Remember this: Talent can win more than once. Reading the directions are important.
Every year I follow the United States Fish and Wildlife Duck Stamp Competition. I usually follow Kira Sabin and her process as she selects the duck of choice to paint and her wins and struggles for getting to final shippable submission. She has sat as a judge for the juvenile duck stamp competition and provides excellent input.
At first glance, you understand this is a lump of 300 or so entries that are of different levels of artistic ability and growth. In good purpose, giving someone the opportunity to attempt, and try again another day, is a learning curve of how not to give up but to come back to the drawing board and try again after improving one's skills as an artist, more so a wildlife artist.
Time and practice can cure a lot of problems.
With that being said, a lot of the submissions were probably cut due to not reading the requirements.
In the instructions, it stated something to the effect that you could choose from the migratory fowl, but you had to put in the conservation aspect and the habitat. Alot of these are migratory fowl swimming or suspended on water with some sprigs of grass. Its starts looking like a Sears portrait studio photo shoot.
It views, "I am a beautiful duck, watch me swim."
2025 Winner by James Hautman
Three Buffleheads
Here are some entries I wanted to review:
(Click on images to enlarge)
This image provided light and color and action with the above-below water line visuals. There is a hint of the cattails in the background.
Several of these were hyper-realistic but lacked the conservation and habitat or action.
This image was camera worthy for realism but was portraiture with no story behind it.
This was a nice little photo with the underwater foot and bubble with the ripple of the reflection.
These two entries were cool neutral but still lacked conservation and habitat.
I thought this entry dabbled in the folklore and stop action imagery but had a suggested story, migratory fowl on the borderline of human habitation and industry. It looked intentionally different visually.
This entry was a great action shot with complimentary background.
These two entries I adored for the attention to detail and how much work it must have took.
This little entry right here was different. It is different to me because here you have the known and unknown where Conservation isn't always right there in your face.
The questions to ask are:
Why is there a decoy present?
Is the decoy implemented for wildlife conservation science or active hunting?
What happens if the little fowl disappears forever from the landscape due to over hunting, disease, or limiting factors that will cause there to only be the remnants of floating fowl decoys that will drift till they get caught up in the mud, moor themselves in the grasses, or sink to the depths?
Will there be another image like this for the future or will this be a reminder reaching out from the past that illustrates the loss we will have as a country when a political pen swipes a paper and slowly but surely rubs it out like No 2 lead on paper? Because of revenge? Retribution? Religious fanaticism?
It is quite an image to ponder on. You travel from pristine, beautiful healthy fowl to what if it were to all end tomorrow?
These online events and competitions can bring people to love it and study on the greater ethos of Conservation and those creatures and landscapes within it and to those people that wake up and go to sleep every night with its past, present, and future always on their minds.
Go ahead and put it on your calendar for next year, practice and save up that entry fee. You will not regret it!
If you would like to view images click the link:
Adieu!
Footnote: All images are subject to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service copyright. Images used solely to support contest and spread awareness of wildlife conservation, conservation law, and public service awareness through education and learning.
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