Hi all! I don't think I've posted on the bird photography forum side of NPN before, but I'm hoping you'll forgive a very proud dad and let me share some great news with you all.
Two weeks ago we received a call informing us that Marlise, my 11yr old daughter whom you have yet to "meet" here at NPN, won her age category of a HUGE national art and photo contest, the Robert Bateman Get to Know contest. This contest is promoted heavily on TV, in outdoors stores, national parks, etc. and to every student of every school in Canada! In fact, many schools choose to use this contest as a major art/photo project for art students.
Well, last week we learned Jenaya (the daughter you do know from the critique galleries here) won the Jr High category of the same contest with one of her (you guessed it!) Northern Hawk Owl images that you helped her perfect through your comments and suggestions. As an extra affirmation, we didn't even enter ANY of what I consider to be Jenaya's best images because of the open-ended publication release that is part of this contest!
This is actually the SECOND time my daughters have "swept" a major competition...last fall Marlise won the overall wildlife category for the Canadian Wildlife Federation's "Focus on Nature" contest, and Jenaya won the overall landscape category! Jenaya also came in as runner-up for the prestigious Canadian Geographic "Wildlife Photography of the Year" contest (with a photo of a pair of cedar waxwings), and in January her work appeared in four separate national publications at the same time (took me several years to accomplish that back in the 90's when I was shooting professionally!). She also just learned this week that three of her images are being considered for Canadian Geographic's "Best Wildlife Photo's of 2011" publication. I'm obviously a very proud dad.
Perhaps the highest honour came in May, however, when Jenaya and Marlise were notified they had made it through to the final round of the annual Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest (Young Photographer division).
If that wasn't enough, both of Jenaya and Marlise's siblings are taking some pretty incredible images themselves (ages 6 and 9), so I think I'll be doing a LOT of post processing in the years to come, and hopefully a little more bragging as well!
It's a great passion to share as a family, and I'm sure you've noticed we have a lot of fun with it.
Anyway, thanks for letting me "gush" a bit! I've attached Jenaya's winning image on the "Get to Know" contest here and will post Marlise's below.
Thank you also for helping to develop Jenaya's skills and "eye" as a photographer. She and I are both very grateful for the community here.
Marlise's picture of a Black-Capped Chickadee, taken during one of our outings to a favourite place of her's, the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary in Calgary, Alberta (birds are completely wild and free to come and go...it's just a nice forest and wetland area in the city of Calgary).
WOW!! Congratulations to you and your family. Awesome that they are following in your footsteps. I wasn't into photography when my kids were growing up and the grandkids run in the other direction when they see the camera come out.
Wow, you've got TWO daughters (so far) who are taking amazing images?? We've all been astounded by some of the images that Jenaya has posted, and are now looking forward to Marlise's images too.
What a great family interest, and something to all enjoy together.
Wonderful parenting here, John!
Wow!! Congratulations to the entire family. What an honor. Way to go proud Dad!! and of course to the fantastic young ladies you're raising. Great to hear this kind of news.
As you already know John, I'm a great admirer of Jenaya's wonderful work, and I hope it won't be too long before I'll be seeing more of Marlis's images as well as those of your younger daughter and son :^)
While your children obviously have a natural eye for an image and photographic talent, I think credit is also due you, as I can't imagine four kids in the same family naturally developing a passion for wildlife photography without a huge amount of enthusiasm, encouragement, and support from at least one if not both parents. The Launstein's sound like an ideal family to be born into :^)
Thank you all very much for sharing congratulations with my girls (and me!)...I passed them all along. Thank you also for your kind words about my support, but who wouldn't want to spend time in nature with the ones you most love and most enjoy being with? It's a no-brainer for me! :) My wife and I are hard-core nature fanatics and our kids grew up in that environment, so it's just kind of part of who we are and what we do as a family. Moving to the far SW corner of Alberta was a major step forward on this with its proximity to Waterton Lakes National Park and Glacier National Park in MT and all the wilderness surrounding us.
Jenaya began talking a LOT about being a nature/wildlife photographer when she was 10(!) but to be honest I balanced general parental support/encouragement with a healthy dose of caution and reality-check stuff, having been in the business (though not in wildlife) in the 90's and knowing how hard it is to make a living in this field. But after impressing us with her cheap point-and-shoot we bought her a better extended-zoom point-and-shoot when she was twelve and it became quickly clear she had serious talent, and was still (two years later) saying this is what she wanted to do. So we bought her a barely-used Nikon D70s system for her 13th, and apparently "fed the beast" and she was totally hooked. We since upgraded her to a D300, but I must confess I can't afford the glass that would be most helpful to her, but we make do and have a lot of fun in the process.
Marlise is an incredibly natural artist. Her grandmother taught art her whole life and Mar's "got the genes." It seems whenever she puts her eye to the viewfinder something beautiful emerges, even from what seemed like a very ordinary scene...just a natural eye for composition. She probably leans toward landscapes and abstract nature images, but her love for animals keeps her pretty focused on critters whenever the opportunity arises. She's been shooting with her own point-and-shoot and my second body (Nikon D2X) and occasionally Jenaya's D70s, but is of course now asking for a system of her own. ;)
Anyway, thank you all again for taking the time to comment and congratulate my girls.
Thank you, everyone! I passed all your comments on to the girls. They are both excitedly preparing for part of their prizes/awards: a one-week art and nature camp in the gulf islands including lessons with none other than Robert Bateman himself! I'm sure you'll be seeing some marine images from Jenaya in late-August. :)
Sharon: I couldn't agree more! Wish you DID work for Nikon!
Discussion
13 repliesTwo weeks ago we received a call informing us that Marlise, my 11yr old daughter whom you have yet to "meet" here at NPN, won her age category of a HUGE national art and photo contest, the Robert Bateman Get to Know contest. This contest is promoted heavily on TV, in outdoors stores, national parks, etc. and to every student of every school in Canada! In fact, many schools choose to use this contest as a major art/photo project for art students.
Well, last week we learned Jenaya (the daughter you do know from the critique galleries here) won the Jr High category of the same contest with one of her (you guessed it!) Northern Hawk Owl images that you helped her perfect through your comments and suggestions. As an extra affirmation, we didn't even enter ANY of what I consider to be Jenaya's best images because of the open-ended publication release that is part of this contest!
This is actually the SECOND time my daughters have "swept" a major competition...last fall Marlise won the overall wildlife category for the Canadian Wildlife Federation's "Focus on Nature" contest, and Jenaya won the overall landscape category! Jenaya also came in as runner-up for the prestigious Canadian Geographic "Wildlife Photography of the Year" contest (with a photo of a pair of cedar waxwings), and in January her work appeared in four separate national publications at the same time (took me several years to accomplish that back in the 90's when I was shooting professionally!). She also just learned this week that three of her images are being considered for Canadian Geographic's "Best Wildlife Photo's of 2011" publication. I'm obviously a very proud dad.
Perhaps the highest honour came in May, however, when Jenaya and Marlise were notified they had made it through to the final round of the annual Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest (Young Photographer division).
If that wasn't enough, both of Jenaya and Marlise's siblings are taking some pretty incredible images themselves (ages 6 and 9), so I think I'll be doing a LOT of post processing in the years to come, and hopefully a little more bragging as well!
It's a great passion to share as a family, and I'm sure you've noticed we have a lot of fun with it.
Anyway, thanks for letting me "gush" a bit! I've attached Jenaya's winning image on the "Get to Know" contest here and will post Marlise's below.
Thank you also for helping to develop Jenaya's skills and "eye" as a photographer. She and I are both very grateful for the community here.
What a great family interest, and something to all enjoy together.
Wonderful parenting here, John!
Sandy
Well done girls!
Lon
While your children obviously have a natural eye for an image and photographic talent, I think credit is also due you, as I can't imagine four kids in the same family naturally developing a passion for wildlife photography without a huge amount of enthusiasm, encouragement, and support from at least one if not both parents. The Launstein's sound like an ideal family to be born into :^)
Jenaya began talking a LOT about being a nature/wildlife photographer when she was 10(!) but to be honest I balanced general parental support/encouragement with a healthy dose of caution and reality-check stuff, having been in the business (though not in wildlife) in the 90's and knowing how hard it is to make a living in this field. But after impressing us with her cheap point-and-shoot we bought her a better extended-zoom point-and-shoot when she was twelve and it became quickly clear she had serious talent, and was still (two years later) saying this is what she wanted to do. So we bought her a barely-used Nikon D70s system for her 13th, and apparently "fed the beast" and she was totally hooked. We since upgraded her to a D300, but I must confess I can't afford the glass that would be most helpful to her, but we make do and have a lot of fun in the process.
Marlise is an incredibly natural artist. Her grandmother taught art her whole life and Mar's "got the genes." It seems whenever she puts her eye to the viewfinder something beautiful emerges, even from what seemed like a very ordinary scene...just a natural eye for composition. She probably leans toward landscapes and abstract nature images, but her love for animals keeps her pretty focused on critters whenever the opportunity arises. She's been shooting with her own point-and-shoot and my second body (Nikon D2X) and occasionally Jenaya's D70s, but is of course now asking for a system of her own. ;)
Anyway, thank you all again for taking the time to comment and congratulate my girls.
With appreciation...
Sharon: I couldn't agree more!
Thank you all once again.