Part of the excitement for me personally is finding out who this year’s judges are going to be for the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition. I took a moment to speak with each of them so that we can all get to know them a little better.

Jamie Goodman

Jamie currently serves as Communications Coordinator for Appalachian Voices – and if you’ve been keeping up with this blog, you already know that Appalachian Voices is the sponsor for the category “Our Ecological Footprint.” A perfect sponsorship, if you ask me, and will hopefully bring more awareness to this often overlooked category in the competition.

As the Communications Coordinator, Jamie oversees the organization’s communication efforts, including print and online publications. As with any non-profit organization, however, you can imagine just how many other hats Jamie wears on any given day.

I spoke with Jamie about the upcoming judging process, and how she was feeling about being a judge. She said:

I’m really excited to see all of the submissions this year. We have an amazing amount of talented photographers in the area.

I’ve been following the competition since its beginning, and I’ve noticed the disparity between the submissions for the environment category, and the true purpose of the category. With Appalachian Voice’s involvement, I feel that more attention will be brought to the environmental threats the Appalachian Mountains are currently facing.”

Jamie, I couldn’t agree more!

Troy Tuttle

As the Senior Photographer for Appalachian State University for the last 10 years, Troy has won numerous awards for his photography. His images have even been accepted into the photographic collection of the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Unfortunately, Troy doesn’t have a website to showcase his work, which is a shame really, because I’ve seen it and I gotta tell you guys, it’s amazing. (hey Troy, get a website!)

I asked Troy about what he looks forward to the most as being a judge this year:

I was a judge the first year of the competition, and I’m really impressed by how far the competition has come, from the participation to the increasing quality of the photography.

I’m looking forward to seeing what the community is doing, and how they see the area. I’m not a nature photographer – more of a studio photographer – but I appreciate it a lot. It’s the idea of waiting for that perfect moment.”

Katie Langley

Katie brings a journalistic style of photography to the world, and she has found success in the highly competitive world of portraiture photography. Katie stands out as an artistic wedding photographer, who’s not afraid to bring a special and unique perspective to a person’s special day.

I had a good time laughing with her about how you couldn’t pay me a million dollars to be a wedding photographer. Too much stress and all. She just laughed and said she gets that a lot.

When I asked her about what she looks forward to the most with being a judge this year, she said:

Seeing all the talent. There are so many talented photographers in this area, professional and amateur, and that’s just based on seeing last year’s winners.

I’m really looking forward to seeing all of the creative submissions this year. It’s so interesting to me to see how people can see the same things so differently. As a first time judge, I am anxious to see the High Country and surrounding Appalachian Mountains through the eyes of other artists.”

Every year the quality of the photography increases, so my heart goes out to the judges this year as they take on a very daunting task of narrowing down nearly a thousand entries to a few dozen.

Good luck to everyone this year!