In a snap, elusive egret wins man $1,000 grand prize

A Dunedin man wins a photo contest with his image of the egret. But he's over birds now, and on to alligator shots.

By SASHA TALCOTT
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 4, 2003

DUNEDIN -- Just after dawn one morning in July, a lone man on Dunedin Beach observes a snow-white egret standing in a pool of deep blue water, its neck arched gracefully, ready to drink.

The man, who took up photography as a hobby last year, walks softly toward the bird, holds his breath and snaps a picture.

That serene moment earned Dunedin resident Charles Pataky $1,000, the grand prize in Minolta Corp.'s year-end photo contest.

In Pataky's photo, the egret's image reflects perfectly in the water, as if the bird were contemplating its own luminous reflection.

"I was thinking, 'Don't flyaway,' " Pataky said. "It flew away right afterward."

Pataky, 53, received a camera for Christmas last year from his wife. He ventures out every morning and evening to take pictures of Florida wildlife.

First it was birds. Then it was landscapes, taken with infrared photography so the colors stand out. Now, Pataky has developed a fondness for alligator photos.

At John Chesnut Sr. Park in Palm Harbor, he approaches the 8-foot, 250-pound reptiles from the side, trying not to provoke an attack.

"You try to position yourself in between the sun and them," he said. "It's really a challenge. You've got to be careful, naturally."

Pataky's wife, Linda, who describes herself as his favorite fan, said she worries a little when her husband goes out on alligator hunts.

"That stuff scares me," she said. "He asks me to come, and I say, 'I'll stay away from there.' "

Pataky's wife and daughter, Becky, convinced him to enter the egret photo in the Minolta contest after he saw the entry form on the company's Web site. The Japanese company makes cameras, film and business equipment.

Pataky won Minolta's Photo of the Week contest in September. Three months later, he won its year-end photo contest, beating out 1,500 entrants worldwide.

He took his grand-prize-winning photo with a Minolta Maxxum 800si camera, which typically costs about $550. Now, with the prize money, Pataky said he plans to buy a new digital camera.

Jon Sienkiewicz, Minolta's vice president of marketing, said the company's panel of five photography experts liked Pataky's composition, lighting and choice of difficult subject.

"The egret looks like you can reach out and touch it," he said. "When you see a stunning photo as elusive as the egret, it has a character all its own."

Pataky, a maintenance worker at Mease Manor in Dunedin, and his wife now plan to sell his photographs at Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach. The couple's living room wall features a dozen of Pataky's photos, and he said guests often encourage him to sell his work.

Still, his wife said Pataky often underestimates his work.

"He's an artist,"she said. "He sees faults in things that other people wouldn't see."

The runner-up photograph, by Andreas Petzold of Germany, featured a searing image of a red kite, a hawklike bird of prey that stares directly out at the camera. Petzold won $500.

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