Canyon Lake photographer Jerry Sargent’s photograph, ‘Window on a Canyon Lake Sunset,’ placed third in the Hill Country Alliance’s (HCA) 2022 Hill Country Photo Contest.
HCA announced the winners today.
Sargent’s image will appear in HCA’s 2023 calendar.
His photograph was one of over 300 images submitted this year by both amateurs and professionals. This is the fifth year in a row the retired U.S. Army veterinarian’s work has been featured in the calendar.
Sargent said he lives very close to Canyon Park, where he shot the image. Any time the sunset promises to be spectacular, he grabs the camera and heads to the shoreline.
“It’s a favorite spot of mine,” he said.
Sargent was stationed in Japan when he purchased the camera that kick-started his love of photography.
“I learned it wasn’t so much a camera as it was the person behind it,” he said. “I joined a photography club, took online courses, watched YouTube videos and started practicing over the last eight years.”
Despite years serving in Japan, Germany, North Carolina, Kansas and Texas during his 22-year military career, he said he doesn’t mind traveling again as long as the scenery’s spectacular.
Sargent recently returned from trips to Tennessee and Arkansas and spent last week photographing the Guadalupe Mountains.
“I’ll go anywhere I can get good photos,” he said. “…Texas is so big I can travel a long way and still be in Texas.”
Although the Canyon Lake area is beautiful, he said it’s the lake and rivers that make it perfect for photography.
“I take a lot of pictures of the river around here, and of the lake, and those are always the favorites when you can include water in your photograph,” he said.
On his website, Sargent said every good picture should tell a story.
“Sometimes the story is simple, sometimes complex,” he wrote. “Like all good stories, it should evoke an emotion; maybe happy, sad, moody, somber or joyous. It may mean something to you and something totally different to me. As an artist, it is up to me to find that story and present it to you in a way that evokes that emotion, captures your attention and draws you in. While it is not always easy, it is what I look for every time I press the shutter button.”
HCA is a nonprofit whose goal is raising public awareness of the need to preserve the natural resources and heritage of the Central Texas Hill Country.
“With a rapidly growing population and increasing development coming into the region, many of these special qualities are at risk of being lost,” HCA said in a press release. “Each year HCA holds a photo contest encouraging photographers to capture features of the Texas Hill Country they would like to protect forever.”
To learn more about Jerry Sargent Photography or to purchase a print visit jerrysargent.com.
Beautiful.