Meet the 2009 Judges

Kathy Adams Clark (www.kathyadamsclark.com) has been a professional nature photographer since 1995. She runs a stock agency that represents the work of fifteen outstanding nature photographers. Kathy's work has been published in many places including Nature's Best, New York Times, Birder's World, Texas Highways and Texas Parks & Wildlife. Her photos have also appeared in a numerous books and calendars. Her photos appear every week in the "Nature" column in the Houston Chronicle written by her husband, Gary Clark. Kathy and Gary have published four books and have two more in the works that combine their photography and writing skills.

Kathy teaches photography at local and national events. She will lead photo workshops to Costa Rica, Ecuador, and other locations through Strabo Tours. Kathy is Past-president of the North American Nature Photography Association.

If "all the world's a stage for an actor", then all the world's a studio for Kevin Vandivier! Whether he's chasing Hurricane Gilbert down in Mexico that generated a coveted LIFE cover and full two-page foldout in the magazine... or perched at the edge of a rumbling volcano on Mt. Kilahaua, Hawaii...whether he's photographing with presidents and kings, or befriending a lonely homeless child on the streets of Romania, Kevin's keen eye for capturing life's unfolding drama with richness of color and soul-piercing human emotion, has distinguished his work among peers and public alike.

Kevin's work has been used editorially in National Geographic World, Traveler and Adventure Magazines, Popular Photography, Life, Newsweek, Smithsonian Magazine, Texas Monthly, and others. Recently he published his fourth book, this one a photo essay on Texas high school football called "Smokin' Hot". His previous book subjects where "Texas", "Back Roads of the South" and "Washington D.C.". Most recently, Kevin retired from Texas Highways Magazine as the Photography Editor to return to his first love...Freelance Photojournalism (www.kevinv.com) and also founded The Alpha & Omega Fine Art-Photography Gallery in Austin, Texas ( www.photogallerytexas.com ). Housed in the gallery is Texas Photo Workshops. TPW brings in top talent from all over the world to teach various levels and styles of photography. Awards include Honorable Mention for Photo Editor of the Year, Best of Photo Journalism 2009 competition for photo editing Texas Highways. His photographs with the photographs of Earl Nottingham are featured most recently in Texas Public Gardens by Elvin McDonald.

Sean Fitzgerald's images have been published in Professional Photographer, Outdoor Photographer, New York Times, Audubon Nature Calendars, Texas Highways, Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine, and various other publications. Sean has won the Coastal Bend Wildlife Photo Contest twice, won the Grand Prize in the 2003 World in Focus Contest, and also won the wildlife category in the 2007 World in Focus contest, sponsored by Photo District News magazine. Sean's fine art prints were twice featured on the Bravo Network's television show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. At the 2001 Fotofusion International Photography Festival in Florida, he was chosen by renowned photographer Art Wolfe to receive the festival's Rising Star Photographer Award. Professional Photographer magazine has featured Sean as its cover artist of the month and Sean was featured in Photo Portfolio Success, a book by Pulitzer Prize winning photographer John Kaplan on putting together winning photo portfolios. Sean lives and works from a studio in Deep Ellum, near downtown Dallas, and more of his images can be found at www.seanfitzgerald.com.