IN OUR OWN BACKYARD: Photographs like this one, from a previous photo contest held by Friends of Princeton Open Space, celebrate the natural beauty found in and around the Mountain Lakes Open Space Area. (Photo courtesy of FOPOS)

By Anne Levin

With its lakes, rocky creeks, forests, and trails, the Mountain Lakes Open Space Area is a gold mine for nature photographers. The nonprofit Friends of Princeton Open Space (FOPOS) has been making use of this natural fit for the past 10 years, inviting adult and student photographers to enter images in the “Perspectives on Preservation” photo contest.

The 10th annual competition is officially underway. Photographers have until midnight on October 12 to submit shots taken in the Billy Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve, Mountain Lakes North, John Witherspoon Woods, Community Park North, Tusculum Preserve, Pettoranello Gardens, and the J. Seward Johnson Sr. Trail and Boardwalk.

“I’m not sure everyone knows that this is here,” said FOPOS board member Fran McManus. “But this area is like New Jersey — everything is compressed. You have lakes, mountain streams, a boardwalk, and trails, all of these ecosystems in this very small area. I love that, because you can get wonderful shots in this park that is walking distance from town.”

Photos that are entered tend to run the gamut, from tiny details like light hitting frost to birds in mid-flight. “Sometimes people get birds so beautifully framed,” said McManus. “One year, somebody caught a woodpecker flying across at eye level. I was like, ‘How do you do that?”’

McManus was particularly moved, in a recent year, by an unsolicited comment from a teenaged entrant in the 11-to-16 category: “I am grateful for the opportunity to explore my community and have really enjoyed this event,” he wrote. “I feel that things like these help our community to grow and appreciate the land around us and, at least for me, it has sparked my curiosity of searching for new trails.”

Once she receives the entries, McManus passes them along, stripped of all identification, to three judges: photographers Frank Sauer and Tasha O’Neill; and Jody Erdman, who ran the gallery at Princeton Day School for several years. The judges do multiple rounds, and are “quite decisive,” she said.

FOPOS lists photo tips for nature photography on its website and holds an iPhone photography workshop at Mountain Lakes in conjunction with Princeton Public Library. Last year, the library mounted a display to help budding nature photographers learn about taking good shots. “A lot has to do with patience, the time of day, and visiting multiple times,” said McManus.

Entries are judged on their aesthetic merit, creativity, and originality, as well as how they help celebrate the area as a refuge for nature and visitors. One winning photograph in the adult category (17 and up) will be chosen in each of the three categories, and the winners will receive $100 in merchandise from REI. In addition to the winning photographs, approximately 20 photos from the submissions will be selected for FOPOS’s annual photo exhibition in December at the Mountain Lakes House.

Student photographers can compete for gift cards from jaZams, LiLLiPiES, and the bent spoon. Photos can be taken any time of year during the past three years, as long as they have not been submitted in a previous FOPOS photo contest.

During COVID-19, McManus met winners in the park, one at a time, to present them with their awards. Last year, FOPOS was able to go back to announcing the winners at the photo exhibition in Mountain Lakes House.

“That was fun, because they really didn’t know until then that they had won,” she said. “It’s more exciting. The younger winners get a certificate that I make, and they accept it almost reverently.”
Visit fopos.org for more information.