By necessity, judging a photograph's merit has to emphasize technical aspects as well as the artsy feel-good stuff. Here at the magazine, we struggle with the balance between these criteria, especially when it comes to judging entries for our East Idaho Community Photo Contest, now in its 10th year.
Images that satisfy all the dotted I's and crossed T's don't necessarily inspire. Meanwhile, entries that play fast and loose with the rules can sometimes knock our socks off. In the end, it comes down to some exceedingly difficult choices between who makes the cut and who misses it by the thinnest of margins.
To that end, we decided a few years ago that a select number of photos should get a piece of the spotlight, even if they fell just outside of the winners' circle. On that note, take a gander at the 2019 Editor's Picks of the East Idaho Community Photo Contest:
Ernie Tate / Feeling Sheepish
Sheep waiting to be loaded on trucks in the sheep pens located at the southeastern corner of the Big Southern Butte northwest of Blackfoot.
Michael Morse / Mother (in) Nature
Photographed in Inkom, this mother Great Horned Owl watches over a group of Austrian Pines where her two young ones were starting to learn how to fly.
Chrystine Whyte / Rounding Up the Day
This image of McKoy Carter roping steers was taken at his home in Pingree.
Aryana Woodward / By the Book
A young reader peeks out between short stories. Taken at Lava Hot Springs, featuring Woodward’s adorable niece from Pocatello.
Faith Kjosa / Shocking Scenic
A long exposure captures nature’s fury over the eastern Idaho nightscape.
Shayna Barnhill / Stepping Up
The photographer shares a beautiful silhouette from one of many adventures while hiking at twilight with her pack goats.
Michael Morse / Highlighted Highland
A Highland Cow is “highlighted with a high-key type of finish” as she grazes in the foggy fields of southern Idaho. Taken in Albion.
Ron Paarmann / Sea of Stripes
A zebra and her foal strike a pose at Tautphaus Park.
Kathy Preuitt / Bus Stopped
A black-and-white rendition of two young kids being "cool" near an old school bus in Albion.
Mike Cook / Open Fence
A pastoral scene of barbed-wire fence with a horse grazing “perfectly out of focus” (according to our judges) in the background.