Karel, thank you for your critique. I thought the picture was pretty much the way you describe it. A word about the background. I compete in the Travel Division, and until recently, there was a single star path that required background to verify that the image was not created as either a set-up arranged for photography or in a studio setting, hence the background of the hut was necessary to avoid a potential disqulification. PJD has no such requirement, hence your comment about the distracting b ac ground building is well-taken, however, in the way of explanation, you now know why.   Posted: 07/01/2026 15:05:01

Isaac, this image sat in my archive for now, almost 16 years during which time I never entered it into competition, because my mindset was on competing in Nature, which has strict prohibitions about human involvement in the image, with Travel as a backup, to say nothing about a judge possibly determining that the sloth's status as a pet violated some other standard of treatment of animals in a Nature submission. I never put it into competition in Travel, or PJD, and still have not. The background would have been necessary for PTD (now PTDD) but not for PTDW, but the image was created 16 years prior to the introduction of PTDW. Regardless, you are probly correct in your critique of the image drawbacks, however, I don't think I'm going to spend money to find out that you were right, particularly since I just received sufficient titles in Travel to get a star 4 rating (which I'll need to improve to a PPSA rating), after I get a few more acceptances that I'm sure of, because I'll only be submitting images that have gained multiple acceptances, despite the paucity of PTDD competitions, Crolyn's report in the recent Photo Traveler notwithstanding.   Posted: 07/03/2026 08:40:28