‘My New England’ PHOTO CONTEST

This is the fourth year we’ve published the winners of Yankee ’s reader photo contest. I know it’s the norm to call these endeavors contests, and thus there seems a logic to having winners. But that also implies that there are losers, and that’s simply wrong. Every time someone looks through a lens—whether on today’s smartphones or tablets or the old-fashioned way, a camera—and captures a moment that resonates so deeply that they wish to share it with the world, it demonstrates why photography has the power not only to move us but also to create a bond between us, a community of sorts, if you will. When I look at Vera Resnik’s Tranquility, I fall into the world that she saw at Wrightsville Reservoir on a foggy morning in fall. She saw it and caught it forever—and now we can all be there. Every single photograph that came into Yankee carried with it that promise. None were losers.

New England speaks to everyone a bit differently, and that was reflected in the images we saw. As in last year’s project, Heather Marcus, our photo editor, and Lori Pedrick, our art director, were ably assisted by the careful eye and sensibility of guest judge Paula Tognarelli, executive director and curator of the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, Massachusetts.

“My New England” will appear again next year in the March/April 2017 issue. For contest details, rules, and updates, visit YankeeMagazine .com/Photo-Contest. And to see more 2015 entries, go to YankeeMagazine .com/2015-Photos —Mel Allen

1st Place Winner!

Title: Tranquility

Location: Wrightsville Reservoir, Montpelier, Vermont

Photographer: Vera Resnik

Judge’s comments: “Vera’s personal connection to the location: ‘Early-morning fog was lifting as well as the mist off the water, making the background trees visible as two canoeists passed silently by.’ I chose this image for its sensory overtones and because it seemed to indicate a New England fall moment most successfully. As viewers, we’re engaged in the landscape, filled with the quiet rhythmic sounds of an oar dipping into the water, the blast of intense color, and the atmosphere and the scents of a brisk morning.”

2nd Place Winner!

Title: Fall Sunrise

Location: Boulder Beach, Acadia National Park, Maine

Photographer: Swapan Jha

Judge’s comments: “Jha uses dramatic composition and color to bring the viewer into this Maine landscape. Involving the rocks on the shore and a descending treeline, we’re greeted by the horizon and a sublime skyline at daybreak.”

3rd Place Winner!

Title: Day on the Deerfield

Location: Deerfield River, Deerfield, Massachusetts

Photographer: Kirsta Davey

Judge’s comments: “What intrigued me in this photograph is the author’s method of indicating motion. The main character’s arm, in the middle of throwing a ball, is mimicked by the bow of the birch tree on the horizon. The mouth of the river seems to make the ball take flight. The use of multiple dogs of the same color and breed tricks the viewer into thinking that one dog is in perpetual motion. I see this as a truly delightful image.”

Honorable Mention

Title: Brooklin Night

Location: Brooklin, Maine, on Blue Hill Bay

Photographer: Kirsta Davey

Judge’s comments: “I chose Brooklin Night because it’s a portrayal of a nighttime landscape. The term ‘New England’ itself conveys thoughts of bright colors at the turn of a season, but this night-sky photograph dares to be different. The brightly lit home at center suggests safe haven. The evergreens point home and seem to act as sentinels against our vast universe.”