ASSIGINACK—A local photographer has won an award for an eye catching photograph he submitted in a contest put on by Canadian Geographic.
“It is always a thrill when a photograph you have taken resonates with others, especially professional photographers,” stated Peter Baumgarten of Creative Island Photo of his award-winning photograph, “Condo Towers.”
Mr. Baumgarten, who has been honoured with similar honours from Canadian Geographic in the past noted this newest award-winning photo, “is not what I normally shoot.” He explained, “Back in November I took my daughter to Toronto for a post-op visit with her cardiologist. One day I headed down to Butterfly Park, which is about a 10–15-minute walk on the waterfront from where we were staying. Although I had my camera with me, I had no real plans to capture anything until I saw the late afternoon sun illuminating the sky between two condominiums off in the distance.”
“The shot that I did miss that stands out in my head is of a guy carrying a canoe up one of the main streets off of Dundas Street (in Toronto),” said Mr. Baumgarten. “That is the one I really wanted, and although I had my camera with me, I wasn’t ready to take the shot and by the time I was ready he was gone.”
“So, I continued on and saw the sun setting and the way the light was coming out of clouds in late afternoon,” continued Mr. Baumgarten. “I captured the picture using a telephoto lens,” he said. When I looked at the photograph later, it looked like something from an old film strip. It obviously caught the judge’s eyes.”
Two weeks ago, Mr. Baumgarten was informed that his photograph was judged the winner in the Urban and Natural Landscapes category in the recent Photography of the Year contest put on by Canadian Geographic magazine. “You just never know when an interesting image will present itself,” he stated.
His award-winning photograph has netted Mr. Baumgarten a cash prize of $1,000 in the annual competition. His photograph will also be published in the March/April edition of Canadian Geographic magazine.