The most important competition of the year was held in Atlanta, Georgia in August - I knew I would definitely enter but would I just continue on the Sealed images from the District Competition or take a big chance and break those Seals?
This was a big deal! If I broke the Seals, there was a chance they wouldn't merit with a new panel of Judges at IPC. But without breaking them, they wouldn't be judged at all - and no chance of going LOAN!, they would be just accepted into the General Collection at PPA and I would get the 3 merits as long as I entered them…
Breaking of Seals is a big no-no if you don't have your Masters…and I received my Master Photographer Degree in 2016 so that wasn't a worry. I debated - with all my wrist and ankle issues - did I have the time to put in the work to improve the images from District? I didn't want to break the Seals if they had NO chance of receiving at least a score of 85. From all the mentors and photographer friends that advised me, I was able to improve all three Seals - making them stronger images and I reasoned, they should definitely at least merit again because I was creating stronger images!
And I did! The Keywest Kitty image was cropped tighter with a new title, "Twilight In The Keys" - it went from an 83 to 84 (no Loan judging), my Pretty Boy image was improved upon with more contrast and new title, "Sexy Beast" - it went from an 81 to 84 to 85!