1st Place DANILO FARIA Land of Inflatables Honeybee Canyon - Within our group of friends, we have an ongoing joke that we carry inflatable saguaros with us in photo-shoots because we seem to find them in almost every composition in Southern Arizona. Yesterday was another one of these days, where we have plenty of inflatable placed perfectly with rainbows and unicorns, I mean lightning bolts…
2nd Place Dianne Slotten The Wild, Wild West Honeybee Canyon overlooking Big Wash and the Catalinas This image harkens back to old westerns I watched as a child as I fantasized of being a cowgirl. Wide open spaces and rugged mountains framed by a stand of giant Saguaros capture the romance of the West which drew me to this area. I am awed that these places still exist...and right in my own back yard, in the heart of Oro Valley!!
3rd Place JOHN AMATO Calliandra eriophylla
HONORABLE MENTION DANILO FARIA Hope Under the rainbow during a storm chase over Honeybee Canyon.
HONORABLE MENTION STEVE PRULL Rainbow over Table Mountain The summer monsoons resulted in a rich green carpet on the slopes of the mountain. By early September the end of the monsoon season seemed to be punctuated by a beautiful rainbow over the sunlit hills.
HONORABLE MENTION MELANIE FRANZ Saguaro Macro Close up macro shot of a saguaro's spines in my neighborhood.
HONORABLE MENTION JAMES CAPO Sonoran Night Time exposure captures the motion of the stars moving in their circuit in the Sonoran night sky.
HONORABLE MENTION SARAH KURKER Contrast My neighborhood, Circle in nature
ANIMALS & WILDLIFE CATEGORY
1st Place MELISSA HARNISH Purple Feather Splendor Estates at High Mesa The beautiful colors of this Costas Hummingbird in the bright sunlight is fanatstic!!!
2nd Place DIANNE SLOTTEN It's In His Nature In my driveway in Hohokam Mesa, Oro Valley, AZ With the safety of his nest nowhere in sight this plucky little explorer ventured on a solo expedition in our neighborhood. Sporting a brave mohawk and a confident expression he must have felt safe in his adventures on the clean streets of Oro Valley.
3rd Place JOHN AMATO Crematogaster ants tending to Tachardiella fulgens lac insects on Coursetia glandulosa Coronado National Forest, Oro Valley - Insects farming insects
HONORABLE MENTION CHARLIE ALOLKOY Have at Thee 288 E Southern Pines Dr, Oro Valley (my back yard) - I love sitting in my back yard watching the Costa's hummingbirds
HONORABLE MENTION KEVIN CORR Get a Grip on it My backyard in Oro Valley, near La Canada and Tangerine Rd - This bright red-headed hummingbird only showed a red head when it was turned a certain way in the light. It really caught my attention.
HONORABLE MENTION MELANIE FRANZ Oleaceae 2 Canada Hills neighborhood - Image from my backyard of a hummingbird resting on an olive branch.
HONORABLE MENTION JAN MAYER Colorado River Toad Catalina State Park - Luckily that day we visited the park, there was a living exhibit of desert reptiles. These toads are a summer phenomenon that are both auditory and bold in that they only appears as the summer rains do. Not to mention their incredible appearance
HONORABLE MENTION BILL SEMRAD Busy bee in our front yard The flower blossoms in our front yard were beautiful and I was trying to photograph hummingbirds but they were not showing up so took a photo of this busy bee instead.
PEOPLE
1st Place PAUL RICHARDSON Capturing a masterpiece Linda Vista Trail
2nd Place PAUL LIVINGSTON Great Granddaddy Honey Bee Canyon Park
3rd Place RHONDA ROYSE A girl and her horse Calle Concordia near La Canada
HONORABLE MENTION DIANNE SLOTTEN Walk a Mile in My Shoes Honeybee Ridge looking over Big Wash towards the Catalina Mountains
HONORABLE MENTION JANISE WITT Phoenix Rising Catalina State Park