By Gary Sater, Friends of Pheasant Branch Conservancy Board Member and Co-chair of Restoration & Management Committee
On Monday, June 2, Deb Weitzel, Chair of the Friends for Pheasant Branch Conservancy Education Committee and Board Member, held the awards ceremony for this year’s winning photos and participating photography students in the Art Gallery at Middleton High School.
Since 2012, the Friends have been collaborating with Middleton High School photography teacher Holly Stoenner to promote nature photography within Pheasant Branch Conservancy.
There were 15 photos that received honorable mentions or finished in the top three at the ceremony.
Along with the awards winners, the winning photos will be included in the Friends’ annual Phenology Calendar, and the student photographers will receive the Jeff Martin Memorial Scholarship for photography. Jeff was the lead judge in the early years of this collaboration and helped set up the judging criteria for the submitted photos.
Judges for this year’s photos included Linda Pils, Julie Raasch and lead judge Kathy Henning.
The top three winning photos were:
- First Place – Rune Balge for “Fawn”
- Second Place – Maddie Dorris for “Water”
- Third Place – Leo Mastronardi for “Flower Plant”
An interesting note: Leo’s photo, “Flower Plant” turned out to be a photo of a rare undiscovered native plant within the Conservancy, a Prairie trillium (Prairie recurvatum).
Deb was quick to thank all of the participating students for their participation and providing the Friends once again with beautiful photos for our Phenology Calendar. Setting out to photograph nature is a sure way to pay attention to and more fully appreciate the beauty within our reach.