Featured Article - February 2009
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New Views: 8th annual
New Mexico Magazine
Photo Contest Winners
“It is all very beautiful and magical here—a quality which cannot be described. You have to live it and breathe it, let the sun bake into you.”
—Ansel Adams on New Mexico
The lure of New Mexico is difficult to put into words, but we bet our readers know exactly what photographer Ansel Adams was talking about.
With this theme in mind, we unveil the winners of our eighth-annual New Mexico Magazine Photo Contest. For the entrants, it’s the culmination of months of anticipation. For the rest of us, it’s a chance to savor scenes of the land we love.
We thank everyone who participated. The 19 winners whose work you see here were culled from approximately 1,500 images of New Mexico by 357 nonprofessional photographers. Half are residents of the state, and represent 48 cities and towns. Half were from outside New Mexico, including 35 states and three foreign countries.
Our judges were: New Mexico Magazine art director Fabian West, who each month oversees every layout, designs the cover, and makes every photo assignment; photographer Craig Varjabedian, executive director of the Eloquent Light Photography Workshops and author of the forthcoming book Ghost Ranch and the Faraway Nearby (University of New Mexico Press); and Catherine Whitney, director of 20th Century American Art and Photography at Santa Fe’s Gerald Peters Gallery.
Each contestant was permitted to enter up to six photos. Our judges weighed each body of work, looking for images that captured that enchanting something New Mexico is known for. West says the quality of the entries was better than ever—which made the judging all the more difficult. “We had a hard time looking at a great body of work and figuring out which image we liked the best,” she says. “That was the challenge: choosing the best of the best.”
“We did fight; we did scratch a bit,” jokes Whitney in hindsight. “But in the end, we really did agree on the same things. I think the winners probably appeal to us because they have a unique perspective on the places we know and love.”
The Grand Prize Winner, Anne Fleshman, will enjoy an Eloquent Light Photography Workshop: six nights at The Lodge at Santa Fe, a Bogen 055MF3 tripod with RC head, a Lowepro Vertex 200 photographer’s backpack, and a portfolio published in a 2009 issue of New Mexico Magazine. (Sponsors and prizes are listed on page 30.)
“These images really speak about New Mexico,” sums up Varjabedian. “These images could not have been made elsewhere. They’re about our place, about our home. That’s why they remain strong.”
—Tricia Ware, editor in chief
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