2022 Photo Contest Winners

On a typical day at Rock Point (Tsé Nitsaa Deez’áhí) on the Navajo Nation, Marvin the cat leaped atop a post to escape the antics of Nina the dog. Shantel Chee, the photographer, stood by to capture it all. Chee, of the Kinłichíí'nii (Red House) clan, has returned home to the reservation as she completes her fifth year of education with the Institute of American Indian Arts. She tells SFR the first-place photograph taken on Jan. 22 also depicts a shed house that she and her late mother built with other siblings about 15 years ago. In the background rise Whale Rock (Tsé Bina’ookáhí) on the left and Round Rock (Tsé Nikání) on the right. “We are just so surrounded by rocks,” she says. “I can see nothing but rocks and it is interesting how that fits in your stories.”

While the SFR Photo Contest generally sticks to images taken within New Mexico, the judges made an exception for “Post Cat,” just over the state’s northwestern border with Arizona. As we endure another year of the COVID-19 pandemic, our relationships with animal companions deepened, and we all felt (still feel?) a bit like standing atop a tall and lonely tower.

1st Place

2nd Place

3rd Place

Honorable Mentions

Thank you!

Thanks to all the photographers who entered work, including Milo Harshbarger and other students from Acequia Madre Elementary School.

We appreciate sponsor SW Workshops for providing prizes to the winners in first, second and third place. Honorable mention winners receive $15 at Ohoris.