I enjoy judging photo contests, especially if they involve photojournalism. Yesterday, our photo staff at The Telegraph in Nashua, N.H., judged the Vermont Press Association’s annual photo contest.

There was a reason the regulars at our bird feeders were away this morning. Outnumbered and outsized, the chick-a -dees, nuthatches and finches had to wait for breakfast until the flock of wild turkeys finished their meal.

You can take a pig out of the barnyard, and call it your pet, but you cannot take the barnyard out of the pig and call it clean.

Most photographers aren’t in the business long enough to see “the big one.” They have heard about them, and seen the pictures, but just haven’t been lucky enough to be around when they happen.

Note: This is the first posting of an ongoing series of photographs I will be posting throughout 2009. All of the “Backyard Wonders” photographs I am publishing will be taken in my own back yard. My challenge is to see how many different kinds of landscape and wildlife photos I can come up with by the end of the year. Enjoy!

There is certainly no shortage of icicles in southern New Hampshire these days. I have more ice than I can deal with making dams on my roof. The extreme cold weather freezes any snow that melts on the roof, and creates an array of icicles in all lengths and shapes.

I “bagged” a nice scenic shot at the dump in Rochester last week. Garbage - who would think that there would be such beauty, standing on top of millions of tons of decaying garbage?

There’s something about photographing breakfasts that usually turns me off. After all, taking talking-head photos at microphones isn’t exactly challenging. The exceptions are the Wild Irish Breakfast’s humor, and the annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. events.

As a photographer, just how far do you travel to take scenic pictures? In 2009, I will be challenging myself to find scenic pictures in my own backyard. The photographs will be published in this blog under the category “Backyard Wonders.” You’ll also be able to view the pictures on my Flickr page.

The sun, ice and a Canon camera. That’s about all I needed to make this picture last Friday, the day after an ice storm blanketed southern New Hampshire. Everywhere I looked there was a scenic or news picture waiting to be taken.

I’ve been shooting elections since the mid-80’s. Some of those were is tiny old country schoolhouses in rural Minnesota, surrounded by open fields. I don’t remember long lines of voters, just pickups and tractors lined up along gravel roads.