Submit your photos for our August photo contest by emailing them to photos@peecnature.org. August’s theme is “Black Bears and Predators.” Submissions for next month’s contest are due on Friday, August 30. We’d love to see your best shots of black bears, mountain lions, coyotes, bobcats, and any other predators in Northern New Mexico.
Stop by the Los Alamos Nature Center to view the finalists and vote for the winner of our July contest. This month’s theme is “Reptiles and Amphibians.” Plan your visit here.
Our upcoming 2021 monthly themes will be:
July: Reptiles and Amphibians
August: Black Bears and Predators
September: Forests
October: Spiders, & Owls, & Bats — Oh My! (Or other “spooky” critters)
November: Astronomy
December: Winter Landscapes
If you submit photos for a future month in advance, please include the month in the subject line.
PEEC’s Monthly Photo Contest
Each month, the Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC) runs a photo contest at the Los Alamos County Nature Center. Normally, five photos are continuously displayed in the nature center, where visitors can view them and then vote for their favorite photo by putting money into one (or more) of five labeled canisters below the display. The canister with the largest amount of money wins the contest for that month. Due to COVID-19 and the nature center’s closure, the photo contest is being conducted virtually.
After the completion of the contest for the month of September, winners of the contests for the previous 12 months will be used to create a calendar for the next year (with the permission of the photographer). This calendar will be available for sale to the public at the Los Alamos Nature Center Gift Shop.
This contest is a modest fund-raising activity for PEEC. The funds raised by the photo voting process, and any profits realized through the eventual sale of calendars will be used to support PEEC’s yearly operations.
The Photo Submission Process
A call for photos is announced each month. There will be a theme announced for solicited photos (i.e., birds, mammals, scenery, clouds, etc.). Any images submitted should be photographed on the Pajarito Plateau. Wildlife species that live on the Pajarito Plateau but are photographed elsewhere may also be considered. Photographers wishing to have a photograph of their original work considered will make a digital version of the image available, in jpeg format, at a resolution of at least 1920 pixels in the longest dimension. The computer display on which the photos will be viewed is 1920 x 1080 pixels in dimension, so photos should be sized to best match the aspect ratio. However, PEEC can also use exceptional photos in the “portrait” orientation, they would just not take up the entire screen and may not be able to be printed in the calendar due to their orientation.
Photographers retain full copyright control over their images; by submitting an image for consideration, the copyright owner indicates his/her permission to allow PEEC to reproduce, distribute, display publicly, and/or modify the image on a royalty-free basis. Please remove any watermarks before submitting. The photographer waives any right to monetary compensation for the use of the image for the contest or (if a monthly contest winner) for use in the yearly calendar. PEEC will seek additional permissions from the photographer if any other uses are contemplated. Photographers whose images are included in the yearly calendar will receive two complimentary calendars and a bumper sticker.
If any identifiable persons are part of the photograph, the photographer must also provide to PEEC a release from that person to use his image in the contest/calendar.
Members of the PEEC staff will select five finalist images from those submitted each month, and those images will then be displayed in the Los Alamos Nature Center for popularity voting as described above.
Previous Winners
