Group’s Next Meeting Is May 18—

Flagpole Photographers Annual Show Celebrated An Art Form

The Newtown Flagpole Photographers held their annual exhibit at Cyrenius Booth Library in early April. About 45 images were on display.

Art Anderson and Warren Johnson from Danbury Candlewood Camera Club judged the entries. They went over the exhibit several times, putting a lot of thought into their selections of the winning images.

For the Color category, Anne Martin’s “Oh Danny Boy” received the Judges’ Choice first place award. The image shows a man in silhouette wearing traditional kilt uniform, playing bagpipes on edges of hill, sea in background, at sunset.

John Tucci’s “Hotstuff Eyes for You,” featuring a trio of women, was named as second place and Bob Berthier’s “Floating Downstream,” depicting a merganser, finished in third place.

Honorable mentions include Jill Baimel’s “Broom Shop” and Rena Bacchiocchi’s “Orchid Beauties.”

In the Black and White category the judges awarded Tom Coryat’s close-up of a leaf with water droplets, called “After the Rain,” first place. Bob Berthier’s “Winter Aspen” and “Orchard Hill Stream” received second and third places respectively, and Anne Martin’s “Morning Son” and Larry Arthur’s “Spring Just Around the Corner” were given honorable mentions.

In entering their works into the show, photographers were also vying for three special awards. The Jeanette Talarino Flower Award went to Larry Arthur’s “Nature’s Heart,” the Freestyle Digital winner was John Tucci for his “Field of Dreams,” which featured a trio of men in old-fashioned base ball garb standing in a corn field, and Bob Berthier’s merganser image won the Dave Krieger Nature Award and the People’s Choice Award.

 

Meeting Notes

Flagpole Photographers is a club that welcomes non-members to its monthly meetings. Meetings are held the third Thursday of each month, September through June, in the lower meeting room of C.H. Booth Library.

Members have competitions each month, following a specific theme and format. On May 18, the members’ competition will be “Reflection,” using slides. Jim Dionne will be the guest judge.

In April, the club’s topic and format were Motion prints. Larry Arthur earned first place with “Rushing Water,” John Tucci earned second with “Rider on the Storm,” Don Brooks was third with “Rabid Falls,” and Donna White received an honorable mention for “Leaves Here I Come!”

Guest speaker on April 18 was John Fast, a specialist in wildlife photography, particularly bears and birds. A retired engineer, Mr Fast currently teaches photography at Three Rivers Community College and leads seminars in the area. For Flagpole Photographers’ meeting Mr Fast shared part of his amazing slide presentation of the brown bears of McNeil River in South Central Alaska, a remote area 110 miles from the nearest civilized establishment, Homer, Ala.

In the early 1950s National Geographic had written an article on Mcneil and subsequently a bevy of photographers, hunters and scientists flooded the area. In time the Alaskan government banned hunting and scientific study there due to the stress on the bears and up to the present day only about 170 visiting photographers a year are admitted for four-day stays via a lottery system.

Mr Fast applied to the lottery with his son and his son’s best friend and they won a trip there during the last week of July 1998. The images of the bears hunting fish, interacting with each other, competing, and caring for their young, along with the beauty of the wilderness as a backdrop, provided a unique educational and photographic experience for all. 

In addition to its regular May meeting, the club will have a booth at this year’s Duck Race, an event returning to Sandy Hook Center on Saturday, May 27.

There is no charge to attend a Flagpole Photographers meeting. For additional information call club president John Tucci, 270-8576.