by Karen McConnaughey
After three years of trying, I finally made the cover of the Lake Chapala Review (LCR). I was very excited. The picture was taken at Scorpion Island, out in the middle of Lake Chapala. We had gone there with a group of friends just to see what it was all about. It has restaurants with great food and drinks, and mariachis. After we finished eating, we decided to take a photo tour around the island. I took a lot of pictures that day. At the time, I really thought this was a great shot, and, as such, didn't do too much to it at all when I got it home and opened it up in PhotoShop. The only change I can remember making was I made it a little bluer because the lake can look a little gray sometimes, but that was about it. Since this contest is all about digital photography, we were allowed to do pretty much whatever we wanted to the picture prior to submission.
They did the awards differently this year. Usually, they announce the five finalists at the dinner and then you have to wait until the issue comes out the middle of the month to see if you won or not. At the dinner on January 8, however, they made the announcement starting with Honorable Mention #2 up to First Place. Nawana (from LCR) had called me to make sure I was coming to the dinner. I assumed it was to get a head count for how many people they could expect at the restaurant.
Peter and Elaine St. John went with us, which was good, because they were two of the people on Scorpion Island when I took the picture. All the announcements up to and including Second Place had been announced, and I wasn't among them! I was just a mess, because I couldn't imagine that I had gotten First Place, so, of course, I thought I had totally missed the finals this year. I was miserable. Then the speaker started talking [the thoughts that were going through my head while he was speaking are in red, in brackets]: "We're very pleased with this year's selection, because this person has been trying for several years." [Several years? Would they consider three "several years?"]. "I'm so glad she..." [SHE!!! Ooh-h-h...that's a good sign!]. "...kept trying." It must have been her stubborn Irish heritage!" [At this moment, I squealed...yes, I know I'm not Irish...but HE didn't know that...what are you going to think with a name like McConnaughey??? But even as I squealed, I'm thinking...oh God, if it's not me, how embarrassed am I going to be in a few seconds???]. "The Lake Chapala Review has a circulation of over 6,000 and those 6,000 copies are going to have the photograph taken this year by Karen McConnaughey on it!!!!!" Then I really squealed! They then unveiled the photo, and everybody started applauding. It was amazing. I got lots of compliments. One lady came up to me and actually said, "I knew you wrote wonderful articles, but I didn't know you were also a great photographer!!!" I was walking on air, to say the least. And, I won a dinner for four at La Taverna. Of course, we're taking Peter and Elaine...they were with us at the start; they should be with us for the spoils of victory!
Then Nawana came to talk to me to tell me how delighted she was that I had won. She said this was the first year they had had almost unanimous agreement on the winner. She said usually just a few points would separate everyone. Then she said Bruce (one of the owners of LCR and not a judge this year) told her this year, "I don't care what picture you choose this year. Just make sure it's not a sunset, a sunrise OR a picture of the lake!" They had all the pictures hanging up around the office...they had 50 ENTRIES this year...can you believe it?...and when Bruce went through the office, he stopped at my photo for several seconds, and then asked Nawana, "Who shot this?" And, Nawana said, "you know I can't tell you that." He looked at it a little longer, and then said, "this is a really good photo...really good! I like it a lot!"
I'm floating on air! I can't believe how much fun I'm having and the things I'm getting to do at Lake Chapala that I would never have had the time or guts to do in Kansas City. I cannot even imagine submitting an article or a photo to The Kansas City Star! But maybe that's next...who knows? I even had a lady who lives in the area and said she would love to buy a copy of my picture from me to hang on her wall! All I can say to that is, "Wow!"
I still remember submitting my first article to the Ojo del Lago, one of the fine English-speaking publications here at Lakeside, and Alexander Grattan (editor, famous author and director!) wrote back that they "would be pleased to publish it!" I feel as if I'm definitely living my dreams of things I've always wanted to do... here at Lake Chapala. Not only do I enjoy taking photographs, but I write articles that have been published in the Ojo and the Lake Chapala Review. Bill and I both love working on the Focus newsletter as well as getting to know the participants when they come to our conferences. I think my next big project will be trying out for the Little Theater here at Lakeside. It's something I've always wanted to do, but have been a little shy about. One of our experts, Marian Wellman, who talks about U.S. Taxes, did just that. She's been rehearsing for the next play put on by the Little Theater. She's promised to write an article for the newsletter when she's all through. I cannot wait to hear about her experience.
Bill not only enjoys doing the newsletter (he writes and does all the technical stuff that finally gets the newsletter published), but he's teaching tai chi at one of the local clubs here. It's something he never had time to do before. And, of course, there's our dog, Lucky, a 15-year-old dachshund, whose definitely living his retirement dream! He's madly in love with one of the dogs we've adopted since moving to Mexico. Tillie is a 5-year-old terrier mix, who is so laid back that she allows Lucky to groom her every morning and sleep on top of her most of the time. We can usually find him curled up next to her.
So...here we are...retired in Lake Chapala, Mexico...enjoying life as we never could before. We both love working for Focus on Mexico because we meet such wonderful people, and we get to talk about a place we've grown to love very much. We both feel very fortunate. So...think about it...reinventing yourself has all sorts of wonderful consequences! Hm-m-m-m-m...maybe I'll learn to Salsa dance...so many things to do, so little time! See you at Lakeside!