Park City photographers win rookies of the year, top entries in Mountain West competition

The informal but accomplished club is branching out after success in statewide competitions.

Now, four of its members have joined the Intermountain Professional Photographers Association.

“I think Dave [Winegar] was the only member of the Park City photography group that was member of the IPPA. And this year, I think three other members joined: myself, Liz Dranow and David Breslauer,” Howard Meltzer said.

He took home “Rookie of the Year” together with Dranow at the 2024 IPPA Annual Convention, held in Salt Lake City Nov. 1. The award goes to the highest scoring first-time entrants.

Dranow got there by nearly sweeping the animal portrait category. Her winning photo was “Garden Sphynx,” depicting a statuesque dog in a field of lavender. She also won second and third prize in the same category for “Golden Hour, Golden Years” and “I’ve Been Waiting for You.”

Meltzer received “Reportage Image of the Year” for his piece “TEAMWORK.” A jet and ground crew member stand face-to-face in the image, each pointing left — one with an arm, the other with its wing.

He also took third in the fine art category for “Primal Ooze,” a piece Meltzer featured at the Utah State Fair in September.

And Park City photographer Dave Winegar, a returning IPPA member, won both “Nature and Wildlife Image of the Year” and “Landscape Image of the Year.”

“Snowstorm Sheet Music” was the top nature and wildlife image; it looks like a graphite drawing of birds on branches during a snowstorm in Wanship.

The landscape image, “Big Sky Country,” shows clouds fanning across western Utah.

Winegar also earned additional first and third prizes in the nature and landscape categories, respectively.

The IPPA’s annual convention draws more than 200 entries from its roughly 85 members, who hail from five states, according to Meltzer. Landscape photography is a common pursuit in areas around Park City, with its mountain vistas, so Meltzer likes the variety he sees at the IPPA.

“There are people who do fine arts and portrait and weddings and, you know, probably 15 different categories of photography that I found really interesting,” he told KPCW.

Winegar said the Park City Photography Club isn’t about necessarily winning competitions so much as trying to improve month-to-month and connect with others who share a passion for pictures.

“You’re going to learn a lot, and everything is presented so everybody can understand it,” Winegar said. “It’s just trying to advance the ball photographically, just working on our artistic and our technical skills.”

The club has a Facebook page of the same name and meets on the third Monday of every month at the Park City Library, room 101.