Photo Contest 2024 Winners!

Thank you to everyone who submitted their photos for TI Life’s 13th Annual Photo Contest. It is always a pleasure revisiting the River through your beautiful imagery, especially as we head into the winter months. This year 80 images were submitted, from which a Gold, Silver, and Bronze winner was selected, along with 6 honorable mentions. As always, Lyne and I were very impressed with the quality and diversity of the images.

And the winners are...

Gold

This year’s gold medal winner was a clear choice. The photo is simple in content and design, a quality common to most compelling photographs. It is also a perfect example of the role visual weight plays in a photograph or painting. Visual weight is a measure of the degree to which an element attracts the viewer’s eye and is a function of brightness, size, color, focus, etc. Ideally, the main subject in a photo should have the greatest visual weight. In this image, our eyes immediately go to the silhouetted geese, the darkest elements in the scene. That the geese are the sharpest element in the image also serves to draw our attention. Our vision is biased toward sharp, in-focus objects rather than those that are out of focus. The shallow depth of field (how much of an image is in sharp focus from front to back) also adds depth to the photo, a desirable quality when rendering the three-dimensional world in a two-dimensional medium. Finally, the black-and-white format just “works.”

About the photographer: Larry Asam has lived in and around Stowe, VT since 1974, and then spent several winters at Snowbird, UT, in his first career as a ski instructor. In the 1990s, he started photographing weddings in Vermont. Soon, couples from around New England discovered his ability to catch the excitement and beauty of their wedding in photographs. By 1997, wedding photography became his full-time occupation, and this continued for almost 15 years. Now, his photography is mainly focused on nature, old boats, and the people he encounters.

Since 2014, Larry and his wife, Kym, have been part of the Grenell Island community. He is also the current VP for the Thousand Islands chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society. Beginning in June 2020, Larry started to share articles with TI Life, including some remarkable photography. TI Life articles here. You can see Larry's professional photographic work at www.RiverGloss.com www.RiverGloss.com

Silver

The famed French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson is perhaps best known for coining the term “the decisive moment,” defined as a fleeting event recognized instantly by the photographer as significant and plucked out of the stream of time to become a fixed, timeless, existence. Our silver prize-winning photo is a perfect example of that “decisive moment.”

Aside from capturing an incredible moment in time, the photo is technically very well done. The common terns are tack sharp while the nearest foreground and background are “soft,” which helps direct the viewer's attention to the object of interest. What sets this photo apart is the outstanding quality of the light. The side lighting illuminates the scene beautifully. Finally, the framing is perfect, neither too tight nor too wide.

About the photographer: Pierre Deguire has had a passion for science and technology starting at a young age. He says, "Curiously, it is astronomy that brought me to bird photography. Having acquired a small telescope I begun to explore the universe.  That is when I attempted to share my discoveries with my friends and family that I realized would be difficult to do without images."

He added a camera to his telescope, which made the task easier and more interesting. It also allowed him to master the camera and film processing. Eventually, he joined the Royal Astronomical Society and became their astrophotography coordinator.

Pierre explains that a camera and telescope can be used for terrestrial photography, but what was there to photograph during the day? "Naturally," he said, "something small and interesting." That is how his interest in bird photography developed. It really soared with the convergence of two events: the arrival of digital cameras and his retirement 12 years ago. "I then moved to Ingleside, ON, within walking distance of the Long Sault Parkway. This is where every spring I spend many hours in search of great photo opportunity." He says he begun with simple static images of perched birds, but as his skill improved, he moved on to action shots."

Bronze

Aside from the beautiful colors of the sunset (which were perfectly exposed), we loved this image. We feel it perfectly conveys the essence of a moment we have all experienced many times, a campfire along the shore of our beautiful River on a summer evening. The decision not to center the campfire was spot on. From a framing and arranging of elements perspective, it couldn’t be better. We also enjoyed how the colors of the sunset are mirrored in the fire.

About the photographer: Thomas R. King and his wife, Marion, have lived in Milton, ON for the past 39 years, where they both worked and raised their family of three children. Having grown up in Gananoque, they try to return to the area each summer for holidays. Now retired, Tom rekindled his interest in photography a few years ago and used his first Old Age Security cheque to buy an upgraded DSLR camera and some lenses. He says he is strictly an amateur photographer, enjoying shooting images on and around the River whenever he and Marion are in the Thousand Islands Islands and he kindly shares them with friends on his Facebook page.

TI Life also benefits from his writing as he is a member of our Over 20 Team. You can see Tom's work here and here.

Six Honorable Mentions

[In Alphabetical Order]

Honorable Mention: Sandy Adams

Honorable Mention: Larry Asam

Honorable Mention: Sam Battams

Honorable Mention: Thomas R. King

Honorable Mention: Art Pundt

Honorable Mention: Olivia Stoughtener

By Chris Murray & Lyne Roberge

Photography Judge Chris Murray

Chris Murray is a photographic artist, instructor, and writer working primarily in the landscape of his home, the woods, lakes, mountains, and streams of New York State. His work has appeared in several magazines including Popular Photography, Shutterbug, Adirondack Life, Life in the Finger Lakes, New York State Conservationist, and On Landscape, among others. His landscape stock imagery is represented by Aurora Photos and Danita Delimont Stock Photography. He is a staff instructor with the Adirondack Photography Institute. He has also written more than a dozen TI Life photography articles titled Depth of Field. You can see all of Chris' TI Life, here and for more of Chris’ work visit https://chrismurrayphotography.com/.

Photography Judge Lyne Roberge

Lyne Roberge studied marketing and advertising in Montreal, QC, and has worked for advertising and communication firms in Montreal and Toronto. She was also the owner of Henderson Printing in Brockville, ON for 20 years.  She began managing the business side of www.1000islandsphotoart.com in 2014 and is now running the company which provides Ian Coristine’s stunning 1000 Islands imagery, prints and publications. Lyne was married to Ian Coristine until his death in 2020. It was Ian who created the TI Life Photo Contest in 2012.

TI Life's Photo Contest Medals are designed by Sarah Ditterline. This is the 13th year that Sarah has provided these medal illustrations and certificates for us.

Editor's Note

When the late photographer, Ian Coristine, asked me to be Editor of TI Life, I had no idea what a thrill I would receive from November 15 - December 6 when our Photo contest runs. Ian started this contest in 2012, and he did so as he wanted to share the very best that the River could offer. At the time, Ian wrote:

"A note to those who may be disappointed that they didn't win. Don't be. Even with my plane having given me a pretty unique perspective of this place, and ultimately accumulating almost 40,000 images that I felt were worth keeping, only 42 ever made it to my highest rating . . . We are encouraging everyone to raise their personal bar, whatever it is that they do. This is huge and can only benefit the region, which is enjoying its biggest renaissance since Ulysses S. Grant began the first one in 1872. Let's do all we can to encourage and feed that process."

Ian's words were "right on" so thanks to all and may you and your families have a very wonderful holiday season.