Citizens Journal photo contest winners honored

By George Miller

Reuben Camacho of Camarillo (1st place) and Donna Hendricks of Oxnard  (2nd place) were honored today at scenic and historical St. Mary Magdalene Church, built by Adolpho Camarillo in Old Town Camarillo.

L to R: CJ Publisher George Miller presents First Prize to Reuben Camacho of Camarillo and Second Prize to Donna Hendricks of Oxnard, while CJ Editor Debra Tash and contest judge Marc Langsam look on.Photo: David Stewart

Citizens Journal Editor-in-Chief Debra Tash sought beautiful photos evocative of Ventura County for use in our publication and called on its readers to help with that task. We received really terrific entries. The requirements narrowed down the field somewhat, but we’re happy with the results. Both winners are longtime photography hobbyists. We had never met either of them before.

1st Prize- Reuben Camacho

Mr. Camacho is a retired Amgen biotechnology professional. His winning entry, depicting the very church we made the award outside of, has special significance for the county, being one of the oldest landmarks created by early settlers. It’s also special for him, bringing back old memories, including being the site of his father’s funeral service. He has other varied works, some dramatic, some understated and moody. View his website: http://www.rcamachophotography.com.

2nd Prize: Donna Hendricks

Ms. Hendricks loves nature, hangs around in Ventura a lot, near the beach, at craft fairs on the promenade and often exploits photo-ops. Her kite sailing day photo off the Ventura Coast is dramatic, sunny, salty and scenic. She showed us other subject matter- beach photos and the botanical Gardens above Ventura City hall, with dramatic beach/ocean/island views down below. See her website: http://727PhotoArt.com.

First prize was two front row seats to an Ivan Amodei magic show and a$50 gift certificate. We can’t guarantee that even front row seats will reveal Ivan’s secrets.  Second prize was a SodaStream kit. Both winners also received award plaques with likenesses of the winning photos.

We asked about their photo equipment, techniques and post-processing and were surprised to learn that most photos submitted by both were taken with I-Phones and no exotic processing performed, except that Reuben favors “high dynamic range.” Ms. Hendricks winning entry was taken with a Nikon D5200 camera. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things with ordinary tools. Somehow that represents what Citizens Journal is all about.

Other fine entries arrived like Camarillo Grade at Sunset by Tim Bean

Our contest judge was Marc Langsam, a graphics and photography professional (http://photographyczar.com/), often seen at events around here and LA. He selected winners based on technical competence, aesthetics, composition and suitability for our objectives.

The whole team, standing in 99 degree heat and 35+ mph winds. New faces are Noel Young, CJ CFO (3rd fr. left), David Steward, IT and Art Director (right). Photo: Reuben’s friend Jane

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George Miller is Publisher of Citizensjournal.us and a “retired” operations management consultant, active in civic affairs, living in Oxnard.

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