2007 Photo Contest Winners

Category: Life at the Cottage

Where friends, family, pets, and the cottage itself are the stars of the photo.

First prize

DOCK WALKERS

Kristen Williams is 16 and takes her camera with her everywhere. “I sometimes take pictures of my friends in class,” she says. She got this shot, taken at a friend’s cottage on Lake Scugog, by lying down at sandal level on the dock. “I like objects and abstracts. I take pictures of anything.”

JUDGES’ comments

An unusual treatment of an ordinary subject, neatly juxtaposing the ladder’s vertical railings with the sinuous, pretzel curves of the flip-flops, which then echo the ladder’s top curves. We picture Kristen lying on the dock, just after someone slips into the water. The angle of the light also nicely heightens the texture of things.

Second prize

WATER ROCKERS

“I’ve taken thousands of shots for this contest,” says Lac Gagnon, Que., cottager Yvon Desjardins. “My daughters say, ‘Ah, Dad. Do we have to take pictures for Cottage Life?’” When they saw this shot, of them playing their new favourite game, they said, “Finally, you have a good one. Now leave us alone.”

JUDGES’ comments

The strong colours and light grabbed our attention. Yvon got a great stop-action view of a balancing act about to give way, with one girl’s ponytail flipping up and the trail of water flying off it. A second later and we expect the other girl will go back into the water on their makeshift teeter-totter. Nice timing. And the out-of-focus foreground, drawing your eye to the action, doesn’t hurt, either.

Third prize

SUN SHAPES

“We were at a rental cottage for a family reunion near Barry’s Bay, Ont. I was taking pictures of the sunlight on my wife and daughters,” says self-professed camera nut Paul Richer. Then he turned for a new angle and quickly snapped this unique view. “With the boats and the fisherman in the background, that’s my idea of summer.”

JUDGES’ comments

It’s that carefree time, when the sky is gorgeous and the kids are hanging out, last chance before bed. We were drawn to Paul’s shot for its strong graphic quality, the figures strung out against the sun in various attitudes of movement or stillness. Really clever is that fisherman in the background, perfectly framed – a nice bit of timing. Another good day comes to an end.