Update on Contest Submission

Once again, thanks to everyone who voted.

I have submitted the 6 photos of Libby Doodle Doo to the Parents Magazine Cover contest.  You can see the ones I selected by clicking here (and feel free to rate them and/or leave a comment if you'd like).  

http://www.parents.com/photos/photo-contests-1/cover-kid-1/892500125/?photoId=892200466&galleryIdx=0&fromSearch=true

I was most surprised by how many of you liked the far-away look in the blue dress. I liked that photo, too -- but wouldn't have picked it as one of the final 6 without your input. Looks like others agree with y'all because it's already gotten some good ratings and comments from folks who have looked at my photos. I did decide to only submit one of the "Looking Away From the Camera" shots -- since almost everyone else was submitting photos in which their kids were looking straight to the camera.

I did a quickee tour through the competition and think that my photos may not be as good as some, but are much better than many other entries.

The contest closed last evening and there are more than 40 thousand kids entered -- so the odds don't look good for our Libby Doodle Doo. I'll find out if she's a semifinalist around July 15th.  

If she makes it to that round, I have to take 5 NEW photos of her and submit those back to the magazine in less than a week. Those are the photos that will be used to determine who will become finalist (seems like a strange step to me, but I guess they use it to make sure that the photos are current and are being taken by the parents (not professional). I'm guessing in that round they will tell you PRECISELY what to photograph (e.g. "Photo of child blowing bubbles," etc). Helen K from the UK has been giving me a lot of photographic tutorials over the last 4 weeks, so I feel confident I can apply all her lessons if we are lucky enough to get that far.

But -- as I said before -- whether she wins, moves on to become a semifinalist, or never makes it past this round -- I have some great photos of the Doodle and -- more importantly -- I have learned a lot about how to use my camera so that I can capture better photos of her (and Miss Peep) in the future.

Thanks again.