My Alberta Winter

Results!!

The contest…

On January 1, 2024, the St. Albert Photography Club launched its first-ever photo contest: “My Alberta Winter”. As our meetings were limited due to space for January, all members were encouraged to participate in this contest. (Excluding President/Vice President). By doing so, it encouraged everyone to just get out and shoot. Although January 2024 proved to be a challenge with the lack of snow, 16 members rose to the challenge. These 16 entries resulted in 4 winners. 1st, 2nd, 3rd from our judge, and the People’s Choice award, voted by the membership!

On December 6, 2023, we had Shane Turgeon as a guest speaker and he spoke about how to prepare for a photography contest. Shane is the founder of the Lightchasers Conference held in Pincher Creek, which is now in its third year. Each year the conference holds a photo contest, and along with Shane and other top-notch speakers/photographers, the images are judged. We needed a non-member judge and he was a natural choice! Thank goodness he agreed. We are forever grateful for his time and expertise.

Below are the winners and what Shane had to say about each entry.

1st Place: Kath McBride – Snowy Owl

“An absolutely gorgeous portrait of a snowy owl in perfect golden light. The framing and composition creates a delicate balance between the subject and the background, which has a lovely bokeh to really put the focus on the owl. Capturing an owl is, of course, always a special moment but when the conditions are perfect, like they are here with the warm light and little details like the frosted barbed wire, it makes the encounter, and the photo, that much more memorable.”
Shane Turgeon

2nd Place: Catherine Cahoon – Bike in Window

“I love the story being told here. The subtlety of the bike behind the frosted window makes us all long for warmer days when we can shake off the shackles of winter and get back to outdoor activities. The bike feels like it wants to go anyway, frost be damned. The picture within a picture framing and the slight warmth of a not-so-warm January sun really set the scene as well.”
Shane Turgeon

3rd Place: Silvana Bobowik – Abandoned Property

“I can feel the many long winters this old beauty has endured in this photo. It feels cold and lifeless and yet I can feel the life, past and present, in this photo. There are lovely contrasts here; the frosted old trees surrounding the snow-covered house, with it’s secrets that it will never share, are contrasted by the fresh youthfulness of the saplings in the foreground. The warm tones of the grass contrasted with the abundant frost on their tips. The photo is well composed with clean edges and I can feel myself in this scene.”
Shane Turgeon

People’s Choice: Don Hornsberger

Voted #1 amongst his peers, in this beautiful foggy, hoar-frosted scene, Don captured what looks like a very cold morning, but also a very peaceful one as well.