Winning photos capture spirit and vibrancy of farming

» January 5, 2006 «

An image of neighbors helping neighbors earned the top prize in the California Farm Bureau's annual photo contest.

Grand Prize photo by Sharon Alkus See other winning photos

Tulare County Farm Bureau member Sharon Alkus submitted the Grand Prize photo, depicting a semi-annual cattle drive on a neighbor's ranch.

"It's local people helping local people," Alkus said in describing her photo.

Country life is quite a change of pace for Sharon and her husband, Beau Kazer, who plays Brock Reynolds on the daytime-television drama "The Young and the Restless." She said she hopes her photos will help city folks view country life as she and Beau see it: beautiful.

The Grand Prize earned a $1,000 award. Other winning photos brought prizes ranging from $100 to $500. Judges chose winning entries in each of five categories: From Farm to Table, Kids and Critters, Life on the Farm, Natural Beauty and Stewards of the Land.

Amy Valente of San Joaquin County won first prize in the From Farm to Table category, for a photo of Ernesto Cervantes, who paused for a moment and smiled while picking winegrapes. Second prize went to Linda Spencer, who submitted a shot of tiny peas in a pod, back-lit by the morning sun in her Arroyo Grande garden. Third prize was won by Tyler Blagg of Grass Valley, who focused on the colors, shapes and texture of grapes in a Lodi vineyard.

A photo showing young Steven Pozzi hugging a cow won first prize in the Kids and Critters category for Steven's mother, Marin County Farm Bureau member Sally Pozzi. This year's only double winner, Amy Valente, took second place for her photo of a 3-year-old visitor's obvious affection for a hungry goat on her family's San Joaquin County farm. Teri Arington of Tuolumne County earned third prize with her shot of farm kids playing in the mud with a ranch dog.

A photo of 4-year-old Taylor Hutchison carrying a rope to the corral for her father earned first prize in the Life on the Farm category for Taylor's grandmother, Sacramento County Farm Bureau member Kathy Hutchison. Mary Vanoni of Saticoy won second prize for a photo of old tools hanging in a shed. An arresting image of sheep standing on a home's front porch earned third prize for Sandra Milberg of Santa Rosa.

For her first-prize photo in the Natural Beauty category, Sue Luft of Templeton found beauty in grapevines marching across the landscape and detouring around an old oak tree that the vineyard owner protected. Second prize went to Doris Goss' photo of a pristine snowfall at her Sierra County ranch. A photo of peach trees in bloom, by Fresno County Farm Bureau member Tom Hagopian, won third prize in the category.

Janine Goubert of Stanislaus County took first prize in the "Stewards of the Land" category, for a photo of neighbor Dean Houk working to prevent soil erosion near the river on his 100-year-old farm. Other winners in this category were Chuck Lowery of Butte County, with his second-prize shot of a barn owl peeking out of a wood-duck box, and Agena Roskovich of Santa Margarita, who took third prize with a photo that illustrates the mutual affection between her husband John and Buster, the bull.

Prize-winning photographs were published this week in the Farm Bureau's weekly newspaper, Ag Alert, and its bimonthly magazine California Country. The winning images are also posted on the Farm Bureau Web site, www.cfbf.com.

Contact: Dave Kranz
Phone: 916/561-5550
news@cfbf.com

Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the California Farm Bureau Federation when reprinting this item.