Naturescapes 2013 Awards Reception

We held the 9th Annual Naturescapes Awards Reception last Saturday night at the San Marcos Activity Center. The reception opens the Exhibition at the Walkers’ Gallery and also gives an opportunity to recognize the award winners.

About 100 exhibitors, family, and friends attended. We were treated to snacks, drinks and music by the ensemble, Wimberley Friends of Music. Many thanks Linda Kelsey-Jones, the Walker’s Gallery curator, for organizing the reception.

I was pleased to serve as the Master of Ceremonies and was helped by Hays County Master Naturalist Past-President Larry Calvert.

Naturescapes is the only juried exhibition at the Walkers’ Gallery and this year we were pleased to have Chase Fountain as the contest juror.  Chase is a Texas Parks & Wildlife Department staff photographer. His photography has been featured in many publications including National Geographic Explorer Traveler, Men’s Journal, Tide, Prime, Texas Highways and Texas Monthly as well as the Associated Press. He graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University in 1993 with a Bachelor of Applied arts and Sciences degree specializing in photojournalism and fine art photography.

This year the contest received 186 entries from 34 photographers. Chase selected 60 images from 23 photographers. Three of photographers are youth. Images from all the eligible counties: Blanco, Caldwell, Comal, Guadalupe, Hays, Travis, are in the exhibition.

Here’s the complete list of the Naturescapes 2013 Award Winners.

Awards of Merit

Awards of Merit are awarded completely at the discretion of the juror. He decides whether to have any and how many. This year, Chase added a special category of Best Black & White, to give special recognition to two of the images.

• Best Black & White - Cypress Lane – Larry Alford
• Best Black & White - Moonflower – Rose Epps
• Fox – Winifred Simon

Awards of Excellence

The contest has four Awards of Excellence and each wins a $50 prize.

• Hummingbirds – Janet Sanders
  
• Resting Hummer – Michael Zarella
• Wild Lilies – Rose Epps
• Sparring Finches – Carolyn Whiteside

Best Youth

The Best Youth Award is sponsored by the Hill Country Photography Club and wins a $75 prize.

• Nutria – Hannah McGee

Best Natural Waterscape

The Best Natural Waterscape Award is sponsored by the Hays County Master Naturalists and wins a $75 prize. This Award was presented by Larry Calvert.

• Cypress Creek Waterfall II – Michael Penn Smith

Best in Show

The Best in Show Award is presented to the Exhibition’s top image and wins a $100 prize.

• Longhorn Sunset – Michael Penn Smith

Congratulations to all the Exhibitors and especially to our Award Winners. The contest just gets better and better!

There are 60 beautiful images on display. The Naturescapes Exhibition will be in the Walkers’ Gallery until November 8th. Be sure to go see it!

Call For Entries - HCPC Members-Only Exhibit - "Round & Round"

Here are the details for submitting entries for the Hill Country Photography Club Member's Exhibit - Round & Round, which will run alongside the Naturescapes exhibit in the Walkers' Gallery at the San Marcos Marcos Activity Center. This Call for Entries is limited to current Hill Country Photography Club paying members. The Juror will be Art Arizpe.

The exhibit will run from September 10th to November 4th, 2011. We will need approximately 30 images for the exhibit. We may use more, depending on the sizes of the images selected.

Deadline to submit images: Monday, August 8th at midnight!

Theme:
Round & Round:  This exhibition will feature images that feature the concept of "round" - circles, circular motion, round objects, cycles, spinning, loops. Literal or metaphorical! Be creative! Images must be family-friendly.

Process for Participation:

• Select up to 5 images for submission. Images chosen should be consistent with the theme.
• Digital images must be high quality jpeg measuring 800 pixels on the longest dimension at resolution of 72 ppi.
• Digital files should be named with the last name, underscore, first name, underscore image number (e.g., jones_john_1.jpeg)

• Email image titles, frame size, sale price and files to hcphotoclub@gmail.com by Monday, August 8th, midnight. Make sure that the image numbers correspond with the image information in your email.

            Sample of image information:
            1 - Blue Window, 20x16 (horizontal), $125
            2 - Orange Gate, 16x20 (vertical), $125

• Let me know how many images you are willing to place in the exhibit. This will be considered as a commitment on your part to provide the images. For example you submit 4 images for consideration, but you want to only exhibit 2, then no more than 2 images may be selected from your group of images.
• You will be notified by August 15th as to which images have been accepted for the exhibit. Specific information regarding the images will be requested at that time.

I look forward to seeing your images! Good luck!

Schedule for Cafe on the Square Exhibitors

Here's the proposed schedule for the next 8 months for Cafe on the Square exhibitors. The aim is to change the images out near the end of each month.

February:

Larry Alford

Rose Epps

March:

Lucy Durfee

Lois Schubert

April:

Crystal Bushacker

Elizabeth Lautner

May:

Kathy Williamson

Judy Nicholls

June:

Carol Watson

Benny Rice

July:

Jane Guerin

Phyllis Rummel

August:

Carol Serur

Wes Odell

September:
Tom Bender

October:
Jo Hunter

November:
Raena Wharton
Janice Knox


December:

Reminders will be provided at each club meeting along with an email.