Amateurs Earn High Marks in Highways Photo Contest

Amateurs Get High Marks from the Pros in HIC PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST YS'

"Terrific!" "Tough choice." "A real test." These were some of the terms the judges used in describing their reactions in the course of the Arizona Highways Amateur Photography Contest. The jury numbered the classic twelve, and the members devoted more than forty-eight manand woman-hours to swimming through a sea of photographs-1648 entries, which they pared down to seventy-one finalists.

What most of us assumed would be a relatively simple assignment turned into a demanding, soul-searching challenge. The "bad pictures," those easily eliminated, were-instead of a majorityonly a handful, perhaps no more than one percent. Thus we faced the task of choosing one excellent picture over another excellent picture, scanning for minor flaws that would justify rating one above another: tracks in the snow of an otherwise pristine scene, a ragged tree limb that distracted rather than added, patches of barren ground, compositions split fifty-fifty by the horizon, slightly out-of-focus foregrounds and backgrounds.

Fine images bit the dust because of poor print quality. But there remained hundreds we could find no fault with at all, and we fell back on personal bias. "That yellow sky turns me off," said one judge.

"That's strange," said another, "it turns me on."

"I'd like to have a bunch of these in my stock photo file," said Gill Kenny, speaking for the majority.

"This is a first-rate photograph," said Peter Mortimer, a former Hightor. "It shows considerable thought." "You see a lot of these [of this quality] in travel magazines," said Jerry Jacka, pointing to a glowing print of Monument Valley. "This one is excellent, but too ordinary," said Herb McLaughlin. (How can a photo be excellent and too ordinary? In the Highways contest, it happened often.) All of these pictures went into the "out" bin. We started looking for the really unusual.

Grand Canyon ranked as the most popular lens target; more than 400 entrants had converged on it-in spring, summer, fall, winter. At least a dozen shots appeared to have been taken from the same place at the same time.

The next favorite was Monument Valley, with about 200 entries submitted.

Wet and wild weather, early or late light made contenders of pictures that otherwise would have been rejected. Contestants showed us that lightning strikes and rainbows are much more common in Arizona than we thought. We learned that many of these contestants kept their cam-

Eras out under conditions in which com-

mon folk hasten to put them away. In that sense "luck"-being in the right place at the right time-nearly always takes precedence over compositional skills.

The judges voted for their choices. Thirty-five entries survived the first round of finals. The judges became more vocal, arguing for their preferences, pointing out nuances thought to have been overlooked by their peers.

"This one has been filtered," said one. "Who cares?" said another. "It's a great photograph."

Two pictures of Havasu Falls lay side by side. One showed better composition; the other, superior print quality. The judges voted, and for the first time, there was a tie. They regrouped, discussed merit and demerit, voted, and tied again. They nominated Highways Picture Editor Peter Ensenberger to break the deadlock. He did. Nods of approval followed, mixed with groans of disappointment.

One Youth category photo, an excellent one, remained in the finals until a rereading of the rules showed that it did not fit the category because natural scenery was not predominant. Some judges wanted to give it a special award. Others said it would be unfair. No one was happy about disqualifying it.

With winners finally selected, the best compliment yet surfaced. Stalwart professionals looked at one another and shook their heads. All agreed they were very happy the people who made these marvelous pictures didn't do it for a living.

Don Vlach, a forty-five-year-old machine shop owner from Phoenix, takes top prize in the first Arizona Highways Amateur Photography Contest with his dramatic storm photo (ABOVE) at Grand Canyon. A Phoenix resident for twenty-five years, Don has developed his interest in photography over the last decade. His wife, Terry, and his camera have been his partners on their many outings into the diverse Arizona backcountry. Don's newest companions will be a Hasselblad camera and lens that are his reward as our grand prize winner. The Grand Canyon, easily the most popular subject with our photo contestants, also was the setting for a spectacular play of light (LEFT) captured by Carter W. Sale to earn him first place and a Nikon camera and lens in the contest's Open category.

With the Sonoran Desert encompassing much of southern and central Arizona, a large number of contest entrants predictably focused on their distinctive surroundings. For many the evening desert was a central subject, the stage for such drama as the sun's fiery afterglow as it slowly yields to the onset of night (ABOVE), photographed by Suzi Burba, and the approach of a nighttime storm (LEFT), recorded in a time exposure by Norman Carlson.

Monument Valley was second only to the Grand Canyon in popularity among the contestants. Rising to the top were these two fresh images of an overworked subject. (ABOVE) A frosty morning seems to have frozen two Navajo ponies in their tracks for Jack L. Levin. Not only does Jack make a hobby of recording beautiful landscapes on film, but he makes his living removing “ugly stuff” from the landscape and turning it into useful material at his scrap metal processing plant, which grinds up 400 junked automobiles a day. A foggy sunrise (RIGHT) gives an eerie look to a familiar scene photographed by Patty Kim Tanabe on the Navajo Indian Reservation near the ArizonaUtah line.

Arizona's most precious resource, water, caught the attention and fired the imagination of a large number of contest entrants. From the delicate spillways of Havasu Creek (ABOVE) to the roaring fury of Havasu Falls (OPPOSITE PAGE, FAR RIGHT), photographed by the Bramwell brothers, to the serenity of placid mountain scenes (RIGHT AND ABOVE, RIGHT), the waterways of this arid state yielded memorable images.

THE WINNERS GRAND PRIZE

DON VLACH, Phoenix, Arizona

OPEN CATEGORY

First place: Carter W. Sale, Columbus, Ohio Second place: Jack L. Levin, Greensboro, North Carolina Third place: Colette Bailey, Phoenix, Arizona (see inside front cover) Honorable mention: Norman Carlson, Tucson, Arizona; Julie Cunningham, Tucson, Arizona; John Hull, Globe, Arizona; David W. Lazaroff, Tucson, Arizona; James Russell, Mesa, Arizona; Patty Kim Tanabe, Phoenix, Arizona; Judy Turner, San Mateo, California; Berton F. Young, Houston, Texas.

YOUTH CATEGORY

First place: Jennifer Hinshaw, Flagstaff, Arizona (see front cover) Second place: Mike Plumley, Phoenix, Arizona Third place: Thomas Bramwell, Tempe, Arizona Honorable mention: David Bramwell, Tempe, Arizona; Suzi Burba, Tucson, Arizona; Walter Cherry, Fulton, Missouri; Andy Christensen, Flagstaff, Arizona; Andy Lewicky, Flagstaff, Arizona; Charlie Moreno, El Paso, Texas; Wendy S. Porter, Tucson, Arizona; Eric C. Shaw, Paradise Valley, Arizona.