Carrizo Plain Photo Contest Winners

2022 Photo Contest Winners

Fauna Category:

1^st Place Ferruginous Hawk – Robin Agarwal

Robin photographed a not often seen raptor out in the Carrizo. Action always gives an edge to a wildlife photo. If you can capture in flight or other natural behavior, you have a winning shot. This was taken in beautiful light, is very sharp, and on a clean clear background.

2^nd Place Lone Raven – Rick Derevan

Ricks portrait of a Raven is masterfully created. It’s hard to expose for those black areas and retain such nice detail. Great bokeh, composition, and nice clean background isolates the subject and makes for a beautiful photo.

3^rd  Badger digging – Marlin Harms

A rare sighting of this American Badger captures the essence of one of the many wild animals that call the Carrizo home. Nice burrow building behavior photographed here with a sweet catchlight in the eye, Marlin!

Flora Category:

1^st Place Natures Palette Panorama – Marlin Harms

Marlin captured the iconic photo that showcases the spectacular draw of the Carrizo during a rare spring super bloom. This image demonstrates the amazing palette of colors that appear on the Temblor range on the east side of the Carrizo Plains during one of these rare botanical phenomena.

2^nd Place Phacelia and cracks – Joshua Simas

Joshua captured the harsh realities of the Carrizo plains in this stunning image of Phacelia and desiccation cracks. Life continues in the harsh and dry environment of the Carrizo and this image showcases the contrast between the two. Reminds me of the craquelure of varnish on a painting as it dries and ages.

3^rd Place Tumbleweed in Morning Light – Lars Mikkelsen

Lar’s image shows the beauty of the Carrizo in non-super bloom years. The elegance and subtle allure of a simple tumble weed draws your eyes into the photo, supported by a large depth of field, your eyes are drawn deeply into the image.

Open Category:

1^st Place Old Thrasher – Elaine Calvert

This photo by Elaine has it all. While nighttime images of the Carrizo plains are a dime a dozen and it’s hard to capture an image that stands out from all the rest, Elaine has done just that. With the Comet and the setting moon and the old thrasher in the foreground Elain captured a once in a lifetime image. Just spectacular!

2^nd Selby Rocks Sunrise  – Cathy Wallace

Cathy Wallace’s use of soft diffused light and mountain layers created depth in this beautiful pastel landscape using the Selby formation as a foreground element. This is a wonderful photo showing the beauty of the Carrizo in a non-super bloom year.

3^rd Place Old Granaries in the Carrizo – Cheryl Strahl

Cheryl captures the expanse of the Carrizo in this stunning image of old granaries from time gone by. She does a wonderful job of showing the vastness, big sky, and ageless beauty of this grasslands area.

Categories: Flora, Fauna, Open.
Prizes: 1st, 2nd, 3rd place in each Category
Prize Monies: $100 first, $50 second, $25 third, in each category
Winners will also receive a 12×18 print of their winning image, for display at a reception in the Costa Gallery in Los Osos.

Entry Fee: $5 per entry
3 entries max, per person
Digital Image submissions must be no larger than 3MB in size.
Winners will be asked to submit an 8MB image for printing.

Name your Digital Image File with the TITLE of the work. Do not include your name in the file-naming.