Elverson resident wins photography contest

Combining his love of nature and his photography skills, Elverson resident Mark Lucas was able to capture the winning photograph in a contest presented by the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation. Lucas won the Judge's Choice Award in the Forests category of the contest, which had nearly 600 entries.

Lucas' photo pictures a decaying tree deep in the woods. The tree is covered in moss and surrounded by bright orange mushrooms. He came upon the tree while hiking in Gallitzin State Forest near his hometown. "It is located just west of a little town called Windber. It's on the western side of the state in the heart of Appalachia," Lucas explained. "It's about 80 miles east of Pittsburgh, and it's about a three-hour-and-15 minute drive (from Elverson). My family is still there, and I (visit) for the holidays."

Lucas entered the photography contest at the suggestion of a friend. "Someone who knows that I do photography on the side sent me a link; otherwise I would have never known," he said. "Coincidentally, I had walked the trail a few months before the contest and happened to get a lot of decent pictures. There was one that was different than what I normally do, and that picture came to mind. I never expected to win, but I thought I would enter the contest and see what happens."

The winning shot was taken while Lucas was walking along the John P. Saylor Trail, a 12-mile loop that takes him about nine hours to complete carrying only his camera equipment and water.

"I was walking the loop clockwise starting at the trailhead at the park picnicking area and happened to glance at some morning sunbeams coming through the trees to my left when I noticed the beam illuminating the bright green moss at the base of the decaying tree, along with the tiny orange mushrooms," he recalled. "I had never seen those before. That's what caught my eye when I was walking down the trail. When I walked over to them, I was going to take close-ups of the mushrooms, but when I backed away, (I decided to do) more of a wide angle shot."

He said that his photo tells the story of the tree, which was once alive but now has been reclaimed by the forest. "I decided that I needed to try to tell the story of the once-magnificent tree being reclaimed by the forest floor with the young trees in the background looking on to portray the circle of life of the forest," Lucas shared. "I decided to take the photograph lying on the ground."

He said that the colors found in nature came together perfectly in the image. "I wanted to give the once mighty tree a final feeling of dominance," Lucas said. "The orange mushroom cluster, moss and exposed roots as leading lines to the decaying stump ... combined with .... the blue sky offered a very nice color palette to complement the stump at its final resting place."

Lucas received a gift card for his winning photo, which he said he will use to purchase new hiking shoes.