Cowbright: Vista Photo Contest

I learned this week that Vista is going to have a photo contest for ATW passengers. It will allow only one entry per person. I've never really liked photo contests (although I do enjoy seeing entries) because the judging is so subjective. Nevertheless, I will enter and I already have a favorite of the literally thousands of photos I've snapped since we left Miami last January.

If you know me, or even read my blog occasionally, you probably know that I take waaay too many pictures. One reason is that I have a really heavy shutter finger. The other reason is that with digital, there's nothing stopping me! Back in the film days, I had to think hard before snapping the shutter because film cost money, as did developing chemicals and photographic paper. But this is 2026, and we can all snap happily away with no financial consequence!

I've known for some time now that I needed to spend some time going through all the photos I've taken on this trip and delete any near duplicates and/or rejects. Having been on the ship for 144 days now, that's a lot of sunrise/sunset photos over the ocean! Even I know I don't need that many. So yesterday I started going through my folders and getting rid of what needed to go, keeping only those needed to "tell the story" of wherever we found ourselves. And that was only a first run - I probably should delete many more.

At the same time, I was looking for anything I thought might possibly be contest worthy, knowing that photography and art are always viewed subjectively and what appeals to one won't appeal to another and vice versa. You know, one person prefers chocolate, another vanilla.

So today I'm posting images that I've set aside as possible candidates. If you've been following my blog, you've probably seen most of them already. But I'm asking you to scroll through them and tell me which one is YOUR favorite. This may help me know which one to submit. Fyi, the judge is a man. Thank you!!