A different kind of photo contest

After all these years of photography, I’m no stranger to contests. I’ve entered some and won a few accolades.

But it never occurred to me that there might be a contest for trail cameras.

There’s an ad in this morning’s paper advertising a trail camera photo contest at the 2011 Arkansas Sportshow, Feb. 11-13, in Jonesboro.

There’s a $250 prize for best photo, a $100 prize for most interesting photo and a random drawing for $50.

For the uninitiated, a trail camera is a motion-activated camera used by hunters to identify paths of travel of game animals remotely. The camera is strapped to a tree and the hunter returns periodically to download whatever images it has captured. Some have a built-in flash and some photograph in the infrared spectrum, either using ambient infrared radiation or employing an infrared flash. I’ve had thoughts of buying one to mount on the wooded fringes of our property, just to see what kind of wildlife turns up.

It will be interesting to see what criteria the judge or judges use for this contest, since the “photographer” has no significant control over the composition of the photo and the quality of the shot depends on the quality of the camera and random chance.

If you want to enter, email your shot to: sunoutdoors@jonesborosun.com