A snapshot of Pictured Rocks Lakeshore in northern Michigan will be featured on the 2015 National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass. The annual passes are sold nationwide and for use at any national park. Courtney Kotewa of southern Michigan took the photo during a family outing. The image selected as the winning photo of the National Park Foundation's photo contest.
Nearly 20,000 photos were submitted to the 2013 Share the Experience contest. Share the Experience is the official photo contest of America's national parks and federal recreation lands.
Kotewa said the photo almost didn’t happen as she was not sure she would take her phone with her on the kayak trip for fear of dropping it in the choppy waters of Lake Superior. Although she grew up in southern Michigan, this trip was Kotewa’s first time to Pictured Rocks. The grand-prize winner said visiting was on her mom’s bucket list.
She described the area as “nature grounds you where you can get your perspective on life back. That’s what it does for me.”
Kotewa will receive $15,000, a Columbia Sportswear backpack, an Air Wick Limited Edition National Park Collection prize pack and a Federal Recreational Lands Interagency Pass.
Second place went to Michael DeWitt of Ashland, WI, for his photo of a sunset through an ice-covered porthole during a winter canoe trip in Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Third place went to Darrell Staggs of Mooresville, IN, for his illusionary photo that appears to show a hiker walking along the edge of cliff in Glen Canyon National Recreational Areas. A complete list of the 2013 winners and their photos is available.
The 2014 Share the Experience photo contest is now accepting entries through December 31.