Grand Prize - Calendar Cover:

Nancy Runion of Timberville has entered our contest before, and says photography is a great way to spend the day!  This photo of the old Barb’s School was taken outside Orkney Springs, VA. Nancy’s entry last year was taken in the Orkney area too, which she finds very picturesque. She says: “The day I snapped the picture, I was out riding the back roads in the Orkney Springs area. I drove by the old building, turned and stopped.  It was such a neat old building all dressed up for the July 4th Holiday. Just take the back roads and you will find lots of interesting shots to remember the area.” We believe the school was actively used in the early 1900’s.

January:

A photographer since childhood, Jesse Judy of Luray found this scene along the South Fork of the Shenandoah River in Page Co., just downstream from the US 211 bridge. Now retired, he says that “my favorite pastime is to photograph the beauty of God’s glorious creation and the simple things that are right in front of our eyes everyday - we simply need to look for them and enjoy them.”  One of Jess’ entries won a prize this year in the Page Valley Fair contest, too.

>> click here for a larger image

February:

Jeremiah Estep is our youngest winner this year. An Edinburg resident, he is 12 years old, loves sports and the outdoors, and is a student at Valley Baptist Christian School. He found this beautiful snowy scene on Edinburg Gap Road. This photo was also a winner for him in a fine arts competition through his school.

March:

Dennis Brown of Penn Laird found this antique truck in a spring woods setting west of Harrisonburg. He is a rural postman, and came across the scene while delivering mail. Dennis is retiring and will soon be finding lots of new locations to use his photography hobby! 

April:

Joshua Gooden, now a senior at East Rockingham H.S and Editor of the school yearbook, has been a winner in our contest in previous years. This photo was taken on Bethel Church Road west of Elkton. He says, “Throughout this past year I drove by this spot several times and one day when I was driving around the countryside surrounding Elkton, I made an effort to stop and take a picture of this little rustic storage shed beside Quail Run. I enjoy learning about Elkton history and photographing in and around Elkton.”

May:

Karen Mussleman of Harrisonburg is originally from Shenandoah Co, and works for the City of Harrisonburg.  She says “A co-worker told us about the River's Bend Ranch in Stanley, VA so one weekend my husband and I were out for a Sunday drive and we ended up at the ranch where this was taken. I hated taking photos until I purchased a digital camera about 3 yrs ago and now I love it because I can print only the good ones!” .

June:

This beautiful farm scene is an everyday pleasure for Martha “Marty” Barlow of Montezuma (west of Dayton).  It was taken from her front porch at sunrise. She says, “If I get up early enough, and the skies are clear enough, a variation of this scene awaits me every morning across the road from our home.” Marty keeps her camera handy and has created many memories of pretty days and enjoyable times that she treasures. She works as director of counseling services at Bridgewater College.

July:

Tiffany Knupp of McGaheysville could enjoy the Massanutten fireworks from home, where she took this great shot during the July 4^th display. She has contributed to our calendar in previous years too, and is a talented photographer who enjoys “capturing the moment”.

August:

Donna Clark lives near Harrisonburg and is a photography enthusiast who enjoys photos of flowers. She crept up on a gorgeous Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly visiting some phlox blossoms while at a neighbor’s picnic for this beautiful close up shot.

September:

This cute yellow insect visiting a sunflower was found by Courtney Vest of Grottoes. She says, “Every day on my drive to work I would pass this beautiful field of sunflowers. My grandma was re designing her kitchen at the time and she was designing with sunflowers so I decided it would be really cool if I could get some good sunflower photos and use those to design the kitchen walls. But after I took the photos I was pretty amazed with what came out of it.”  She works as a general manager at a local landscaping company, and learned photography on her own.

October:

November:

The Meems Bottom covered bridge near Mt. Jackson is a picturesque landmark in our area, and Mike Clanahan of New Market got this great view using an 18-55 mm zoom lens. Mike is an avid photographer, and hopes to sell some of his work in the future to supplement retirement income. Looks like he has a bright future!

December:

Kathy McDorman of Broadway shows the beauty of winter with this colorful cardinal huddled amongst the snowflakes. “This picture I took standing from my front door during a snow storm last winter.  I had feeders in the tree and I guess the snow brought in a lot of cardinals that day, male and female. I don't care for snow but the snow made this picture.” Kathy loves photography, especially with the flexibility of a digital camera.

Honorable Mentions:

This Skyline Drive sunset was captured by Earl Atkins of Elkton. This is a great view of the rolling mountain ranges to the west.

Bernice Brillman of Conicville caught this scene with Rosco, her dog, on their farm lane on Pepper Road. She says that Rosco was adopted from the Shenandoah county animal shelter and “He is the best dog we ever had! I enjoy taking pictures of my animals; I grew up on a large farm (600 acres) and I always had a lot of animals to keep me company, since I was an only child!”

Amanda Cline’s husband was walking with her dog Mollie on a fall day at Brown’s Gap when Amanda caught this lovely scene. They live in Grottoes.

Laura Coffman of Timberville loved this little moss-covered spring house when John & Brenda Spitzer hosted the church’s Easter Egg hunt on their property on Sunset Dr., Broadway. Laura enjoys acrylic painting and taking pictures of her family and their energetic Golden Retriever.

Teresa Crawford of Bridgewater visited Wildwood Park using a 4-wheeler on a snowy winter day and caught this scene at the bridge. Besides enjoying digital photography, Teresa is a musician and works for her husband’s firm, Crawford Financial Group.

These pink tulips were grown and photographed by Cindy Lamb of Harrisonburg. She says “Spring bulbs are always exciting as it is a “surprise” waiting to make its appearance – a promise of new life as the earth begins to wake up after winter.” Cindy has entered our contest several times and is excited to be a winner!.

Diane Morris of Front Royal, a previous winner in our contest, took this great close up of an icy pine branch on cold December day. Diane has loved photography for a long time, works at Helmuth Builders, and takes all the photos for brochures and the business website.

This lovely shot of the peaceful Shenandoah River was taken by Russ Roegner of Luray, a previous contest winner. Russ says “We often comment that the surrounding local landscape takes on a somewhat different perspective when viewed from the river instead of the roadway.”

  click here for a larger image