Special Issues & Guides » Winning Images

Central Coast photographers show off their best perspectives in New Times’ annual Winning Images contest

October 01, 2020

This year's winners.

Photographs capture moments, emotions, and thoughts without words. Those images are as unique as the perspective of the person holding the camera. They encapsulate time periods, places, and people.

Since 1994, New Times Media Group has invited local photographers to show us life from their point of view in our annual Winning Images contest. This year, because of COVID-19, we conducted an all-digital contest and received more than 650 photos. Our judges narrowed them down to three winners each in eight categories, plus eight honorable mentions and three judges’ picks.

Every entry also came in with a $10 fee, which will be rolled back into prize money for the winners, who also receive awards from the contest’s sponsors.

While you can see the winning images from 2020 on the following pages, you can also view them around downtown San Luis Obispo throughout the month of October. Winners are showcased by category in eight storefronts (see map), with the full show available at The Photo Shop, 1027 Marsh St.

Contact Editor Camillia Lanham at [email protected].

2020 Judges

San Luis Obispo native and perennial Winning Images judge Peggy Mesler is a photographer and the owner of The Photo Shop in SLO, where she shares her appreciation for—and knowledge of—photography with customers, clients, and friends. Peggy graduated with a journalism degree from Cal Poly, and she opened her shop in 1995. - PHOTO COURTESY OF PEGGY MESLER

PHOTO COURTESY OF PEGGY MESLER
San Luis Obispo native and perennial Winning Images judge Peggy Mesler is a photographer and the owner of The Photo Shop in SLO, where she shares her appreciation for—and knowledge of—photography with customers, clients, and friends. Peggy graduated with a journalism degree from Cal Poly, and she opened her shop in 1995.

Brittany App is a local photographer, filmmaker, and voice artist. She grew up in Los Osos and now lives off-grid on the Carrizo Plain with her rescue-dog, Luna, and seven little ducks. Her first feature-length documentary film, titled Where There Once Was Water, will hit the film festival circuit in 2021. Now, more than ever, she lives by these words from Howard Thurman, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” - PHOTO COURTESY OF BRITTANY APP

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRITTANY APP
Brittany App is a local photographer, filmmaker, and voice artist. She grew up in Los Osos and now lives off-grid on the Carrizo Plain with her rescue-dog, Luna, and seven little ducks. Her first feature-length documentary film, titled Where There Once Was Water, will hit the film festival circuit in 2021. Now, more than ever, she lives by these words from Howard Thurman, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Stephanie Secrest has a master’s degree in photojournalism from Ohio University. She’s been a freelancer for more 15 years and was with the press for 21 years before that. Stephanie was invited to attend the exclusive Eddie Adams Workshop, a top honor for photojournalists. She was also a pre-qualification judge for Adobe with their ADAA contest. She’s been published in Newsday, The London Sunday News Magazine, The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore Sun, and San Francisco Chronicle among others and was chief photographer and photo editor for two newspapers. - PHOTO COURTESY OF STEPHANIE SECREST

PHOTO COURTESY OF STEPHANIE SECREST
Stephanie Secrest has a master’s degree in photojournalism from Ohio University. She’s been a freelancer for more 15 years and was with the press for 21 years before that. Stephanie was invited to attend the exclusive Eddie Adams Workshop, a top honor for photojournalists. She was also a pre-qualification judge for Adobe with their ADAA contest. She’s been published in Newsday, The London Sunday News Magazine, The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore Sun, and San Francisco Chronicle among others and was chief photographer and photo editor for two newspapers.