Photos of a dog being walked down a tree-lined street, a mother and her young daughter enjoying sweets and a baby sitting on the Main Street sidewalk took top honors in the Chamber of Commerce’s fifth annual Los Gatos Photo Contest, which is designed to showcase the small town charm of Los Gatos.
Amateur photographer Ken Benjamin’s portrait of a woman walking her dog down Loma Alta Avenue took first place in the “Beauty of Los Gatos” category. He also won top honors in the “Living and Working in Los Gatos” category with his photo of little Sonora Rose. “She’s the daughter of the owner of Nuance, and she was just out in front of her mama’s store,” Benjamin said.
Benjamin, who has been a photography hobbyist for 42 years, snaps most of his photos while out walking. “I walk around town, and opportunities happen to me,” he said. “If I don’t have a camera I kick myself.”
The photo of a woman walking her dog on Loma Alta Avenue in late fall was one of those opportunities. “I was on one of those walks and I waited for her to pass me and took the photo,” Benjamin said.
Many of the photos will be published in the Chamber of Commerce Directory. Still others could be used in town marketing campaigns.
Twenty-three photographers submitted more than 200 photographs in three categories—Dining and Shopping, Living and Working in Los Gatos and Beauty. Photographers could submit up to 10 photographs each.
Benjamin says it’s easy to find things to shoot in town. “There are so many little vignettes in addition to the big landscapes,” he said. “There are flowers and architectural details and dogs out the wazoo.”
In fact, Benjamin’s wife Janice won the People’s Choice Award for her photo of a dog named Luke standing on his hind legs and peering through the front window of the Indian Store on Main Street. “It was Cat’s Night Out, and Luke was fixated on the cat in the window,” Janice said.
On Cat’s Night Out, held earlier this year as a promotion for the Museums of Los Gatos, many retail shops displayed fine art cat statues that would later be auctioned off.
The People’s Choice Award was decided by attendees of the May 20 Chamber mixer, where the other winning photos were announced.
In the Dining and Shopping category, photographer Dave Lepori took first place for his shot of a mother and her young daughter eating sweets at Fleur de Cocoa on N. Santa Cruz Avenue. Lepori also took second place in the category, with Benjamin coming in third.
Other winners included Scott Anderson, who placed second and third in the Living and Working in Los Gatos category, and Evie Julian, who took second place in the Beauty of Los Gatos category, followed once again by Benjamin.
The photos were judged by professional photographers Simon Bannister of iMotion, Kyle Chesser from Hands On Photography and Los Gatos Weekly-Times photographer George Sakkestad.
