11th annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition open for registration

Muskrat with Ranger by Banister Pope, 2012 winner of Flora & Fauna category. Image courtesy ASU Outdoor Programs © American Girls by Darron Silva, 2012 winner of Culture category ASU Outdoor Programs

© Grandfather’s View of the Milky Way by Dale Forrest, 2012 Best in Show, Landscape category. Image courtesy of ASU Outdoor Programs.

BOONE, NC - The 11th Annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition (AMPC) is currently open for registration and submissions. The Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition offers numerous categories that will be chosen as winners with $4,000 in cash and prizes. Visit www.appmtnphotocomp.org prior to the competition's close at 5pm on Friday, November 22, 2013 for more information and to submit images online.

A partnership between Appalachian State University Outdoor Programs, the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, and the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, AMPC celebrates the unique people, places, and pursuits that distinguish the Southern Appalachians and attracts entries from across the United States. The Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition has grown into one the region's most prestigious photography competitions with approximately 800 submissions last year and viewed in person by over 10,000 people at the Turchin Center for Visual Arts. The AMPC is made possible through the sponsorship of Virtual Blue Ridge, the premier online resource for the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Mast General Store. Supporters of the AMPC include: Appalachian Voices, Bistro Roca, Footsloggers, Peabody's, and Stick Boy Bread Company.

The Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition will culminate in a professionally curated exhibition, which will be available to the public from March 7 to June 7, 2014 in the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts. All of the images are selected by a panel of jurors who have a professional background in photography and love for the natural environment. Jurors for the 11th annual competition are John Latimer, Kristin Espinosa, and Carl Galie.

John Latimer is the coordinator of the Commercial Photography Program at Appalachian State University. Prior to coming to Appalachian State, he taught photography and digital imaging at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He is a master printmaker and retoucher. His clients have included the George Eastman House, Jerry Uelsmann, Maggie Taylor, John Issac, Catherine Opie and other prominent photographers around the country. His own photography has been shown as far afield as China and Japan as well as being carried commercially by Bloomingdales. He has lectured and given workshops across the country on Photoshop, printing and color theory application in photography.

Kristin Espinosa is a self-taught, natural light photographer who has been working in the fine arts field for more than ten years. Her innate ability to embrace the authenticity of her subject's emotions and suspend them in time distinguishes her work. Her style is organic, honest and, at times, raw. Along with a casual approach to life and photography that puts her clients at ease, Kristin has established a high standard for the quality of her work. While growing up, the High Country was her second home, but for the past thirteen years she and her husband, Santiago, have lived here exclusively. They, along with their two young children, spend most of their free time enjoying in the natural playground that is The High Country.

Carl Galie is a North Carolina photographer who has devoted his work to conservation issues for the last 18 years. Galie's photographs of the Roanoke River basin have helped protect and preserve that region since 1995 when he received an Emerging Artist Grant from the Winston-Salem, Forsyth County Arts Council and the North Carolina Arts Council. Galie's photography of the Roanoke River Basin has been used in publications produced by The Nature Conservancy, Wildlife In North Carolina, Orion Afield magazine, the North Carolina Aquarium, Roanoke Canal Museum, Roanoke River Partners, The Southern Environmental Law Center, and by The National Park Service. In 2009 Galie began working with Appalachian Voices and The National Committee for the New River while documenting the vanishing beauty of coal country, focusing his attention on the devastating affect mountaintop removal of coal is having on our nation's water resources.

"We are thrilled to announce our jurors this year. They have a very broad background in photography and will provide a strong and varied perspective from which to view the images," states AMPC Competition Director, Rich Campbell. "We are excited to have these individuals be a part of the AMPC who will dedicate their time, talent, and expertise to the competition this year."

The Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition offers numerous categories that will be chosen as winners with over $4,000 in cash and prizes. Jurors John Latimer, Kristin Espinosa, and Carl Galie will review all entries and narrow them down to approximately forty-six images that will be displayed in exhibition at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, March 7 to June 7, 2014. From those images, the judges will select the final winners which will be showcased during the exhibition and at the 18th annual Banff Film Festival March 28 and 29, 2014. Deadline for all AMPC submissions is November 22, 2013.

For more information about this photography competition, please visit www.appmtnphotocomp.org, or call Outdoor Programs at 828-262-2475.

The AMPC is a partnership between Appalachian State University's Outdoor Programs, The Turchin Center for the Visual Artsand the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. AMPC is made possible through the sponsorship of Virtual Blue Ridge, the premier online resource for the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Mast General Store. AMPC receives generous support from Appalachian Voices; Bistro Roca, Inventive American Cuisine; Footsloggers Outdoor and Travel Outfitters; Peabody's Wine and Beer Merchants; and Stick Boy Bread Company.

Published November 16, 2013