Some of the top winners of the 2023 Celebrate Michigan Photo Contest.
The winners are in: An aerial view of a Hamtramck neighborhood, another of a boat and skier racing across a lake, and a shot of a crane coming in for a landing were our photo editors' picks for the top spots in the 2023 Celebrate Michigan Photo Contest, sponsored by Woodward Camera and Camera Mall.
Our readers had different ideas. People's Choice voting gave wins to a participant crawling through mud in a muddy-run course, a pair of egrets playing tag on Harsen's Island, and a moon setting behind the St. Joseph lighthouse on Lake Michigan.
Each of the Judges' Theme Winners and each of the People's Choice winners will receive $300 gift cards. Additionally, there were three Awards of Excellence, each of whom receive $100 gift cards.
The winners were selected from a field of 3,928 entries submitted over the 12 weeks of our annual photo contest, which began Memorial Day weekend and encompassed images from across the state and all four seasons in the categories of "Candid Captures," "Views and Vistas," and "Fur, Feathers and Flora."
Multimedia editor Andy Morrison noted the total number of entries was down from previous years, but that the quality and creativity of the entries was "outstanding."
The winners of Judges' Prizes, and $300 each:
Bobby Brown II, of Detroit, used a drone to capture the Judge's Prize in Views and Vistas for a colorful shot of the rooftops of a Hamtramck neighborhood.
Brown said he was out shooting some top-down shots of baseball fields in Hamtramck last summer with his DJI Mini 3 drone. He was getting ready to land the drone in a parking lot, but, as he rotated the aircraft, he saw more to shoot.
"I noticed how colorful the neighborhood was surrounding Keyworth Stadium. I took a few photos that had more of the field but then I noticed the 'Hamtramck' spelled out (on the buildings) and cropped out some of the field to focus on that and the neighborhood," Brown said. "I just loved all of the colors from up above."
The judges loved this unique look at Hamtramck. "The colors, composition and light all worked together to put this ahead of some very stiff competition," said Morrison.
Dennis Boatman, of Wixom, won the Judges' Prize in Fur, Feathers and Flora with his image of a sandhill crane making a landing in Commerce Township.
"This category is always the hardest to judge," said Morrison. "There are so many great photographs. But this technical expertise shown in this photo, along with the beautiful light moved this one to the top."
Michael Damone, of Clarkston, was a frequent contributor to the 2023 contest, dropping eye-catching entries in all three categories. But it was his aerial shot of a boat and water skier on a glassy Walters Lake in Independence Township that prompted judges to make him their winner in Candid Captures.
Damone said he had purchased a DJI Mavic 3 drone in May, secured FAA licensing to use it, and was on the lookout for subjects to practice his skills. He has friends who ski on Walters Lake about four mornings per week, so he followed along with his drone one morning in June.
"The water and light conditions were nearly perfect, and I photographed them for about 45 minutes," he said. Most of the photos were throwaways, "but when I saw this photo on my computer screen, I knew I had the potential to be special."
Our judges agreed: "The simple, yet graphic elements in this photo made it stand out. It perfectly sums up summer for so many in Michigan," said Morrison.
▶ Photo Gallery: Celebrate Michigan: See the finalists, best shots from Week 1-12
The winners of People's Choice prizes, and $300 each
Keith Blaske, of Niles, captured this image of the full May "flower moon" setting into Lake Michigan behind the lighthouse at St. Joseph. In a vote that saw nearly 2,000 ballots cast across all three categories, he was picked as the People's Choice winner in the Views and Vistas category.
Glen Suszko, of Shelby Township, was voted the People's Choice winner in the Candid Captures category for this action shot of a participant in a mud run.
"Each year the Muddy Dash comes to Stony Creek Metropark. This year so many contestants got ‘muddy,'" he said.
The final People's Choice winner was another bird — or a pair of them. They were among 15 different pictures of egrets submitted over the summer.
"These great white egrets were playing a bit of tag on April 30, 2023 in the Krispin Drain on Harsens Island," wrote Stacy Williams, an island resident, who set up for the shot and the $300 prize.
Awards of excellence, and $100 each
Takuma Saito, of Novi, took creativity to another level with this timed exposure of two shadow people watching the Northern Lights over Lake Superior. Our judges gave him an award of excellence in our Candid Captures category.
He took the shot along the pathway from a campsite over Labor Day weekend of 2022 and held on to it for this year's contest. By setting up for a timed exposure of the lights, then bringing subjects in partway through the process, he created a ghosting effect.
"We saw a lot of Northern Lights photos in this contest, most of them really good," said judge Morrison. "Not only was this technically well-shot, but the purple streaks pointing to the people really help make this work."
In Views and Vistas, Michael Palko, of Interlochen, won a judges' Award of Excellence for a picture of the Bond Falls Outpost reflected in a puddle of water. He called the image "Reflections."
"A rainy October day at Bond Falls led to a walk up the falls to the outpost. Although it was closed for the season, it was still definitely worth the walk in the rain," said Palko.
Added Morrison: "A low angle and the reflection of the Bond Falls Outpost had the judges wanting to head north for fall colors."
It was an eagle that won the judges' Award of Excellence in the Fur, Feathers and Flora category. Micheal Hellyer, of Westland, said he captured this image of an American bald eagle taking flight in February at Sterling State Park, in Monroe.
"This photo was very, very close to winning this category. The detail shown in this bald eagle is stunning," said Morrison. "And as photographers ourselves, we know how hard this was to shoot and get it sharp."
Winners will be contacted about receiving their prizes. And would-be participants can start shooting right now to gather up entries for our 2024 Celebrate Michigan Photo Contest. You may enter any photo shot in Michigan in the previous five years, beginning around Memorial Day.