A couple of months ago, my pro photographer friend Laurence Chen encouraged me to submit this photo to the Environmental Photography Invitational, a photo contest open to residents of the Pacific Northwest. To my great surprise and delight, it was selected as a winning photo! It didn’t garner a named award (such as Best in Category or Honorable Mention), but it was one of 106 chosen out of a field of about 2,000.
The print is now hanging at the new Art Wolfe Gallery in downtown Seattle (1944 1st Ave South, past the stadiums and near the absurdly giant Krispy Kreme). It’s on display from May 20 to June 30, 2006, alongside a lot of really good photography—I’m honored to be in good company.
I’m slightly giddy that I can add “award-winning photographer” to my list of accomplishments, mostly because it’s not something I expected to be. I also learned this week that of the winning entries, my photo is also going to be featured in a photo spread in the summer issue of PhotoMedia Magazine. So I’m also now a “published photographer.”
At tonight’s opening reception for the winners, I have to admit that there was a tingly moment when it sunk in that there, hanging right there, was a photo that I shot. And my wife overhead someone comment, “That image really sucks you in” and compliment it. It was a nice feeling.
I’ll stop now so that my head doesn’t inflate any further and pop. But if you’re in Seattle and want to see some good photography, stop by the Art Wolfe Gallery.
Jeff Carlson | Never Enough Coffee Creations 
Wow! Congratulations!
So…tell us something about where/when you took the shot and what equipment you were using.
Jeff –
Your photo is gorgeous! I’m so proud of you. This is exciting news. I have long admired your photography skills based on the images you’ve shot on your travels. Perhaps you have the beginnings of a second career?
Julie
The photo is of a unique spillway called “the Glory Hole” at Monticello Dam, on Lake Berryessa, which is near Dixon, CA (where my mom lives). When the water rises, the overflow goes into this giant funnel and is sent down beyond the dam. After the heavy rains of December in the area, the water was really high, creating a mesmerizing hole in the water.
My gear isn’t all that special: I shot it with a Canon PowerShot S2 IS, zoomed-in through a hole in a chainlink fence. This photo really proves that you shoot several pictures and get one that’s good. The others I have are just touristy looking.
I’m really enamored of the PowerShot S2 IS. See this article at TidBITS: Buying My Canon PowerShot S2 IS; I’m also writing a followup article that isn’t finished yet but will probably appear in the next couple of weeks.
[…] was blue, and the spillway’s opening reflected the surrounding rocks. A print of this photo hung at the Art Wolfe Gallery in 2006 as a winning image in the Environmental Photography Invitational, and it was published in a […]