Lakeside Photography Show celebrates 50 years of honoring photos

BY SHERI TRUSTY

LAKESIDE – Fifty years in the past, Lakeside started internet hosting a images present to focus on and honor among the space’s most gifted photographers. Forty years in the past, Joel Hagemeyer was requested to coordinate the hanging of the images present, and he’s been concerned ever since, generally as a photograph hanger and generally, like this yr, he served as choose.

This yr’s winners had been revealed on the Lakeside Photography Show Opening Reception in Hoover Auditorium on July 31.

“I’ve had my eyes come to rest on thousands of images over the years,” Hagemeyer stated in his Judge’s Statement.

This yr, he selected almost 20 winners within the 2026 Lakeside Photography Show, together with the winner of the Joel Hagemeyer Award. In his Judge’s Statement, Hagemeyer stated it’s troublesome to pick one of the best photographs in a present. He stated he tries to discover a common enchantment or seems to be for creative composition “that is truly exceptional and unique.”

“Personal experiences sometimes play a role as well,” he stated. “I’ve had an affinity to toads and frogs seemingly my entire life.”

That affection helped photographer Lee Flasche win the Joel Hagemeyer Award with the photograph, “Spring Peeper at Full Volume.”

The fiftieth Annual Lakeside Photography Show was organized by Lakeside Visual Arts Manager Kiris Marie Fox and intern Emma Kovach-Uzl. Kovach-Uzl stated Hagemeyer selected first, second, and third place winners within the grownup and teenage classes, eight honorable mentions, and two extra particular awards. Jobe Westerfelt gained the Lakeside Employee Award for “Schoolhouse Sweethearts,” a photograph he took of two puppets sitting on the steps of the Lakeside School. Beth Sibbring gained the Lakeside Award with “Reflections on the 4th.”

Brie Saunders gained first place within the teen class with “Butterfly,” and Joanne R. Heinert gained first place within the grownup class with “Fabric Art – Sail Away,” a photograph she captured inside a constructing on the Ohio State University.

“I’m so surprised I won. I didn’t expect that,” she stated.

Part of the attraction of the annual Lakeside Photography Show is the secrecy of the winners. No one is aware of who gained till the doorways open on opening evening. Artists stroll the foyer of Hoover Auditorium on the lookout for their work, hoping a ribbon is hanging from its body.

“The people walking around in here are just now finding out if they’ve won,” Kovach-Uzl stated.