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Friends in August
August 2002
It is amazing - and refreshing - to see the lovely colors on our cover surrounding a dragonfly as it stops for a rest. We have no idea if it can see the beauty we see, but we are grateful that its presence caught the attention of the photographer whose sharp camera eye and quick finger made this stunning photograph. The delicacy of the dragonfly's wings is matched wondrously with the organic veins of leaf and petal in an unforgettable image. It won the first prize in the category of Nature in our photography contest.
Next we see a tiny toad held above the water by what we assume to be an affectionate hand. It is our second prize-winner in the Nature category. The toad almost has an expression of surprise in its bulging eyes, as if he is astonished by a world he could be looking at for the first time.
Our Third Prize Nature winner is two cormorants standing at the edge of a lake, peering off to the distance. It would be hard to imagine a more graceful combination of curves than the way the necks of the two birds are poised. It is a superb composition. The unusual green reflection in the water, presumably from trees on the opposite shore, provides a gentle background for these graceful birds.
Our First-Prize winner on the theme of Action is called "Horses on the Plains." It takes a quick finger to catch these swiftly moving animals-almost flying through space-on film. The photographer must have moved his camera along with the galloping horses in order to make their images so clear and show the details of their bodies. As a result, the ground below is blurred, giving an impression of the racing animals, moving as swiftly as the wind.
The appropriate name for our Second Prize winner in the Action category is "Lift-off." Every photographer needs a combination of skill and luck to capture a dramatic moment, and here the camera shutter opened at precisely the moment when the wings were flapping in the air and the bird's feet were lifting off the water. What is equally amazing about this photograph is the way the white reflection of the bird creates a pattern of its own on the rippling water below. It almost seems as if the photographer created this design to dramatize the action.
In our Third Prize winner for Action, we see another bird caught miraculously by the photographer as it flies past a hole in a brick wall. It looks as if the shape of the hole was made to harmonize with the wings of the bird. How was it possible, we might ask, for the photographer to be in just that spot at just that moment to create such a fortuitous composition? Obviously the photographer did not know it was going to happen but was skillful enough to catch this superb shot the second it appeared in front of his camera eye.
"Landscape with Horses" is a fine panorama with a partially cloudy sky casting shadows and sunlight across the fields. The grazing horses provide delightful accents on the scenic view, with trees dotting the landscape and blue mountains in the distance. There is a quietness about this pastoral view of the countryside, almost as time has stood still.
We end with "Red Fox on a Stone Wall." He/she has turned around to look back while perched on the wall, as if wondering whether to jump over to the other side or turn back. The multi-branched tree provides a fortuitous framework for the bushy-tailed fox, with its branches echoing the curve of its back.
— David Finn
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