St. Michael takes top honors with If Looks Could Kill
Chris St. Michael’s photograph If Looks Could Kill has been named winner of the People’s Choice Award for Best in Show for the fifth annual, virtual Summer Photo Contest conducted by the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast.
St. Michael also won the People’s Choice Award for the photo in its category, It’s A Wild Life, the Foundation announced this week.
The nonprofit is based in Osprey.
The full gallery of the photos may be viewed at conservationfoundation.com/summerphoto2024 or by visiting Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast on Facebook, a news release points out.
After the contest jury revealed its list of winners, the release adds, “community members were invited to vote for their favorites by liking/loving the images” in the Conservation Foundation gallery. Voting took place from July 1 through Sept. 2, the release notes.
St. Michael’s photo had “well over 200 likes on Facebook,” the release says.
The other People’s Choice category winners, by category, are as follows:
- The Big Picture — Morning Bliss by Ernest Gonzalez.
- The Art of Nature — Falling Embers in the Moonlight by Anthony Berry.
- Old Florida Charm — Blackburn Point Bridge by Cathleen Nardi.
- Youth Perspective — Light in the Darkness by Grace Deciantis.
“Photographers of all ages and experience levels” were invited to submit their original works for the online competition, whose goal is to showcase “the beauty of natural Florida,” the release explains.
The jurors were award-winning photographer and digital artist Steve White; award-winning photographer and writer Mary Lundeberg; conservation biologist, educator, and wildlife photographer Alberto Lopez Torres; noted photographer, Kerri Deatherage; and three-time Summer Photo Contest People’s Choice Winner Diane Fairey, the release points out.
“Hundreds of local photographers submitted their images for consideration,” the release adds, with the jurors narrowing the group down to the top 50 for inclusion in the exhibit. When making their selections, the jurors evaluated submissions on the basis of composition, color, contrast, and point of view, as well as whether the image told a story, and how well the image fit the category, the release says.