Serene

September 7, 2012 ~ Piet Van Waarde is a son, a father, a husband, a pastor, an author and a photographer. He is a very inspiring man who is approachable, down-to-earth, genuine, kind and in my opinion simply brilliant. Piet is the senior pastor at Woodcrest Chapel in Columbia, MO.  Woodcrest is a non-denominational church with Southern Baptist roots. For me personally, I love their style as I can relate to things in current day teaching. I also appreciate being able to attend church in comfortable clothing rather than the traditional dressing up. (I completely understand and respect anyone that has other opinions)

Piet has created a Facebook page titled "Piet's Pics!"a place where amateur photographers can participate in photo contests. I love this idea as so many people really enjoy taking pictures of things important to them or simply things they like. They may have an inexpensive one shot style camera or they may have a professional camera. It doesn't matter as long as they are having fun and using their artist ability trying to catch a unique shot or perspective on an object. He recently created an annual photo contest that ended September 3, 2012. We had recently gotten back from Colorado and I wanted to enter a photo in each of the 10 categories. They were: Melt, Happy, Replenish, Serene, Holiday, Cute, Cooling off, Fun, Style and Breath-taking.

The rules were that a winner will be selected in each category, with honorable mentions also noted. A grand-prize winner will also be selected and the winning shot will be displayed on Piet's Pics wall and the winning photographer will be given a framed 8x10 of their beautiful pic with a official certificate commending their work. I just got word that my photo "Serene" (pictured above) won first place for this category! How awesome is that! This is such a fun event and the first time I have entered a photo and can't wait until the next photo contest! Thank you Piet for creating this and I am honored that my picture made it! Awesome day!