Field and Forest Nature Photo Contest

Photographer's Comments

First Place - Greg Summers

Photograph: Reflection
Location: Sawhill Ponds, east of Boulder, Colorado (USA) at sunrise
Date taken: Jan 19, 2000
Equipment used: Nikon F100, Provia F100, Tamron 28-200, bogen tripod and pistol grip - no filters
Web site: Colorado Photos and the Field and Forest Members Gallery

Comments: While the scene exudes calm and peace; I rushed to capture the moon until it finally slid behind the pink clouds at sunrise. Until the film was processed, and I looked at it for the 3rd time two months later, I did not realize how beautiful the sky was that morning. I tried to capture the moon in the water as if I could hold it forever.

Second Place - Steve Bingham

Photograph: Little Colorado - Grand Falls
Date taken: Not listed
Location: Not listed
Equipment used: Nikon - 24mm wide angle, Velvia film

Comments: Normally the Little Colorado is nothing but dust. However, when we get the spring thaw, this is what happens. It lasts less than a month.

Third Place - Willy Karlsen

Photograph: Trolldawn
Date taken: Autumn - 1999
Location: About five in the morning at a small lake in Tvedestrand, Norway.
Equipment used: Nikon F-401 camera with a 50mm lens and Fuji 800 ISO color negative film.

Comments: I am 22 years old (September 2000) and I became interested in photography when a friend of mine asked if I could help him with the lighting on a photoshoot he was doing. Soon after, I bought my first camera, and my friend helped me understand the basics of photography. We still travel around together, taking pictures and have a good time.
When I made this photo (Trolldawn), I had been up all night watching movies and decided I wanted to go out and shoot some photos in the early light. When I reached the lake, the water was dead calm and the morning sun was barely shining through the clouds. The thick forest in the background looked like the home of many trolls and other woodland beings, and the whole experience was almost magical.

Honorable Mention - Alex J. Chen

Photograph: Evening Mood
Date taken: December 4, 1999
Location: Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge, San Francisco , California, USA
Equipment used: Nikon N8008s, 70-300mm, circ. polarizer filter

Comments: These shrubs are as tall as 5-feet. I crouched down to take this shot backlit against an approaching evening.

Honorable Mention - Dant? Fenolio

Photograph: Magnificent leaf-frog
Date taken: October, 1997
Location: Loreto, Peru
Equipment used: Minolta 9xi, Minolta 5400HS flash, 100mm macro lens, stroboframe bracket and Fuji Velvia film.

Comments: This is a really special image for me owing to the fact that these frogs are so difficult to find. This species lives almost all of its life high within the tree tops of the forests of the upper Amazon basin. They only approach the ground to breed in small pools of water. I was fortunate enough to observe this specimen where I could actually get a few images of it. This has got to be one of the most spectacular frogs I have ever seen. As with most of my photography, this image was shot at night while night-hiking.

Honorable Mention - Dant? Fenolio

Photograph: Viper or caterpillar?
Date taken: December 1997
Location: Santa Rosa Park, Costa Rica
Equipment used: Minolta 9xi, Minolta 5400HS flash, 100mm macro lens, stroboframe bracket and Fuji Velvia film.

Comments: There are a number of caterpillars that are thought to mimic vipers as a defensive mechanism to ward off birds and lizards. When at rest, this caterpillar is yellow with a brown stripe - there is no flattening of the "rear" end nor any sign of eye-spots. When the leaf or twig that the caterpillar is resting on is moved a bit, the animal quickly extends its self so that its rear end is protruding from the surface the animal is holding on to. All at once, the rear end of the caterpillar flattens out and two large black spheres appear...I like to think they are devilishly similar to snake eyes. The image you see is the end result. For a bird or a small lizard that would like to make a quick meal of the caterpillar, do you think either of these would be predators would stick around to decipher viper from caterpillar?

Honorable Mention - Neil Rossmiller

Photograph: Cheetah and One Cub
Date taken: November 1999
Location: Masa Mara National Preserve, Kenya
Equipment used: Canon EOS 1N, 400mm 2.8 Canon usm lens on Fuji Provia 3 film.
Web site: Neil Rossmiller Photography

Comments: After 3.5 hours of sitting with this family of Cheetahs the sun broke under overcast skies just before going below the horizon at sunset putting the catch light in there eyes for about two minutes. Well worth the wait.

Honorable Mention - Greg Summers

Photograph: Mooncatcher
Date taken: May 28, 1999
Location: Loreto, Peru
Equipment used: Nikon F100, Sigma 500mm F4.5, Provia F100, Bogen tripod and tilt and pan head, cable release.
Web site: Colorado Photos and the Field and Forest Members Gallery

Comments: I was walking to the car from a long, empty evening shoot at the Sawhill Wildlife Preserve near Boulder, Colorado. Nothing was where I wanted it and the light was dull. Then I saw the reflection of the moon slipping along the surface of the water in the last pond. As the reflection followed through the reeds with every step, the beauty stunned me and I knew why I?d stayed out so long.
I had the wrong lens on the camera. It was much too long. It was too dark and getting darker too quickly to change lenses. The steady breeze and failing light would make a good shot impossible in a few minutes. I thought it might be already. In order to align the moon in the embrace of the reeds, I perched on a steep embankment and came within a whisker of losing all my camera equipment in the mud at the edge of the water. Then, in a brief moment of near calm, I snapped a few images not knowing if any of them would show the beautiful image below me.
When I looked at the image on the slide a day later, I felt I?d been given yet another glittering gift from nature. Nature photography has awakened my senses to the rhythms and movements of the planet. On any day when I take my camera out, I always seem to return with some unique and valuable experience. It may be a new image. It may be just the sight of a bird lifting into a sunset. On this day it was the moon dancing in the water and I was lucky enough to bring home a memory I can share.

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.