First Place: John Standquist – Winslow Man
Robert Thoresen
August’s contest theme was sculpture and for the first time in contest history the judges voted a tie for second place. There were 27 entries for the three outside judges to select from. There was no runoff for third place. John Standquist made a return to first place and perennial favorites Ken Haley and Pete Murphy were close behind. It was a photo finish so common for the racing handicappers.
John took his first place photograph of Winslow Man in August 2013 on a stopover at Winslow, Arizona, on his way to Las Vegas. It stands 40 feet and is located on the south side of Winslow, Arizona, next to the railroad tracks. The creation is that of Peter Wolf Toth around 1980. Toth, a Hungarian immigrant, wanted to create carvings as a tribute to Native American culture.
There is much more to this totem pole carving than is depicted in the image. The entire carving of ponderosa pine shows a Native American male wearing a headdress with a bear head topped by two upright feathers. The figure has a moustache and is wearing a choker with medallion around his neck. This depiction of the face and headdress of a Native American is part of Toth’s Trail of the Whispering Giants that he started in 1971 with the intention of doing a carving in each of the 50 states. This has been completed as well as 15 in Canada “to promote unity among all people.” The photo was taken with a SONY DSC-H7, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO-125, fl 16mm, Aperture 2.875, flash and no software modification.
When the Haleys lived in New Hampshire they could not go to, and take friends to, Boston without a visit to the Faneuil Marketplace. The old harbor district was converted to old shops, Boston’s best restaurants and street entertainment. Ken took the picture of the lady dressed up as a statue and stood motionless except for the collecting of dollars and turning a rolled piece of paper with a fortune on it. Camera was a Canon EOS 5D Mark III, f/3.5, 1/250 sec, ISO-100, fl 43mm, Aperture 3.0, no flash and modified by Adobe Photoshop.
The Murphys were on a Mediterranean cruise vacation about five years ago. One port of call was Civitavecchia, Italy, with a land tour of Rome. Pete claims they got a back door tour of St. Peters Basilica. No reason to doubt him. There are a lot of back doors at the Vatican through which have passed multitudes of intrigues over the centuries. The Greek marble sculpture is Neptunian. The god has been pulled back off the sarcophagus which is equally well carved. One wonders what might have happened to the remains. Camera was a Kodak Easyshare V1003 Zoom, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO-80, fl 8mm, Aperture 3.0, no flash and modified by Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.5.
The Photography Club of Quail Creek conducts monthly photo contests for its members. Quail Creek residents are invited to attend monthly meetings and a presentation held the second Wednesday of the month in the Gold Room at the Madera Clubhouse at 6:30 p.m. Club details are posted at the club’s website at http://www.pcqc.org.