On a bright summer day, while catching up with the latest social media news, Matt spotted an intriguing post from HiveAlive. HiveAlive is a popular brand in the world of beekeeping whose fondant was recommended in ‘Beekeeper treats‘. What did they say that caught Matt’s attention? They announced they were hosting a summer photo competition!
Matt decided to enter, because why not? You regret the things you don’t do most of all, right?
It didn’t take long for the marketing executive to email Matt saying his photo had been shortlisted. What a great start!
The next stage was seeing what the public thought. It was time for voting on social media to commence. Sometimes, it’s best to make your own luck. Matt has an army of friends through the choir he’s been singing with for years. The sopranos, altos, tenors and basses all took up the charge of voting for Matt’s entry with likes and comments galore! (Wouldn’t you ask your friends to vote for you?)
And the winner is… Matt!
Or, more accurately, Matt’s bees are the winners since they’ll be benefitting from the HiveAlive goodies Matt won as his prize.
In my opinion, Matt’s photo really was the best entry.
Other people think so too. The very same photo earned first prize last year in Harrogate’s honey show. In that contest, a panel of judges made the decision, so I think that proves beyond a shadow of doubt that it’s a legitimately excellent photo! One of the judges even encouraged Matt to enter his photo in the National Honey Show. High praise indeed!
Matt intends to follow that advice this year. The National Honey Show will be the grand finale of this photo’s career in competitions. It’s a stunning picture and Matt wants to showcase it, but then he feels it will be time to move on – before people get bored of seeing it! He wants to get some new pictures of his colonies in time for next year’s local honey show.
What’s the story behind this twice (hopefully thrice) winning photo?
It was taken on 30th August 2024 just after Matt bought a new phone, which he chose especially for its camera. He went out that evening to put the camera to the test and it passed with flying colours!
In the photo, you see the lovely residents of Hive A, Matt’s first colony. All the bees are the daughters of Matt’s favourite queen (keep that a secret from the other queens!), who now lives next door in Hive F.
Everything came together perfectly for that photo, with gorgeous lighting and the bees crowding in, wanting to be immortalised in art, and posing beautifully. It was a one in a million shot that Matt will be proud of for life.
