Roadtrip '06 Summer Photo Contest

Winners! We Have Photo Contest Winners!

By Chris Lombardi, 9-15-06

	To see the winning images larger, as well as more of the "close contenders' in each category, visit the contest photo gallery.

Anyone who has practiced photography with any seriousness knows that editing one's own work is one of the more difficult elements of the craft. Taking your 50 most loved images and reducing them down to, say, 5, is a heart-wrenching process, so painful that some photographers refer to it as, in a disturbing but apt turn of phrase, "killing the babies."

Choosing three images out of a field of 400 to call "the best" was an exquisite form of torture for the New West judges. It hurt so good. This was a very strong field with dozens of images worthy of hanging on a wall, and many more that will surely be the centerpiece of family photo albums. Thanks for sharing your summer adventures with us!

And, now, without any further song and dance.........the winners!

The winner of the Roadtrip '06 Best People Pic category is.....Chad Harder, for his image "Rapture." Chad is a familiar name around Missoula, known as one of the hardest working (and playing) photographers in town, and voted "Best Photographer" in the Missoula Independent's "Best of Missoula" reader poll for several years running. Chad is known for images loaded with energy, and it was exactly that energy that pushed "Rapture" to the top of a very, very tough category. Chad wins a Canon PowerShot SD450. More of Chad's work can be seen on his web site.

Visit the contest gallery to see the winning images larger, and to see some other "close contenders" in each category.


The winner of the Roadtrip '06 Roadside Americana category is....Mary Hockenbery, of Dixon, New Mexico for her image "Paris, Idaho." Mary is another familiar name on New West, as her work has appeared frequently as "Featured Images" on the New West pages. Mary, who goes by the screenname "Reddirtrose" on FLICKR, is known for very quiet and extremely powerful images. Her best rise into the realm of the spiritual. In "Paris, Idaho" we see a very fortunate combination of subject and lighting, and a very bold, centered composition that communicates age, isolation and loneliness enveloped in a magically moody radiance. It both breaks your heart and somehow mends it up again. Mary wins a Canon PowerShot S3 IS.


The winner of the Roadtrip '06 Spirit of Adventure & Travel in the Rocky Mountain West category is.....Matthew Bell for "Pintlar Moon." We don't know much about Matthew yet, but we do know he captured an image that captured the judges' hearts. His long-exposure of a moonlit tent in the Montana mountains filled our minds with sense memories -- the rustle of tent fabric in the wind, the mountain chill on the cheeks, and the sweet warmth of the sleeping bag at the end of an exhausting day. Matthew takes home the grand prize -- a Canon 30D SLR. Congratulations, Matthew!

Thanks to all who participated for sharing your summer adventures with us. And thanks to our sponsored who helped make it all happen, Canon, Vanns and the Rocky Mountain School of Photography.

To see the winning images larger, as well as more of the "close contenders' in each category, visit the contest photo gallery.

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