BACK TO 2002 CONTEST HOME PAGE
(announced Sept 6, 2002)
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First Place - Paul Hazard Second Place - Jim Zell Third Place - Cory Fechner
Honorable Mention - Sue Shirk |
 "Landing..." Paul Hazard |
 "Norfolk Sunset Gulls" Jim Zell |
 "Lightning Strike" Cory Fechner |
 Honorable Mention "Got Mousse???" Sue Shirk
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 Honorable Mention "White Sands" Bryan Thiel
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 Honorable Mention "Wildflowers at Sunrise" Brian L. Zimmerman
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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 Note: The full text of the judge's comments is located at the bottom of the page.
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First Place - Paul Hazard
Comments: Have you noticed that some birds lose all sense of the grace of flight when coming in for a landing?
Second Place - Jim Zell
Comments: I specialize in seabird photos - - - attempting to get the most unusual and artistic - for large canvas prints.
Third Place - Cory Fechner
Comments: This photo is a good illustration of the power of nature.
Honorable Mention - Sue Shirk
Comments:This little guy is an Eastern Phoebe. It was in a nest at our cabin in the Pennsylvania, Pine Creek Valley. I took it on June, 25th. It was just to cute to pass up. The "hair" is just too much.
I'm a working grandmother of two and have my summers off. I love to take pictures of nature and also love to be around nature as much as I can. I ride my bike on the trails that go through the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. I especially love the Timber Rattlesnakes I saw.
Honorable Mention - Bryan Thiel
Comments: When we arrived at White Sands National Park the sky was overcast and the day appeared to be a wash for pictures. As we hiked the sand dunes a front moved through and blew out the clouds. We were fortunate enough to be there as the clouds trailed off on the horizon and left a beautiful blue sky behind.
Honorable Mention - Brian L. Zimmerman
Comments: I stumbled upon this gorgeous field of wild daisies, lupine and fireweed while on a camping trip in Grand Teton National Park. As soon as I saw this field, I knew I would have to return the next morning to catch them bathed in the first morning light, which I did and was rewarded with this wonderful view of the Tetons.
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First Place: "Landing..." The photographer comments on the ungraceful aspect of the bird's landing but it was the grace of this image which won it first place honors. There is chaos amidst a beautiful symetry in this image. The ungainly pose of the bird augmented by the tight crop at the bottom provides the energy needed to sustain interest while that beautiful monochromatic blue-grey of the bird and water provides unseeming tranquility. And look at those incredible wings. This is one of those beguiling images which make you question its qualities. Ultimately we simply decide to enjoy the image at face value - as a beautiful moment in nature which mimics her very qualities of orderly disorder.
Second Place: "Norfolk Sunset Gulls" This photo was chosen for its remarkable use of color and lighting combined with some impeccable framing. Look at the beautiful layering in this image. It's a difficult thing to accomplish in an image. Photographers walk a fine line when extracting multiple layers of subject from an image. One small step too far, one change in angle or subject movement, can make the difference between an image with depth and one cluttered by too much. This image walks that line like a skilled tightrope walker.
Third Place: "Lightning Strike" It's hard not to like a lightning photograph. The sensational aspect of such power in nature is infinitely awe inspiring. But it takes more than a bolt of lightning to win third place at Field and Forest. This image transcends many other images of lightning we've seen by it's wonderful balance of light and and dark. The lightning is brilliant and bold without a loss of detail in the clouds above the strike. The reflections from the bolt can be seen in water rivulets at the bottom of the frame. All is brought together by some fine composition to produce one of those wonderful images viewers can linger over while perusing such jaw dropping natural phenomena.
Honorable Mention: "Got Mousse???" Wow. The photographer did such a beautiful job capturing the humorous essence and too-cute qualities of a baby bird. We truly enjoyed this image. A lesser photographer might have missed that scraggly "hairdo" but fortunately for us she chose the right angle and lens for the shot.
Honorable Mention: "White Sands" There are times when it is enough to simply be there for the moment and praise God that your camera was ready. In this case the photographer waited out a grey sky and produced a simple image of austere beauty. The composition, slightly askew, adds an energetic life to an image which could have easily fallen to the be-there-and-shoot-it mentality of millions of vacationers around the world. Instead he composed an image of quiet beauty.
Honorable Mention: "Wildflowers at Sunrise" We loved the way the flowers almsot mimic the shape of the mountain in the background. But were it not for excellent framing and wonderful light the image would have suffered. Fortunately, photographer Zimmerman recognized the need for such things and took the time to make this image at the right time with the beautiful glow and crispness of early morning light thus creating a classic landscape photo.
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