I had planned them specifically for the contest theme.  The one that won was taken as I was heading up to the house because I was cold.  I looked back and saw Dad.  So I just took a few shots and I didn't know if they turned out good or not.  Well, I guess it turned out well.

The contest only awarded 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.  The one below this paragraph is called 'A Visit to the Barbershop'.  My brother needed a haircut so I brought my camera with me and asked Larry Platz, the barber, if I could take photos of him for a contest.  The theme of the contest was 'vitality and resiliency, the people of north Missouri'.  The reason he was one of the people I chose is because he has had his barber shop for many years.  All the men in my family have gone to him to get their hair cut.  It is downtown in one of the old buildings that are still there.  One thing I like about this photo is if you look at the left you can see old receipts tacked to the wall.  One the top you can see photos of his family.  In the mirror you can see the reflection of old photos of Truman and of the lake.  And I don't know if you can see it or not, but under those photos, still in the reflection, he has a lot of baseball calendars.  And then, of course, you can see that Dad and Jonathan are in the photo, also.  Even though they only give out 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, one of the judges let us know that this photo really came in 4th place, even though it wasn't mentioned.  

You probably don't know this but I am in Taekwon-do.  As of right now I am a red belt.  We have the only 7th Dan black belt father and son in the world right here in Kirksville.  Not many people make it to 1st Dan black belt, but for 2 people to make it 7th Dan and it to be father and son, that is amazing!  I definitely wanted to get some photos of them because they represent north Missouri so well.  The first one was called 'Two Masters'.   You only get to be called Master once you get up to 7th Dan.  The one on the left is Senior Master Bill Stephenson.  The one on the right, kicking, is his son, Master Dustin Stephenson.  

This one is called 'Master in the Mirror'.   Like the title says, this photo was taken looking into a mirror so it is actually his reflection.  The thing that is cool is that the TKD sign that you see in the window is always flipped when you are inside the do jang.  The cool part is that since it was taken looking into a mirror, it is readable.  Unfortunately, these 2 did not get mentioned.  Sad.