The 2010 Hill Country Calendar
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Our calendar is a wonderful holiday gift and can be purchased easily online. We offer bulk discounts for Hill Country nonprofits and other organizations who want to resell calendars for a fundraising activity. Businesses can receive discounts for large orders for customer/client gifts. Wholesale rates are also available for Hill Country retailers. Contact HCA directly about large orders. Support our mission, spread the word and help raise awareness about a responsible approach to growth in the Hill Country region.
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See the top photographs from the 2009 Hill Country Alliance photo contest
This year's winners:
Photographers from across the Hill Country took the theme of Hill Country Alliance’s Third Annual Photo Contest seriously: Celebrating the Treasure of the Hill Country is now possible with a look through the beautiful photographs in the 2010 Hill Country Alliance calendar.
Four photographers are celebrating winning the contest, which featured four categories:
- Hill Country People: individuals, children and families
- Natural Treasures: springs, parks, rivers, special places in nature
- Hill Country Enterprise: wineries, tourism, festivals, towns
- Working the Land: gardening, agriculture, ranching, farming
Chase Fountain, Texas Parks and Wildlife photographer, is the winner of the “Hill Country People” category with his photograph titled David Bamberger and Cory. Fountain was assigned to photograph Bamberger after it was announced that Bamberger Ranch won the 2009 Leopold Conservation Award. Fountain says they walked around the ranch and talked for hours and then he did the photo shoot with Bamberger and his dog, Cory. “He puts his heart out there, and he inspired me so much,” Fountain says. “I got the shot at the end of the day at that perfect golden moment.”
Rusty Ray, winner of the “Natural Treasures” category, specializes in outdoor photography. Ray was camping at South Llano River Park near Junction when caught a glimpse of a vermillion flycatcher venturing near his camp. “I set up camp, put a thistle sock up and a chair by the picnic table with a tripod. The golden finches started coming in,” Ray recalls. “The vermillion flew up within 15 feet of where I was sitting with an insect in his mouth. I moved the camera and started shooting. He beat the insect on a branch and then looked up.” And that was the winning photograph titled Successful Hunt.
Ray has entered the HCA Photo Contest every year and won third place last year. His photograph, “Evening Glow in Llano County,” is the cover of the 2009 HCA calendar.
Carolyn Whiteside is winner of the “Hill Country Enterprises” category. She says that for her, “photography is a hobby that went astray.” She now has a small photography business. The day she photographed her winning photo, Pick Me, was not an ideal day for outdoor photography. “It was late July. In Texas that means hot and not picturesque,” Whiteside notes. “It dawned on me it was the grape season.” She went to a winery in Gillespie County, just outside of Fredericksburg. “When I got there, I took only pictures of grapes. They were so pretty and perfect.”
Robert Anschutz, winner of the “Working the Land” category with Vineyard Harvest, likes traveling the back roads of the Hill Country taking photographs. He had explored the idea of taking some photographs at the Driftwood Vineyard, “When it was harvest time in 2006 I had a great opportunity that morning to watch the harvesting process.” It was a great harvest that year. “With the machine in the photograph, they harvested eight tons of grapes that day,” Anschutz recalls.
The winning photographs were chosen by a team of judges including:
- Rusty Yates, contemporary fine art photographer,
- Carter Smith, Executive Director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and
- Kevin Vandivier, photographer and owner of Alpha Omega Photographic Gallery
- Herb Smith, who won first place in the contest two years in a row, chaired the judging team this year.
Featured photographs of the 2010 Hill Country Calendar:
Cover - Fishing at Sunset - Photographer: Rose Epps
January - David Bamberger and Cory - Photographer: Chase Fountain
February - Successful Hunt - Photographer: Rusty Ray
March - Cibolo Creek Reflections - Photographer: Jason Merlo
April - Comfort Cloud Vines - Photographer: Andrew McClintock
May - Painted Lady - Photographer: Rose Epps
June - Hill Country Buffet - Photographer: Rusty Ray
July - Deer Neighbors - Photographer: Sharon Carter
August - Pick Me - Photographer: Carolyn Whiteside
September - Good Mornin' Guadalupe - Photographer - Judy Cooper
October - Angler's Quest - Photographer - Carol Serur
November - Fall Colors in the Canyon - Photographer - Paul Huchton
December - Fenceline - Photographer: Robin Gorrell
