Great Animal Portraits

20 Great Animal Portraits: A Sneak Peek at PDN Faces

Photo by Michael C. Rathsam: “Captured during photo shoot of one of the sweetest dogs I’ve ever met.”

PDN is conducting their second annual Faces contest, seeking today’s best portrait photographs.

This is a sneak peek at some early entries in the Animal Portraits category.

These are not the winners of the Faces Contest. These are a few early favorites based on popular votes on the People’s Choice page.

There’s still more great work being entered in Animal Portraits and the three other categories: Celebrity/Editorial Portraits (studio), Environmental Portraiture and Self-Portraits.

The contest remains open for entries until April 7, 2009. Select winners will be exhibited at the PDN PhotoPlus International Expo from October 23 to 25, 2009 in New York City, and a winner’s gallery will appear in the December issue of PDN.

To see more People’s Choice entries, or to enter the contest yourself, visit the PDN Faces portrait photo contest.

Do you have a funny pet photo?

Diane at Fetching Dog Collars blog is running a Funny Pet Photo Contest.

Everyone who submits a funny pet photo will be entered to win one of NINE great prizes, including 3 customized pet tags, 3 dog collars, 1 batch of pet treats, a hand-painted leash hook and a gift certificate! The contest runs from March 10 to April 10, 2009.

Please go to www.fetchingdogcollars.com/blog to view all the prizes and details!

Photo by Julie Corsi

Poor Ugly Chomper Needs a Home

For the 14th year, dogs lined up in the San Diego suburb of Del Mar for the Ugliest Dog contest.

This year's winner is a 4-year-old Boxer mix named Chomper with a bit of a drooling problem. Now that Chomper has won the Ugliest Dog contest, organizers are hoping he will catch the eye of a loving owner who will take him into their home.

Source

Bulldog Beauties

Thanks, Tom Andrews, photographer extraordinaire, for letting me know about the Long Beach Bulldog Beauty Contest.

The contestants were all extremely attractive ...











THE BULLDOG BEAUTY CONTEST was the main event at this year's Haute Dog Pageants produced by beauty pageant and bulldog enthusiast Justin Rudd. In addition to the Bulldog and French Bulldog contests, Rudd included pageants for Pugs and Senior Dogs this year for the first time. Contestants ranging in age from four months to 17 years traveled to Long Beach, Calif., from as far as northern California, Las Vegas, and Arizona, to compete for the coveted 2009 titles.

Lots of Rats!

After disposing of 39,650 rodents, a man from Bangladesh has been crowned a rat-killing champion and has been awarded a 14-inch Sony color television for his efforts.

It took Binoy Kumar Karmakara one year to perform the daunting task and he used traps, poison and flooding to capture the animals.

He also kept their tails so that he could keep count.

Killing rats is a strategy that was launched by the government of Bangladesh because rats are responsible for the loss of about 10% of the country’s crops.

Source

Cute contest: cat in box

Does your cat like boxes?

What cat doesn't?

Unica Home is running a "Cat in Box" photo contest.

Just email a photo of your cat in a box and you could win one of the cute cat playhouses pictured to the left.

The rules: cat must be alive, not drugged, not unconscious, and willing to be in their box ...

The playhouses sound great - I think my cats might like one:

"made from folded cardboard and flat packed, the cat playhouses will provide endless hours of enjoyment for your cat. help them achieve their dreams of being a pilot, fireman, or even tank commander!

cat not included. some assembly required (unless your cat is flat)"

You're a Winner

Ahhhhh.... Life is good !

I check my e-mail and I found this sweet message below waiting for me to open & read.

I am still wondering which sentence I like better though ! First or Amazed ?

Michael,
Congratulations on winning first place in the water birds category of WildBird’s 20th annual photo contest! The quality of your work amazed the judges.

I will send a contract next week with details of the winning image, which will appear in the September/October issue (at the printer now). You will receive two copies of the issue, likely in late July or early August.
Please return a signed copy of the contract (sans handwritten amendments or additions) as quickly as possible.

Thank you for participating in WildBird’s 2008 contest.