Homewood Izaak Walton Preserve Announces Calendar Winners

HOMEWOOD, IL — Homewood Izaak Walton Preserve has announced the 16 winners of its second annual photo contest for its “Seasons of Homewood Izaak Walton” calendar.

More than 150 photos of landscapes and wildlife were entered in the contest. The winning entries will be used in the 2021 calendars, “Seasons of Homewood Izaak Walton Preserve.”

John Brinkman, President of the Preserve, said "Once again, the beauty of our Preserve has attracted great interest from local photographers. We are thankful to all for their work and participation in our second annual calendar photo contest."

The winners of the 14-month calendar contest are:

Front Cover, Crystal Lesimple, “Untitled.”
Back Cover, Samantha Sheehan, “Quite the Pair.”
November 2020, Kathie Hazlett, “Moonstruck Izaak.”
December 2020, Rebecca Slagle, “Rhythmic.”
January 2021, Laura Halfman, “An Old Friend.”
February 2021, James Shover, “Bridge Over Calm Waters.”
March 2021, Heather Marcum, “Mother Goose.”
April 2021, Todd Wittenberg, “Foggy Bottom.”
May 2021, Carolyn Funk, “May Apple Mini Forest.”
June 2021, Rebecca Jurek, “Morning Glow.”
July 2021, Howard Wolinsky, “Pause at the Clearing.”
August 2021, David Jurek, “New Beginnings.”
September 2021, Tina Ray, “Reflect the Moment.”
October 2021, Emma Steiner, “Catch You On The Flipside.”
November 2021, Laura Kern, “Logjam.”
December 2021, Ryan Patrick, “With Every Light.”

A panel of three independent judges made the initial picks. The judges included Martin Hackl, a Chicago area nature photographer; Rich Chapman, a Northwest suburban photographer, and Ken Carl, a Chicago photographer.

“There were many excellent pictures entered, and therefore hard to narrow down to my favorite 20. Considering the pictures were going to be used in a calendar, the first six I picked were fairly easy, depicting seasonal aspects showcasing the quality of lighting, and moments captured,” Chapman said. “The beauty of a contest? When we see what others around us have captured, hopefully we can all learn and improve together.”

"My favorite pictures in this competition are those for which care was taken in editing. In presenting a photograph, processing/editing a photo is as important, if not more important, than capturing the image in the first place,” Hackl said. “My philosophy is to remove, or crop out, everything in a picture that is not essential to telling the story, or presenting an emotion or feeling. Every single photo you present to the public must be edited.”

James Shover won the February with his photo “Bridge Over Calm Waters.” Shover said it feels great to win the slot and that he’s excited to see it in the calendar.

“I knew my photo was good, but I was still happy to see that I won.” Shover said. “I remember taking the photo on one of the cross bridges. It was a beautiful winter day with fresh snow and a bright blue sky. It was a perfect day for photos.”

Front Cover winner, Crystal Lesimple, said she captured her photo on her cellphone.

"I didn't expect to win at all. I am by no means a professional photographer but when I saw an old truck sitting in front of the senior home office, I took a quick picture because it looked nice," Lesimple said. "I have an Android phone and take a lot of nature photos. I like to take walks at the preserve often and love it."