EDITOR’S NOTE: This corrects that the Port Angeles wildlife photographer named Ken Campbell who won an award in this contest is not the Ken Campbell of Port Angeles who filmed “Ikkatsu: The Roadless Coast.”
PORT ANGELES — Two Port Angeles photographers have been recognized for their talent in a contest sponsored by the Washington Trails Association.
Quade Sheehan and Ken Campbell earned top finishes in the 2015 Northwest Exposure Photo Contest.
Sheehan won the grand prize for a photo of sunset at Grand Pass in the Olympic Mountains, featuring himself and his partner, Stephanie Stefani, framed in the opening of their tent.
“It’s amazing,” Sheehan said of his win.
The grand prize photo was taken using an iPhone. While he had orchestrated the setting, angle and pose, another friend who was along for the hike took the picture, Sheehan said.
“The sunset happened to be perfect,” he said.
Tough to keep quiet
Sheehan said he planned to enter several photos he had taken during various hikes around the North Olympic Peninsula, but submitted only one in time for the deadline.
“They told me I won in November. It was hard to keep my mouth shut,” he said.
He said he has taken all of his photos with an iPhone to prevent damage to an expensive camera. The grand prize, a Nikon AW1 mirrorless camera, is supposed to be built for the rough treatment it might get on a trail.
An Oregon native who joined the U.S. Coast Guard, he is no stranger to adventure. He is a Coast Guard motor lifeboat driver stationed in La Push and is nearing the end of his enlistment.
Immediately after training, he served as a Washington, D.C., honor guard member for occasions such as White House ceremonies and Arlington National Cemetery funerals. He was then transferred to La Push, where he learned to drive a motor lifeboat in some of the most challenging conditions on the Pacific Ocean.
This summer, after being discharged from the Coast Guard, he and Stefani plan to hike the Continental Divide Trail from Mexico to Canada, Sheehan said.
When they return from the hike, Sheehan plans to apply to the National Park Service to become a park ranger.
Otter photo winner
Ken Campbell, a Port Angeles wildlife photographer, earned first place in the flora and fauna category for a photo of three river otters hamming it up for the camera along the Olympic Discovery Trail.
Campbell could not be reached for comment this week and had not signed a legal release for his winning photograph to be released.
All winning photographs can be seen at the trails association website, www.wta.org and are featured in the association’s 2016 calendar.
The prize for the first-place finish is a set of Manfrotto off-road walking sticks and a BlackRapid camera sports strap.
Terri Hoselton of Olympia also received an award for a photo taken in Olympic National Park.
Hoselton’s third-place photograph in the flora and fauna category features a tiny but fierce crab on a piece of driftwood near Hole in the Wall, north of La Push.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
