2023 Contest Judges

This year's contest had four judges. Each judge made a top ten list for each category, giving 10 points to their number one photo and 1 point to their number ten photo. An average score was thus obtained from the four judges. The judges held Zoom meetings to discuss the images and their ranking. Not every winner nor honorable mention was included in every judge's top ten. Different judges had different criteria, but the top ten gave a nice average for what the committee as a whole preferred.

The four judges would like to thank everyone who submitted work to this contest. They thoroughly enjoyed looking at these images and often gave an image what they consider to be the highest compliment, "I wish I had made that." They would like you to know that it was very difficult selecting the winner in each category.


Ron Durant started photography in 1973 when he discovered a photography book in a box of his father's school papers. Reading the book about early darkroom techniques and photography was interesting. An opportunity to practice some of things he read about in this book presented itself in High School Photography Class in 1975. Back in those days, it was all about B&W film photography. Being on the yearbook staff for his Junior and Senior years laid the groundwork for almost 40 years of a photography adventure. Ron has photographed weddings, senior pictures, corporate events, holiday gatherings and has spent many hours in the field doing landscape and nature photography. His current passion is for waterfalls and wildlife. His many years of expertise have been called upon for judging photographic competitions on the local and national levels.


Wanda Krack is a photographer who enjoys taking pictures of nature, dramatic landscapes, sunrises, sunsets, wild animals, birds, flowers, and other things in everyday life. Her expertise is nature photography, including beautiful scenes and animals, although she has participated in shooting weddings, large groups, and individual portrait photography. Wanda has an appreciation of nature and natural earth settings and objects that seem at times to be magical. She attempts to capture some of this magic with photography.

Wanda is a member of her local camera club, PSA International, and has had images printed on calendars, in newspapers, and hung in galleries. She has participated in judging contests in both local and national and international camera clubs and groups. Wanda lives in the lovely state of Tennessee, but has been able to make photographic journeys to many other states and countries.


Tom Morack has been interested in photography ever since he saw the instant Polaroid cameras. He thinks he took more photos with his parent's Polaroid camera than they did. Tom bought his first Canon point-and-shoot camera in the 1980's, and he was hooked. Since then, he graduated from Canon to Nikon DSLR digital cameras. He is hooked on photography, and his wife will attest to that fact with all the money expended on equipment. In 2017, Tom bought his first full -frame DSLR, a Nikon D750 and loves it. Tom has been judging photos for four years at his local camera club and online. He enjoys it immensely. He says the important thing to remember when judging is to do so nicely, and don't hurt someone's feelings, while assisting them to improve, and enjoying this wonderful hobby.


Bill Smith is a Buffalo, NY area native and has been active in the arts community for over 40 years. The natural surroundings are a world beyond photographs and words. Bill is motivated by intangibles such as a desire to understand the natural world; to sense the variables of time, light, and form; to become involved in the presence of a place and its mystical forces. These spur his creativity and inspire him to slow down to see more clearly. His intent is that of an explorer, to be always curious of the natural environment.

Being absolutely captured by the art of photography, Bill has been taking pictures his entire life and finds balance and peace through it. For over 25 years, he used medium format & 4x5 view cameras, now using 35mm digital. Bill has exhibited his work in and has survived over 360 outdoor shows and street fairs since 1982 in 6 states in the northeast. His wish is that his, and all, photos spark viewers toward self-discovery, to go out and examine the original landscape with a fresh vision, a heightened awareness of our natural world, and have an ever-hopeful anticipation of whatever may be around the bend.