DDWS announces winners of annual high school photo contest
On April 13, the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge (DDWS) announced and awarded winners and finalists in the 10th annual “Ding” Darling-Theodore Cross High School Photography Contest at the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel, following a contest judging on March 8.
Sponsored by the Theodore Cross Family Charitable Foundation, the competition invites high school students from Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Glades and Hendry counties to compete for prizes, which this year included a Canon digital SLR camera package, one-year subscription to Adobe photography software and one-year pass to the refuge.
Cross, who lived part-time on Sanibel, marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; advised the Johnson and Nixon administrations on anti-poverty programs; wrote the book “Black Capitalism,” among others; and created Birders United, a birding Web site that ranked legislators according to their record of bird protection support.
Late in life, Cross decided to indulge his love for birds and photography and traveled the world to collect stunning portraits and stories to chronicle his adventures. He photographed often at the Sanibel refuge, and a number of the images in his book reflect his love for it. Cross published “Waterbirds: Portraits and Anecdotes from Birding Adventures” in 2009 at age 85; he passed away shortly after that in 2010. His family established the contest in his memory in 2015.
Refuge facilities operations specialist Scott Norwood, professional photographer Daniel Suarez and island community member Liz Birmingham judged this year’s contest. They reviewed 295 images taken by students from six schools and selected three winners and 12 honorable mentions.
First place went to an image titled “Swamp Puppy” by Luke Guillette of Estero High School. In the description he wrote about his entry, he pondered the survival of nature: “While I was sitting there watching and photographing the gators I saw many people come by and see the alligators then they would get scared by them and would run away or go somewhere else which made me think about why and how nature can be scary to some people as they don’t actually understand that everything just wants to survive.”
Suarez complimented the photographer’s skill.
“One of my favorite things in good wildlife photographs is getting eye level with the subject,” he said. “It’s a good technique, and this one achieves that.”
In second place, Hannah Finman from Naples High School named her portrait of the gopher tortoise “Testudinidae,” the Latin name for the tortoise family.
“I just like the way the turtle is looking right at you,” Birmingham said. “The photographer zoomed in so close that the eyes are right there.”
Third place winner Kenzie Wallace from Cape Coral High School took third place with “Bee on a Flower.”
“It’s just a pretty cool photo,” Norwood said. “It’s the circle of life. Without bees, life doesn’t even exist.”
The honorable mention winners are as follows in alphabetical order:
– Tyler Guillette, of Estero High School, “Gator’s Gaze”
– Eden Harris, of Cape Coral High School, “Macro Bee”
– Melissa Hiatte, of Cypress Lake High School, “Best Friends”
– Carter Koehler, of Cypress Lake High School, “Fall Leaves in Florida”
– Ron Marquette, of Lemon Bay High School, “Fading Echoes”
– Hannah McDaniel, of Cape Coral High School, “The Bee and the Flower”
– Ryan Mitchinson, of Cape Coral High School, “Holding On”
– Luis Ojeda, of Lehigh Senior High School, “Lakeside View”
– Angelina Pizarro, of Cypress Lake High School, “Flor Morado”
– Keilly Viera, of Cape Coral High School, “Rainy Flower”
– Lilly Witz, of Cypress Lake High School, “Rainy Succulent”
– Dahney Yan, of Lehigh Senior High School, “Hidden Colors”
Judges and contest coordinators expressed difficulty in narrowing down the choices.
“It always amazes me, the quality of photos we get from these young adults,” April Boehnen, who coordinates the contest for the DDWS, said. “We marvel at the unique perspectives and angles.”
To view the winning images and for more information about the contest, visit dingdarlingsociety.org/photo-contests.