Could the Western Cowman Photo Contest be one of the biggest in the West? I know that I don’t have proof of that…..except for the evidence of 886 photos that were received in this year’s contest. You heard me correctly, that’s 886 photos compared to last year’s 661. If were not the biggest we sure have to be getting close, but it’s just not the numbers it’s that this set of photos may well be the best yet, that we’ve received. It took Jim, Mercedes and I several evenings working past the midnight hour to just open all of the envelopes and record each entry. Then the real work started as I began breaking the photos into categories, and you’ll note that this year we have a record number of 63 categories. The challenge in breaking the categories is to keep the numbers in any given category in line so that a true evaluation from the judges can be attained. Judging this year was not for the weak of heart, it literally took hours to get through all of those categories and determine the winners.

For the last few years we’ve been privileged to have David Stoecklein as one of our judges. David helps me select our Editor’s Choice winner and picks his top five favorites of the
contest. For years David has been widely acclaimed for his exceptional photographs that depict the Western lifestyle and the ranching profession. David’s beautiful coffee table books, calendars and prints are the things that Christmas present dreams are made of. New in David’s repertoire of talents are the highly commended Photography Workshops that he began this year, every workshop is truly a special experience for the photographer who wants to learn from the best.

Our next judge is Kathy Rose, a long time friend and neighbor of our family. Kathy and her family have been raising cattle and ranching for years, but it is not just Kathy’s ranching background that makes her a good judge it is her judicious eye for beauty and detail as she is also a superb Interior Decorator with a special talent for landscaping as well. Kathy developed the beautiful floral design for the show ring at this year’s Western National Angus Futurity that was highly praised by all in attendance, and is much-admired for the beautiful homes that she has decorated over the years. Kathy has been instrumental in assisting with the look and feel of the Red Carpet event and many other special proceedings that have been held at our ranch. Her wonderful perspective was truly appreciated.

This year when we were discussing names to select our judges, I realized that I had met the perfect couple to be judges for this year’s contest. This dynamic talented couple is Scott and Carolyn Colson. They are both brilliant in their own right, but as a team the “wow” factor was over the top. Carolyn is a 5th generation western rancher, as well as an international advertising, marketing and public relations creative director for agricultural, culinary, wine, architecture, engineering, and high tech companies, not to mention that she works regularly with landscape, aerial, architectural, portrait and product photographers. Her husband Scott is an award-winning architect currently practicing in the San Francisco Bay area. His design work has been published in several magazines including Architectural Digest and the Architectural Record. He has taught at the Academy of Art in San Francisco as well. Both Carolyn and Scott have a great affinity for western art and the western ranching tradition. They were tremendous judges and their input and time were very valuable to this contest.

My thanks again to each of these amazing individuals for taking time from their busy lives to judge this year’s competition, I also want to thank my daughter Mercedes for her organizing capabilities, without her energy and devotion, getting this year’s contest pulled together would have been impossible. Thanks to Jason Sabourin and Ashley Knight in our art department for all the time they dedicated to scanning the photos and designing this year’s contest pages. I have a special thank you to those of you that sent me notes and letters along with your entries, those are the highlight of this contest for me, and they bring the photos to life. These are so special that some time in the near future I plan to showcase them and share them with everyone. My thanks also go out to each and every one of you who took the time to submit photos to this year’s contest. This may not be the biggest photo contest in the West but I can sure guarantee we get the best and most astounding photos out there. Thanks again