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Contest #2, 2001
(announced June 20, 2001)

First Place - James Shadle Second Place - Andrew A. Skolnick Third Place - Ken Newcombe Honorable Mention - Greg Summers

First Place "Beauty and the Beast" James Shadle

Second Place "Open for Lunch" Andrew A. Skolnick

Third Place "Great Blue Heron in Fog with Fish" Ken Newcombe

First Place	Second Place	Third Place
Click on a place to read the judge's specific comments regarding our first, second and third place winners. The full text of the judge's comments can be found at the bottom of this page.

Honorable Mention "Baby Great Horned Owls" Greg Summers

About the judge We met former Life magazine photographer Charles Moore at a photo conference earlier this year. In fact, we attended the conference because he was the keynote speaker for the evening. If you don't know his name, we are certain you are familiar with his photos from the tumultous civil rights era in American history. Mr. Moore's photography helped sway public opinion in the United States in support of civil rights. In fact, his images are iconic of the era and speak immeasurably of the struggle for equality for all citizens in this country. He is still a member of the prestigious Black Star photo agency in the United States. Charles Moore was born in Alabama in 1931. He was a U. S. Marine Corps photographer and attended the Brooks Institute of Photography. Upon graduation he worked for 5 years as a staff photographer for the Montgomery Advertiser newspaper in Montgomery, Alabama. The last three at the newspaper he was chief photographer. He has been a member of the Black Star Photo Agency since August, 1962. He has covered stories in the United States and around the world for LIFE, Saturday Evening Post, Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report and The Yacht. Besides his accomplishments in photojournalism, Mr Moore says he especially enjoys "the photography of people, travel, and the natural beauty of this great land, and all it's wonderful creatures." He is currently using an Olympus E-10 digital camera and writing a book. When we learned that Moore was also an avid and passionate nature photographer, we asked if he would be willing to judge our contest. We are deeply appreciative of the time he gave us to judge this contest. To learn more about Charles Moore please visit his web site, Civil Rights Photos. e-mail: Charles Moore Note: The full text of the judge's comments is located at the bottom of the page.

Photographer's Comments First Place - James Shadle Photograph: Beauty and the Beast Location: Everglades, Florida, USA Date taken: September 7, 2000 Equipment used: Nikon F5 body with a 600mm F4 Nikkor lens and SB26 flash set at -2/3 stop Comments: No comments. Second Place - Andrew A. Skolnick Photograph: Open for Lunch Date taken: March 2001 Location: Illinois, USA Equipment used: Olympus C-3030Z Comments: This is one of the insect traps on a carnivorous pitcher plant that I've raised from a tiny plant produced by tissue culture. The largest pitcher is now more than 4 inches tall -- about twice the size of the one in the photo. And several new leaves are soon going to produce pitchers even larger. Pretty soon the plant may be able to catch mice! Third Place - Ken Newcombe Photograph: Great Blue Heron in Fog with Fish Date taken: Summer 2000 Location: "Sunfish Pond" Dundas, Ontario, Canada Equipment used: Canon Elan II body wth a Canon 300mm F4 L lens on Elitechrome 100. (cropped 50 percent) Comments: Great Blue heron with fish in a low heavy fog. Sunlight gave the fog a golden glow. Honorable Mention - Greg Summers Photograph: Baby Great Horned Owls Date taken: 2001 Location: Boulder, Colorado, USA Equipment used: Nikon F100 body with Sigma F4.5 500mm lens and Sigma 2X extender, Bogen tripod and head, cable release on Provia slide film. Comments: Photographed in the middle of Rock Creek Subdivision, a huge housing development on the plains, just east of Boulder, Colorado. The tree stands beside a sidewalk that traverses the only part of the wetlands preserved when the subdivision took over. These babies were photographed from beneath a nearly dead tree with a Sigma 500mm + 2X extender that had to manually focused. I learned patience and appreciation for both the birds and the photographers who shoot wildlife. The mother owl was always present watching her babies but it made me sad knowing how powerless she really was in the midst of the concrete and pavement that surrounded the nest. I fell in love with this family and visited almost daily for a month. Photography and falling in love - a great way to spend a spring. I don't think the feeling was mutual - the babies and mother owl were always vigilant and wary. Nonetheless, it only takes one to fall in love and that I did.

Full Text of Judge's Comments I am extremely impressed with the quality overall of the pictures that were submitted. As a fanatical nature lover and Audubon member, I can see in the photos the viewer/photographer's love of nature. I have a great love for the natural landscape and the landscape photos are wonderful. I chose the creatures of this earth, and the close up of the amazing plant because we need to see more of our wildlife, and to see the closeup of Andrew A. Skolnick's photo deserves applause for the trained eye of the photographer. Charles Moore Civil Rights Photos