photo contest

Summertime in White Bear Lake means the races begin at the White Bear Lake Yacht Club. It was on a Monday evening last June that Jay Rendall captured this shot of an A-scow crew “hiking”—balancing the boat against the push of the wind. The photo, entitled Hiking, took first place in the Activities and Events category of our Lens on the Lake contest. Read more about Lens on the Lake: Hiking

Garnering an honorable mention in the City Landmarks category, Dale Grambush’s photo, Nearing Ice Out, caught White Bear Lake in seasonal transition. “There’s still ice on the lake,” says Grambush, “but not around the docks.” Grambush says that the shadows of the dock and the fog in the distance prompted him to stop and snap the shot; he took the photo near Boatworks Commons with his cellphone one morning late last March.

Driving along Lake Avenue South, Grambush looks out onto the lake nearly every day on his commute. He enjoys photographing the lake throughout the seasons. Read more about Lens on the Lake: Nearing Ice-Out

Julie Orloske was at her White Bear Lake home when she took the photo Hi Neighbor, which took first place in the Pets category of our annual photo contest. Orloske was standing on her driveway in the late spring when she saw her neighbor’s dog, Crixus, peering out through the crack in her fence. Placing her Canon 70D camera on the ground, she captured the dog in action. “This is Crixus,” Orloske says. “This is how he is.” Read more about Lens on the Lake: Hi Neighbor

Julie Orloske was at her White Bear Lake home when she took the photo Hi Neighbor, which took first place in the Pets category of our annual photo contest. Orloske was standing on her driveway in the late spring when she saw her neighbor’s dog, Crixus, peering out through the crack in her fence. Placing her Canon 70D camera on the ground, she captured the dog in action. “This is Crixus,” Orloske says. “This is how he is.” Read more about Lens on the Lake: Hi Neighbor

In december 2014, Ron Hawkins, a White Bear Lake firefighter and paramedic, photographed a veteran emergency dispatcher named Wendy taking a call. Hawkins used his Fuji point-and-shoot camera to capture the photo, “911, What’s Your Emergency?,” which was taken at the White Bear Lake Public Safety Dispatch Building and took second place in the People and Families category of our Lens on the Lake contest. Read more about Lens on the Lake: 911, What’s Your Emergency?

Rick Dott has a passion for his main hobby—photography—and it translates to his photos, including “Dedicated Bookworms,” which won second place in the City Landmarks category. Every winter, locals dress up the “children” in the statue located a few steps outside the White Bear Lake library.

“I just like the photo and it makes me smile,” Dott says. “It seemed like a small-town picture and what people in the town would do.” Read more about Lens on the Lake: Book Lovers

Carla Scholz didn’t have to travel far to capture this beautiful view; it was right outside her window where she spies many incredible sunsets. “At least once a week, when there’s a good sunset, I take a photo,” Scholz says. Taken with her iPhone while she was looking out at the lake, “Fall in the Air” is a glimpse of the beauty that can be seen every night from the comfort of Scholz’s home. Read more about Lens on the Lake Photo Contest: Fall in the Air

Kelly McKusick was walking behind her son, Grady, and his friend, Aoife Hiniker, when she took this photo, “Young Love at Lakewood Hills Park,” which earned her third place in the People & Families category of our annual photo contest. The two kids were holding hands and deep in conversation on their way to the park. “It was one of those capture-the-moment things,” McKusick says. “I thought, ‘I’ve just got to snap this picture. It’s so cute!’” McKusick used the camera on her phone in the black-and-white setting and captured the shot she wanted. Read more about Young Love