lens on lake minnetonka

This photo took first place in the Pets category of our annual contest.

It's that time of year again: The Lens on Lake Minnetonka photo contest has returned for its 7th year of beautiful photos of our community. This photo contest, presented by Lake Minnetonka Magazine, showcases the best photographers in our community—not to mention the subjects that give them inspiration.

We're looking for photos that show off the core values of Lake Minnetonka in five categories:

Lake Minnetonka Magazine reader Bob Israel received an honorable mention in the Wildlife & Nature category of our 2016 Lens on Lake Minnetonka photo contest for his photo Winter’s Waning, which features a sunset over Lake Minnetonka. Israel captured the photo last March.

Remember this lake dock from our June issue’s Last Glance page? Minnetonka photographer Tracie Bea Daum is at it again, and her fishing family is reeling ’em in.

Daum took this photo, Fish On, in the Carson Bay area of Lake Minnetonka on a warm summer night last July, with her Canon 6D. It received an honorable mention in the People & Families category of our 2015 Lens on Lake Minnetonka photo contest.

Taking a photo that re-creates the beauty of a fireworks show is difficult.

Minnetrista photographer John Haug says the more you practice and experiment, the better. Haug took his award-winning photo, “Sound and Light Show,” last year at Surfside Park during the Spirit of the Lakes Festival in Mound. He used his Canon 7d camera. The snapshot took first place in the Activities & Events category of our 2015 Lens on Lake Minnetonka photo contest.

“I find it kind of fun to just try to get the action and the fireworks,” he says. “Anyway, it turned out quite well.”

It's said that a picture is worth 1,000 words. But this photo, “Tu4Tu,” which took first place in the People & Families category of our 2015 Lens on Lake Minnetonka photo contest, offers even more of a story.

It’s no secret that a poppy in full bloom is a sight to behold. But earlier in the season, within its unblossomed petals, the flower holds the potential and beauty of the spring and summer that is yet to come.

It was around 10 a.m. on a Sunday that this “Sunday-Morning Bird” made its appearance.

Lori Palesch received an honorable mention for her photo in the Wildlife & Nature category of our 2015 Lens on Lake Minnetonka photo contest.“It’s my first-ever recognition!” Palesch says with a laugh.

Al Whitaker received an honorable mention for this photo, “Sunrise at Tommy’s Tonka Trolley,” in the City Landmarks category of our 2015 Lens on Lake Minnetonka photo contest. “People might not actually consider it a landmark, but go up to anyone around town and talk about the trolley, and they’ll know what you’re talking about. That makes it a landmark,” Whitaker explains. “Plus he’s got great ice cream.”

Deb Zeller’s cat Zoey is nothing if not photogenic. The feline, who’s been a member of Zeller’s family since last spring, loves to get “up close and in my face,” Zeller laughs. “Zoey loves my cameras. When I get them out to shoot something around the house, usually my artwork, she has to be right in the middle of everything…she wants be part of the action.”