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Saturday, March 14, 2009

Cullen wins the National Eagle Center's 2010 calendar photo contest youth division



Here are the results on the National Eagle Center's website:
National Eagle Center 2010 Calendar Photo Contest Winners

On September 27th of last year, we were out on one of our evening wildlife drives in the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. This eagle's nest has probably been photographed 10,000 times before as it is only a couple of hundred yards off the road. However, this is the reason why we always bring one of the cameras with as you never know when the "ordinary" is going to become the "extraordinary". Photography 101...look at something ordinary in an unordinary way. That is exactly what happened this evening as the sun broke through the clouds for just a few seconds to create this scene as Cullen snapped away. I knew we had something good and when the NEC opened up entries for the 2010 calendar, I suggested to Cullen he should enter the photo as I thought it would stand a good chance (even Dave Drufke commented back then he thought the shot was something special with the unique lighting). So Cullen, myself, and Melinda worked on getting the photo mounted on the foamboard and I dropped it off on one of my trips down to Alma, WI.

Wednesday night this week a letter came in the mail for Cullen from the NEC. I was just as excited as he was as he SLOWLY opened the envelope. He pulled out a gift certificate and thought he had won a drawing he had entered earlier this year. I asked him if there was anything else in the evelope, and as his fingers fumbled around, out it fell. Another sheet from the NEC notifying him he had won first place in the youth division! At that point the excitement took off as he had to call his grandmothers and let them know also as his mother and I had one of those "special parent moments". What a blast to watch.

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