2018 Photo Contest Grand Prize Winner by Andrew Lincoln of Napa.
Photo/Andrew Lincoln
December 27, 2018 - By Kevin Hecteman - An intimate portrait of a man harvesting merlot winegrapes in the Napa Valley earned the Grand Prize in the 37th annual California Farm Bureau Federation photo contest.
The photographer, Andrew Lincoln of Napa, received $1,000 in prize money. He said he especially enjoys taking pictures of harvest and hopes his photos draw attention to the important work people do on California farms and ranches. Lincoln also won the contest's Grand Prize in 2016.
This year's CFBF Photo Contest attracted hundreds of entries from amateur photographers who are members of county Farm Bureaus or supporters of the California Bountiful Foundation.
Andrea Traphagan of Ravendale garnered First Place and $500 for a photo of her tractor-driving husband preparing a Lassen County field at sunset. Second Place and $250 went to Angels Camp resident Mindy Rasmussen for her action shot of a late-summer cattle drive. Lincoln also earned Third Place and an additional $100 for a photo that captured two snowy egrets in flight.
Six photos earned Honorable Mentions and $50 each. In the Budding Artists category, the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom presented awards of $250 and $100 to photographers ages 13 and younger.
First Place, Andrea Traphagan, Lassen County
Traphagan's husband and son were preparing a field near Ravendale for alfalfa when she caught this sunset shot of Tom, her husband, aboard his tractor. "It's always fun for me to show the beauty of living in the middle of nowhere," Traphagan said. "It's a lot of hard work to put in that kind of a field. They worked into the night."
Second Place, Mindy Rasmussen, Calaveras County
Every summer, Rasmussen's family moves cattle from Angels Camp to Alpine County. Come fall, it's time to round up the herd and head down the mountain. Her husband and his brother, fifth-generation ranchers, are in charge of the ranch. "They're trying to keep the grandfather's legacy going," said Rasmussen, who serves as president of the Calaveras County Farm Bureau.
Third Place, Andrew Lincoln, Napa County
The Carneros region of Napa County is famous for two things, Lincoln said: ideal conditions for growing pinot noir and chardonnay grapes, and the Napa-Sonoma Marshes Wildlife Area. These snowy egrets were found just half a mile down the road from where Lincoln took the Grand Prize photo. "For me, it symbolized that nature and agriculture can coexist," he said.
Honorable Mention, Andrea Traphagan, Lassen County
The entire Traphagan family was hard at work at 3 a.m. baling hay. Here, Traphagan's husband, Tom, checks moisture levels in each bale. "There's an exhilaration in getting up that early and watching all your hard work, everything you've done to this field, all of a sudden come together," she said.
Honorable Mention, Celeste Alonzo, Riverside County
Alonzo and her brother were fetching equipment for a tractor driver when she spied this view on one of her father's fields near Thermal. "It looked really pretty from the truck, and I just got off and took a picture," Alonzo said.
Honorable Mention, Chelsea Davis, Fresno County
Davis, the 2016 Budding Artists winner, and her brother Colin, 4, were wandering around the dairy looking for photo opportunities. "Colin wanted to see a calf," Davis said. "He just hopped up to the fence, and he just sat there looking at that. I'm like, 'Oh, my word. Mom, this is a great picture.' So I grabbed my camera and I took a couple of shots."
Honorable Mention, James Durst, Yolo County
Durst grows organic tomatoes near Esparto; in his fields are rows of flowers and other plants meant to attract beneficial insects. He managed to capture this photo, of a bee visiting a phacelia plant, using a smartphone. "This guy was on the flower, and just as he started to take off, I was able to snap his picture," Durst said.
Honorable Mention, Nicole Andreini, Glenn County
It's never too early to help on the farm. Andreini's son, Joey, and her father, Mike Landini, were putting out minerals for the cows in preparation for calving season one day. "Joey was helping open bags and Grandpa was dumping them in seed buckets," Andreini said.
Honorable Mention, Wendy Sylvester, San Luis Obispo County
No, this isn't staged. Sylvester was moving goat fencing when Opal, her German shorthair pointer and goat herder, hopped up on a recently made bale of oat hay. "I turn around, and all by herself she had jumped up on the top of this bale and was just kind of surveying everything around us," Sylvester said. "I just grabbed my phone and took a picture really fast."
Budding Artists, First Place, Nathan Blagg, Dottie Davis, 10 years old, Glenn County
Dottie was walking around the family hay farm near Orland one evening thinking about contest entries. "I saw that sight, and I ran to get my mom's phone to take the picture," she said. How does she feel about winning for the first time? "Excited," Dottie said. "Really, really excited." She'll be the sixth generation of farmers. "We come from a long line of agriculture," said her mom, Rachel Davis, whose mother and aunts raise cattle.
Budding Artists, Second Place, Kyle Radich,13 years old, Mendocino County
"You know those close-up pictures of dogs, with their noses in the camera?" Kyle said. "That's what I was inspired by." This eager goat was at the trough, where the animals eat apples and hay. The family—Kyle's parents are first-generation farmers—raises ducks, lambs, rabbits and a variety of crops in addition to goats in Point Arena.
Reprinted with permission: California Farm Bureau Federation
