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Contest #2, 2002
(announced May 28, 2002)

First Place - Inge Eason Second Place - Gerald Eugene Tracy Third Place - Terry Cervi Honorable Mention - Ann Chaikin Honorable Mention - Norman Dulak Honorable Mention - Karen A. Williams

First Place "Looking For Prey" Inge Eason

Second Place "Buck in the Shower Series # 5" Gerald Eugene Tracy

Third Place "Yellows" Terry Cervi

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 "Coots at Sunset" Ann Chaikin

Honorable Mention "A Celebration of Summer" Norman Dulak

Honorable Mention "Eccleston Brook at Dawn" Karen A. Williams

About the judge Judges for this contest were: David Leeson and Kim Ritzenthaler David and Kim are founders and owners of www.fieldandforest.com. For more about them please visit: About Us e-mail: David Leeson e-mail: Kim Ritzenthaler Note: The full text of the judge's comments is located at the bottom of the page.

Photographer's Comments First Place - Inge Eason Photograph: Looking for Prey Date taken: March 27, 2002 Location: Pine Mountain, Georgia, USA Equipment used: Sony MVC CD300 Comments: This photo of a Great Horned Owl requires a detailed explanation about my camera. I purchased my first digital camera in Sept. of last year. I knew the camera had only a 3x Lens and was supposed to be too slow for action shots. Slow was described as a few seconds in-between pictures. I did not think that mattered. What is a few seconds? Needless to say, I was in for a shock. So I had to learn to let birds, butterflies and other insects, things that move, come to me. What are the chances of that???? One of the features of this Camera is a mode that takes 3 continuous shots. Here again a tradeoff. No flash among other things. I have learned to go out looking for one subject at a time. We live on 12 acres and I know the habits of my wildlife. That helps and I also wear camouflage clothing etc.. Away from home I study my surroundings and wait and have the camera set to go. I sit, try to blend in and let the action run toward my lens. Then I mostly guess and fire in the continuous mode. Sometimes it works, a lot of times I get a wing at most. Second Place - Gerald Eugene Tracy Photograph: Buck in the Shower Series # 5 Date taken: November, 2001 Location: Western Massachusetts, USA Equipment used: Sony Cybershot DSC-S50 Comments: This picture represents one of those once in a lifetime opportunities. It is an amazing meeting of man, camera, and "Beauty and the Beast". It is a picture that makes you stop, stare, and say, "Wow!" I am now releasing and marketing this and the other 39 photographs of this series. I saw the buck while I was traveling to a jobsite. Being the owner of the company has it's rewards. When I first saw him I made a deal with that big Buck, "you pose for me and I won't tell anyone where I saw you." I never will. He was seen and shot under a beautiful Western Massachusetts Waterfall, on a warm November morning 2001. I owe the shots to my traveling companion, a real sweet Sony Cybershot DSC-S50 from 100-30 feet downwind. He seemed to have other things on his mind besides me and my camera, the waterfall sure looked relaxing and it was rutting season as well. Enjoy! Third Place - Terry Cervi Photograph: Yellows Date taken: 2001 Location: Buffalo, New York, USA Equipment used: Nikon CP990. Comments: I captured this little critter last summer in my back yard. It was a very sunny day so I was able to use a very fast shutter speed of 1/500. He rested long enough for me to get a couple shots. Honorable Mention - Ann Chaikin Photograph: Coots at Sunset Date taken: January 2001 Location: Seattle, Washington, USA Equipment used: Sony DSC-S70 digital camera. Comments:There was an amazing sunset. I couldn't get enough photographs of it it was so beautiful. This is one of my favorite because of the simple geometric lines of the swimming coots and the colors reflected in the trails they are making in the water. Honorable Mention - Norman Dulak Photograph: A Celebration of Summer Date taken: February 11, 2002 Location: Chestertown, Maryland, USA Equipment used: Tripod-mounted Nikon D1 camera with an AF Zoom-Nikkor 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 D IF lens. Comments: This photograph shows a joyful quartet of baby mockingbirds begging to be fed. The picture was taken in my back yard near Chestertown, Maryland, this past August, using a tripod-mounted Nikon D1 camera with an AF Zoom-Nikkor 28-105 mm f/3.5-4.5 D IF lens. To avoid disturbing feeding by the parents, the camera was triggered from a remote concealed location using a Nikon ML-3 wireless control. This system was so successful in not disturbing the parents that the camera had to be triggered occasionally to rout the parents when they perched atop the camera! Adding to the technical complexity of the situation was the fact that the babies hunkered down when I approached to set up the camera about 20 feet away, leaving me to guess how to manually focus and frame the camera so that they would be sharply in view when they emerged to beg for food. Honorable Mention - Karen A. Williams Photograph: Eccleston Brook at Dawn Date taken: March 2002 Location: Noank, Connecticut, USA Equipment used: Nikon CoolPix 880 Digital camera. Comments: The misty glow of the first sun rays gives warmth and promise to the bare early spring branches. The frozen dew is almost melted- the promise of the season to come as it slides down the rays. Taken at Noank CT, early March 2002 in my backyard which borders the brook. The brook runs into Long Island Sound about 500 yards from this photo.

Full Text of Judge's Comments First Place: "Looking for Prey" We look at hundreds of nature photographs submitted each month to Field and Forest. As such, we think we've become experts about the level of work being done largely by amateur photographers. Mostly we see variations on the usual images of insects, flowers, butterflies and zoo photos. Some of them are completely amazing. But along comes an image which exceeds most of everything you've seen before. Last month's first place winner was one of those (we weren't the judges) and the same is true with Eason's owl photo. Wow. What an amazing photo. In fact, it was so good I wrote to Inge for a better explanation about how the photo was obtained. Inge's comments are printed above. So ... this photo was an easy decision for first place simply for it's pure rarity. Furthermore, the image is exposed well and has wonderful composition. This image is almost perfect. Second Place: "Buck in the Shower Series # 5" There was a lot of discussion between the first and second place winners. Why? Because each one has that rare quality which made us pause and say, "I never saw this before." Gerald's photo is an amazing capture of a rare moment. It's too bad he was up against the owl photo because on any other contest he probably could have won first. As such, we debated the merits of each for a long time before making a difficult decision. Why was this photo chosen as second? There were a couple of minor reasons - the tilted horizon and the somewhat pixelated image. Normally neither would make a difference to us ... but when you have to split hairs between two great photos - this is how you do with minutiae. What a great image of a rare moment. How many times will you ever catch a buck bathing in a shower? Of course, how many images will you ever get of an owl in flight like the first place winner. So ... both fall into that "rare moment" category. Third Place: "Yellow" Here's an example of an image which is a variation on a theme we see fairly often. The difference is that Terry has pulled it off to near perfection with this beautiful image. It's all there. Great composition, tack sharp, beautfiul thematic colors ... an easy choice as a winner. Honorable Mention: "Coots at Sunset" This image stood out from the others for its use of color, symmetry and composition. It's an everyday image transformed into those elusive universal moments we all share in nature. When you view an image like this it brings back memories of lazy evenings at the lake and memories of spontaneous worship. Honorable Mention: "A Celebration of Summer" Who among us can resist the beauty of baby birds, beaks agape waiting for that sustaining morsel of food from "mom?" We've all seen it but how often is the image as delightful as this? Norm's photo has an almost painterly quality to it which is as engaging as it is charming. Honorable Mention: "Eccleston Brook at Dawn" Another example of a quiet moment provided by the awe-inspiring beauty of nature's grandeur. We've been there. You've been there. Photography like this gracefully provides us with a collective celebration of that universal appeal of nature. It's a beautiful image not only because of the recorded scene but in the way the composition adds to the stately heights of those rail-thin trees. Beautiful. David Leeson Kim Ritzenthaler