There were many great entries in this year’s photo competition, so thanks to all for entering. The judges have selected their winning entries and several Honorable Mentions. The prizes for winning entries are: $125 – Best In Show; $100 – First Place; $50 – Second Place; $25 – Third Place. All the winning entries can be viewed in the Galleries at https://gnpa.org/2022/11/18/2022-gnpa-smokies-weekend-contest-winners-gallery/
Here are the winners by category:
Best In Show: Sunning Spider, James Day
Wildlife: 1st Place – Big Bear, Emil Powella
Wildlife:
2nd Place – Meadowlark Singing, David Donagan
3rd Place – Buckeye Butterfly, Don Williams
Honorable Mention – Bear Poised, David Donagan
Honorable Mention – Red Bellied Woodpecker, Don Williams
Honorable Mention – Nursing Fawn, Traci Dickson
Landscape: 1st Place – Morning Rays, Tom Simpson
Landscape:
2nd Place – Tremont Stream, James Day
3rd Place – Sunkissed Sumac on the Foothills Parkway, Traci Dickson
Honorable Mention – Mountain Church and Sun Rays, Donna Thornell
Honorable Mention – Vestiges of Fall, Jerry Black
Macro/Close Up:1st Place – Sunning Spider, James Day
Macro/Close Up:
2nd Place – Natures Silk, Don Williams
3rd Place – Seed Catcher, Tom Simpson
Honorable Mention – Water Sun Mosaic, Marcia Brandes
Honorable Mention – Elkmont Strider, Ray Silva
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS!
Make your plans now to come to the Smokies next year…
It is a pleasure to welcome everyone to the Alpharetta Arts Center Gallery and the GNPA Alpharetta Chapter gallery of “Natural Expressions 2022.” Our juried nature photography contest began in 2019 before the pandemic. We had to cancel our plans for subsequent contests due to the pandemic and the need for social distancing. We are delighted to be back once again this year to curate this exhibit created by photographers from GNPA chapters across the state of Georgia.
At the close of registration, we had 501 images submitted. Out of those images 174 have been selected as the best of the best and are on exhibit in the gallery. Our set of preliminary judges had the difficult task of selecting the images displayed here today. That panel consisted of Jenny Burdette, Lee Friedman, Marvin Price, and Larry Winslett. We thank them for taking time out of their busy schedules to look at every image submitted and narrow them down to those on exhibit.
We also want to extend our special thanks to our Awards Judge: Kathy Adams Clark.
Kathy had the daunting task of judging 5 categories in 3 divisions, a total of at least 45 awards plus Best in Show and Honorable mentions. In all, she produced 59 awards. She worked tirelessly to review 174 images and to select first, second, and third-place winners in each category in each division. Kathy has also chosen 13 honorable mention winners and the Best of Show winner. We humbly thank her for all her hard work and expertise.
We would also like to thank the Alpharetta Arts Center and specifically, Nancy Murphy, the Cultural Services Galleries Coordinator for her help in making this possible. I also want to thank Kim Zane, Cultural Services Manager for her support. Of course we thank Dave Palmieri at the Arts Center, and the staff and volunteers who helped us prepare for this exhibit.
Some GNPA members and their friends also volunteered. They gave their time and effort to get all the artwork you see up on these walls. They collaborated with Nancy and others to come up with a stellar layout for each wall to give you the best presentation possible. They are Michael Anderson, Ken and Pat Dunwoody, Shari Garnsey, Will Harrison, Henry Hene, Crystal Larson, John Wilson, and Tom Yackley. We thank them all.
Finally, the logistics coordinator helped to make things run smoothly and efficiently so everything went as it should. A special thanks to my wife, Brenda, for her guidance in making this event work. Her efforts made this all come together.
Thanks again to our judges, Lisa and David, who have spent their time to make this contest happen and bring it to one of its most exciting parts… picking and announcing the winners. This contest is growing and we had over 170 entries in the contest this year so picking the winners was no easy task.
