Photo contest honors unique perspectives on downtown Lee’s Summit

Posted by GSDispatch Editor in by Influential Expressions, Community

Winner Child category: Ainsleigh Stout, age 3.

Thirty-two photographers found beauty in spite of the heat during the first Lee’s Summit Photo Walk on July 24. A professional photographer selected the best photographs taken during the two-hour walk through downtown Lee’s Summit and submitted to the optional photo contest.

Runner up Child category: Reese Kloster, age 7

Winner in the Child category is 3-year old Ainsleigh Stout, whose photo taken in front of Lee’s Summit City Hall reveals her current fascination with shapes. Runner up in the Child category is Reese Kloster, 7, who brings a child’s-eye view to a street sign in the shady historic neighborhood south of downtown’s shopping area.

Winner Adult category: Brynn-Marie Kloster

Winner in the Adult category is Brynn-Marie Kloster, who caught her daughter and fellow photographer, Reese, peeking up from behind the lens. Adult category Runner up Dennis Hedburg shot a unique close-up of a classic Monterey.

Adult category Runner up: Dennis Hedburg

First place winners receive professional framing for their winning photograph, complete with engraved recognition, from The Custom Framers. Both first place winners and runners-up receive gift certificates from Blue Heron Design.

GreenSummit Dispatch "Readers Choice" winner: Allen K. Blair

Local online news source, The GreenSummit Dispatch, solicited its readers for a “Readers Choice” award by allowing Facebook fans to “LIKE” their favorite out of the Top 16 photos. The winner of the “Readers Choice” prize is Allen K. Blair, who captured a ray of sunshine and a serene homestead, and will be awarded with a 8 GB Memory card donated by The Dispatch, and a $20 voucher towards a Chicago Style pizza at Next Door Pizza in Lee’s Summit.

Over 180 photos taken by 20 photographers during the walk comprise the gallery on http://www.leessummitphotowalk.org.

Lee’s Summit Photo Walk organizers Deb Sturgess, Angie O’Connor and Jessica Kurzweil plan to make it an annual free event for adults and children. Next year’s walk is planned for late September or early October.

Sturgess owns Influential Expression Consulting, LLC, based in Lee’s Summit. O’Connor, a founder of Feet-Up Network, owns Writing on the Wall Grafix. Kurzweil owns and operates Mingle, a restaurant at 209 SE Main St. that served as the post-walk gathering place.

tagged: family, Featured, fun, lee's summit, photography

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_CJK7AAZ3MFJQCHKOJ6HGVXF7XQ Mark

The editor and her daughter won a contest that they sponsored, organized, and executed? Wow. Whatever happened to that old rule about “employee’s and their families are not eligible to compete”?
Phil

Thank you for your concern, Mark. It’s a valid criticism. We sponsored the contest by providing prizes and advertisement for the event. Nothing more. The photos were submitted anonymously and judged by a professional photographer who we do not know. I suggested that they not even participate. The organizers insisted that they remain eligible for prizes and devised a judging method that removed any preponderance of impropriety.
http://www.leessummitphotowalk.org Deb

I regret that any question about the integrity of The GreenSummit Dispatch editor and publisher resulted from their unselfish support of the Lee’s Summit Photo Walk through advertising it, reporting on it and making a donation. All of the businesses who donated to the photo walk should be commended for supporting a new event, especially considering how frequently most of them are approached for donations. I invite everyone to visit http://www.leessummitphotowalk.org to see the complete list.

I feel compelled to take all of credit for organizing and executing the photo contest to refute Mark’s criticism. I originated the ideas for the photo walk and the contest. I wrote the rules and arranged for an impartial, anonymous judge who is a professional photographer. The judge received the photographs with no identifying information attached, aside from the category in which they were competing. The Custom Framers and Blue Heron Design provided the prizes in the category judging. They did not participate in the judging. I even wrote the article reporting on the contest results.

I personally insisted that Brynn-Marie and Reese be eligible for the photo contest, because there was no chance that the judging could be biased toward them or any other participant. No employee or family member of the three businesses who had anything to do with organizing and executing the photo walk and the contest competed in the contest. They were Influential Expression Consulting (my company), Writing on the Wall Grafix and Mingle.

Photo contest honors unique perspectives on downtown Lee’s Summit

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