The Winners of the Humber Happenings Photography Competition
Humber Happening's annual Photography Competition attracted over 70 entries, all of which were excellent. The four judges, Sandra Laurin, Jim Lord, Monianne and Peg Thoen, who each studied each entry before meeting to combine their ratings, picked the winners and runners-up in the categories of Nature, Landscapes and Wildlife.
The overall winner and the winner of the Nature category was Dmitrijs Belokons of Players Club. Here's the story behind the picture:
|
“The photo, taken last winter near Humber Bridge on Lake Shore
has an interesting story behind it. I always walk on the
boardwalk and cycle there when I go to High Park or downtown.
That day, I had read some interesting tips on using perspective
and wide-angle lenses, so I decided to try it myself. It was a
pretty cold day, and I didn't have any special equipment with
me, like a tripod, just my trusted camera. I already knew about
this tree and how the second tree and bench behind could make a
good frame, and I wanted to capture it. It took me a little
while to find a perfect spot to include the ice and hide the sun
behind the tree, and to counter the sun's light to keep the
subject relatively well exposed. By the time I managed to get
what I wanted, I was very cold, yet very excited as I could see
my result on the screen. This was one of my earlier shots with SLR
camera." ((http://www.flickr.com/photos/potatoeye) |
 |
| The runner-up in the Nature category is Snails, submitted by Irene Jardine. It also has an interesting story: | |
| “On several occasions, I observed people going through the bushes along the lake with shopping bags, collecting things. I wondered if they were looking for mushrooms and, finally, on one of my morning walks with the dog, I was intrigued enough to closely inspect those areas. I could not see any mushrooms or anything else that seemed collectible. Then one day I saw a chance to approach a man doing the collecting around Sheldon Lookout, and asked him what he was gathering. He showed me a bunch of snails! Apparently he and others of his Italian background marinate and eat the snails, considering them quite a delicacy. The mystery was solved. Since I happened to have my camera along (Kodak EasyShare DX4900 - 4.0 Mega Pixels), I took a photo in an ‘unharvested’ spot.” |
 |
|
The winner in the Landscape category was Marjorie Thomson, who lives at Palace Place in a unit that has a superb view of the Lake. |
|
|
“The shot was taken with a wide angle FE-350 from the window of my condo on February 05, 2009, at about 6:30 a.m. Every morning I wake up and look out my bedroom window. People tell me that it must be boring living on the water in winter. I find it endlessly fascinating |
 |
| The runner-up in the Landscape category was submitted by Adam Berent | |
| Adam, who lives on Elsinore Park and often walks and rides around our neighbourhood, reports that “This photo was taken during one of my evening bike rides on the Martin Goodman Trail. I usually like to go out later in the evening, once the trail is less crowded. I took this photo during a break in the ride, with a Canon Rebel XT, set to an exposure of f/6.3 30 sec at 20mm. |
 Click to for Larger Image |
|
Adam Berent was also the winner of the Wildlife category, with his delightful Holding On. The judges also selected Holding On as the overall runner-up. You can see more of Adam’s photos on his website: www.adamberent.com |
|
|
Adam reports that "Holding On was taken in the spring on one of my walks with my girl friend. We were amazed how the black birds could hold on to the cords of marsh grass. The camera was a Canon Rebel XTI, the exposure was f/8 1/1600 sec at 500mm, and the photo was edited in Adobe Lightroom 2." |
 Click to for Larger Image |
|
The runner-up in the Wildlife
category is Sharron Marlow, who captured the striking
Reflected Duck. |
|
| “I took the photograph of the Reflected Duck after taking a series of pictures of water fowl near the bridge which crosses over to the peninsula. This duck was standing in the water apart from a large grouping of other birds, and I was struck by his bright colouring and the stillness of the water with his reflection. I used an Olympus FE-180 6.0 Megapixel camera.” |
|
|
Honourable Mention: Beneath the Surface was taken by Marianna Ciccia, then aged 7, and was submitted by her grandfather, Terry Steele of Palace Place. |
|
|
Terry says “My granddaughter, who lives in East York, and I were walking along the Humber Bay shore, and she asked if she could use my camera to take some photos. I said yes, and she snapped quite a few. For one, she went down to the water's edge and took a picture of the water. I mentioned to her that it was just a waste to take photos of water, but when I downloaded the images to my computer, I couldn't believe what I saw: the picture of the colourful rocks and the swirling of the water was fantastic. It goes to show you that a small child can see a lot more than an adult.” |
 |
