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Winners in the

Baseball, balloons, boys, barns and blue sky!

All these things say “Summer in East Texas” to area photographers who submitted entries in the Panola College photo contest.

Mary Curry won first place for her photograph of a toddler holding a baseball.

 “We were at the ballpark and this little boy’s daddy helped coach the team. His little brother, who is about four, was playing on the team and the toddler kept running out onto the field. Finally, his daddy picked him up and carried him into the dugout and just sat down with him,” she said.

The toddler’s pouting lower lip, his grip on the baseball and the obvious love between child and father won over the judges who agreed that the picture is a great illustration of “Summer in East Texas.”

Curry became interested in photography when she and her sister started taking photographs of children at daycare centers. She took a digital photography class through the Workforce and Continuing Education department at Panola College. She also gives credit to her sisters, Joyce and Ann, for sharing their photography knowledge with her.

Karen McAlister’s photo of a barn painted with a Texas flag won the second place ribbon. Judges complimented the photograph for its composition and lighting, as well as its representation of the contest theme.

Rural East Texas was the subject of the third-place winner. Ann Morris shot a photo of her husband Jerry plowing the garden on his tractor, with granddaughter Ty in the foreground. Morris added a creative element to the photo with a color technique using PhotoShop.

Nine other photographs were selected for the “Summer in East Texas” exhibit, which will be on display through August in the Fay Cassity Allison Gallery in the M.P. Baker Library. The gallery is open to the public during regular library hours. A ballot box is available for visitors to vote for the Special Award for People’s Choice favorite. This winner will be announced at a Photography Lunchbox Lecture at noon on Tuesday, August 24 in the community room of the M.P. Baker Library.

Check out the Photo Contest Gallery online to view all the photos and then vote on the home page of the Pony Express Online.

Among the photographers whose works were selected for the exhibit are Kelsey Lake, an 11-year-old sixth grader at Gary.  Her works include red lilies, boys in a swimming pool and a magnolia flower.

Second place winner McAlister had two other photos selected for the exhibit including a little girl standing in a cornfield and a hot air balloon.

First place winner Curry’s photo of a little cowboy reclining on a tree is on display.

Jean Bunyard says she was in the right place at the right time, floating on Lake Murvaul on a pontoon boat when she looked up to see a beautiful cloud display. She used the camera in her cell phone to capture the moment.

Van Patterson has two photographs in the exhibit: a gleeful baseball player safe at home and an ultra-light plane flying into the sunset.

Judges for the event were Heather Krull and Bud Worley of Studio 23, and Steve Williams of Panola College.