Announcing the WINNERS of the 2016 Contests! Congrats to you all!

WINNERS of the (2016) 8th Annual Photo Contests

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Calling All Frog Lovers!

8th Annual Frogs Are Green Photography Contest

Contest theme:

FROGS and BUGS!

Your photos can be about frogs, amphibians, bugs, insects, rainforests, climate change, pollution, deforestation, drought, natural habitats, etc… and how you (or all of us) can help the environment.

Learn about where frogs live: streams, ponds, woods, cloud forests, rainforests… we have posted a few articles to guide you:

Water Issues and Amphibians – blogs by Frogs Are Green

Frogs and Gardens – blogs by Frogs Are Green

 

Learning about Frogs and Bugs

What do frogs eat and what eats frogs

Frogs and Insects

Wikipedia – Frog

 

Deadline for submissions is December 31, 2016 and the winners will be announced by January 31, 2017. The winners will be featured in a blog post. Many of the submitted photographs are shared online, through our website, social media and in awareness materials. (By entering, you grant Frogs Are Green permission to share your photo. Credit to photographer will be included.)
 

Enter the >> Backyard Frogs Photo Contest 2016 << Now!

Enter the >> Frogs in the Wild Photo Contest 2016 << Now!

 

The video below from last year explains how to enter your artwork, same rules apply.

 

Entry Rules:

We will be accepting submissions in two categories: Frogs in the Wild and Backyard Frogs. Backyard Frog photos would include such photos as a frog perched on your picnic table or other unusual place. One year, for example, we received a photo of a frog sitting on a pool hose. Frogs in the Wild photos, on the other hand, should feature frogs, toads, or other amphibians in their natural habitat: frog ponds, marshes, in the woods, and so on. ***Be sure to upload your image to the right gallery and not both!***

PLEASE! NO photo manipulation and no photos of pet frogs. Please do not move the frog to get a better photo. Photos of amphibians of all kinds, including salamanders, will be accepted.

If you cannot view Flickr where you are located, just email your digital entries to Frogs Are Green and we will upload your images to the Flickr group gallery. You must share your Full Name and from what State or Country the image was taken. You may also enter a caption to help describe or place the image. ****Note: You DO NOT need to have an email with Yahoo to enter! Just look on the Sign In/Sign Up on Flickr and you’ll see other email options!

The 1st place winners will receive a Frogs Are Green poster or t-shirt of his/her choice from the Frogs Are Green store. Winners will be judged in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Honorable Mention categories.

Click here to download the PDF poster for displaying in schools, libraries and other community spaces.
>> 8th-annual-frogs-are-green-photo-contest <<

 

SOME TIPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHING AMPHIBIANS

For those of you who have never photographed an amphibian, here are some tips from the book Frogs: A Chorus of Colors by John and Deborah Behler, which has a chapter on photographing these elusive and well-camouflaged creatures:

• Try to learn about the animal first. What is its habitat? When are they active?
• Walk slowly and stop frequently (it helps to have someone with you who is less than 3 feet tall and has sharp eyes). Frogs and toads blend in so well that they are hard to find. Be alert for subtle movements.
• In summer, you might find the sit-and-wait frog predators hanging out on the edges of ponds and lakes.
• Be aware of the position of the sun. Avoid taking pictures at midday on bright sunny days. In the morning, face east and it will keep sunlight from coming into your lens and washing out your photos.
• Don’t necessarily put the subject in the middle of the photo. Keep the whole animal in the photo, but compose the picture so the background tells a story.
• Bracket your photos, i.e., take the same shot with different settings. Also, try taking a flash photo. Without a flash, animals in photos may look lifeless and poorly lighted.
• Try to be on the same level as your subject.
• State parks, bird sanctuaries, and wildlife refuges are good places to find amphibians.

Now’s your chance during the warmer months to snap up those winning images!

 

Thank you to our 2016 Sponsors

 

Endorsed by: City Council President Rolando Lavarro, City of Jersey City, Save The Frogs, Pershing Field Garden Friends, Amphibian Ark, HARCC (Honduras), Jersey City Parks Coalition, Camp Liberty, Association Mitsinjo, National Wildlife Federation and ACSAM 2.

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Countries who have participated in the annual contest over the years: Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, England, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Malaysia, Morocco, Philippines, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirate, and United States.

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Judges for 2016:

Jonathan Kolby (HARCC – Honduras Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Center)

Jonathan Kolby is a National Geographic Explorer and PhD student at James Cook University, studying the global amphibian extinction crisis and spread of amphibian chytrid fungus. Jonathan first became involved in wildlife conservation at the age of 15, when he joined an expedition to document reptile and amphibian biodiversity in Southeast Asia. He has now been involved in 20 field expeditions spanning the globe from Honduras to Madagascar to Hong Kong. He has now published over a dozen scientific papers and written blogs posts for National Geographic and the IUCN Amphibian Specialist Group. Highlights of his recent work include the rediscovery of a frog previously declared extinct in Honduras (Craugastor milesi), the detection of amphibian chytrid fungus in the rain, and the first discovery of chytrid-positive frogs exported from Madagascar. For the past 10 years, Jonathan has been working to prevent amphibian extinction in Honduras and recently established the Honduras Amphibian Research & Conservation Center (www.FrogRescue.com). To make science more accessible to the general public, Jonathan enjoys using photography and social media to raise awareness and interest in global conservation issues.

Frog Rescue website: www.FrogRescue.com

Frog Rescue YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf1gP3ca2Ieybcr8azqQOwQ

Frog Rescue Facebook Page: HARCC on Facebook

 

Geoff Mosher, Cartoonist

Geoff Mosher is a cartoonist whose work has been seen on TV, in gallery shows and all over the internet. He lives in Jersey City with his wife and son. Geoff Mosher does not like egg salad. Have more Geoff Mosher fun at mondomosher.com.

 

 

 

 

Pam Andes, City of Jersey City

Pam Andes, Assistant Director, at the Resident Response Center at City Hall in the City of Jersey City. She oversees the Office of Veterans Affairs and the Office of Welcoming Communities which focuses on immigrant integration and assistance with citizenship. Before working in government, she worked in Creative Services for 10 years at Showtime Networks. Wife and mother of three, Pam has been active in the community as a neighborhood block watcher, board member of Harsimus Cove neighborhood association, Catholic Action of Mary, Ladies of Rizal, Democratic Committee person and Caribbean Parade Committee. Daughter of parents who emigrated from the Philippines, she enjoys all cultures and world travel. She attended NYU and NJCU.
 

 

Bethe Anne Schwartz, Environmentalist and Community / Health Advovate

Bethe is co-founder of Jersey City Gardening Coalition and Jersey City Homelessness Advocacy Group. Member of P.E.A.C.E. Community Garden and Where’s Waldo Avenue Community Garden in Journal Square’s Five Corners & Hilltop/The Island neighborhoods. Former project lead of Sustainable Jersey City’s Network of Sustainable Community Gardens build; owner-member and grocery “store” maven of the former Jersey City Food Co-op; and steward at St. Joseph’s RC Church social ministry food outreach. A lifetime of interest in healthy food systems and access, food security and justice, and advocating for a culturally-sensitive food system. Also, Bethe comes from a family accustomed to growing some of their own… on plots small and large. Years of working in the health care and social services delivery systems with a “dis-ease” models pointed to the intrinsic links between gardening/farming and a sense of well-being for those persons grappling with developmental disabilities, and mental and chronic illnesses. And spurred an interest in just what was happening to our environment: because all the while much attention was being paid to therapeutic interventions and the benefits of the soil, there were some troubling changes taking place in the landscapes around us. Firmly believe that frogs are the predictors of many of those variables… and our future.

 

Erin A. DeLaney, Photographer

Erin A. DeLaney started taking pictures with her grandfather’s 1930s rangefinder 35mm camera in high school, then went on to study photography at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communication. After graduation, she moved to New York City and worked in commercial photo labs before starting to freelance as a photographer and digital artist. She moved to the Heights section of Jersey City in 1999. She began exhibiting her photography in Jersey City in 2014 and 2015 in several group art shows. She also had a solo photo show “Urban Oasis: Photography in the Jersey City Reservoir” displayed at Jersey City City Hall in May, 2016. Her work can be seen on her website at ErinADeLaneyPhoto.com

 

 

 

Sigrid Shreeve, (aka: Rosa Da Silver) Author of Jabujicaba and Environmentalist

Founding Director, Voices for Nature
June 2014 – Present, Oxford

Founded Voices for Nature in June 2014, a not for profit company. We are STORY-TELLERS who inspire and engage new action to conserve Brazil’s rainforests. We believe that stories are powerful tools for learning and catalysts for change. We write, act, direct, debate, film our rainforest stories – and sometimes rap.

Our work is based on the ECO-THRILLER ‘Jabujicaba‘ set in Brazil (pen name Rosa da Silva). Brazil is bankrupt and the Amazon is up for auction….

Jabujicaba’s characters are on learning journeys which lead them (the reader) to ask fundamental questions about Brazil’s rainforests, about our relationship with the natural world and with each other. And, of course, take positive individual action together for a better future!

Using Jabujicaba we work with young people in UK secondary schools to DEBATE issues raised in the novel from the view point of its characters. We founded and run the Jabuji Debates, the UK’s first environmental/geo-political debate, initiated, supported and hosted by Eton College. The first national debates finals were March 2016. The finalists included sixth formers from state schools in Kent, London and Berkshire.

We are producing ‘The Amazon Auction’ forum THEATRE for performance in University of Oxford Botanic Gardens, June 2016 with Wheatley Park School.

We are executive producers of the natural history DOCUMENTARY Uncharted Amazon. It is being screened as part of the Oxford Festival of Arts. We are running rainforest campaign workshops with Film Oxford for young people.

We have a FEATURE FILM under development based on Jabujicaba with a crowd funder just launched, as part of the Richard Branson competition #VOOM2016. Voting/pledging now live. Our pitch: https://www.vmbvoom.com/pitches/make-jabujicaba-the-movie .

All royalties from Jabujicaba go to conservation.

All our educational activities and arts events are free to attend.

The founders fund Voices for Nature philanthropically (no remuneration or expenses).

 

Valerie Clark, Biologist, i.F.r.o.g.s.

After earning her Ph.D. on the “Chemistry of Amphibian Skin Secretions,” Dr. Valerie C. Clark founded the conservation organization i.F.r.o.g.s. (Indigenous Forest Research Organization for Global Sustainability) 501(c)(3). i.F.r.o.g.s. engages the public online to explore Earth’s biodiversity and is active on the ground in Madagascar with local people to survey biodiversity and protect and restore rain forests. Her scientific expeditions have been supported by the National Geographic Society since 2007. Her publications are available for free at frogchemistry.com.

 

 

 

Susan Newman – Host and Supervisor
Founder, Frogs Are Green
Susan Newman, a Brand Visibility Designer, educator and environmentalist, is the founder of FROGS ARE GREEN and spends her days showing how she feels about the Earth and spreading the awareness that we need to save frogs and amphibians.

Susan is currently teaching “Peaceful Frogs,” a Frogs Are Green collaboration with Mindful Play Yoga in Jersey City and Hoboken. She is also a substitute teacher for the Hoboken Board of Education.

A graduate of the School of Visual Arts, Susan spent her early career working as a graphic designer and art director for various NYC book publishers, including Macmillan and Penguin. In 1994, she established her own design firm, Susan Newman Design, Inc., and builds brands near and far.

Susan received her certification in web design from The New School in 2000, and graduated from New Jersey Learns as a sustainability educator in 2015.

Susan has donated her design work to various organizations including: Save The Frogs, Parc Mitsinjo, ACSAM (A Conservation Strategy for the Amphibians of Madagascar), Hoboken 9/11 Memorial Committee, Jubilee Center Hoboken for Children, The Central Avenue Special Improvement District, Actors Shakespeare Company, Hudson Theatre Ensemble, Pennsylvania Women’s Hall of Achievement and The Ring of Hope Campaign.