The sky is split into colored wedges, and you can almost feel the cold in “Rattlesnake Dawn.” Look closer, and you can spot the sharp edges of broken ice and the bloom of frost crystals on the ground. It’s a fascinating, detailed image, and the clear winner in the Valley Record’s annual Amateur Photography contest, in the scenic category.

Reitz, of North Bend, said the photo was taken at “sunrise on a chilly morning, at Rattlesnake Lake.”

He was one of a small but talented field of photographers to submit their images in the annual contest, which also included categories for people and animals. More than 20 local photographers, several of them teens, submitted entries last month for the Valley Record’s annual Amateur Photography Contest.  Subject matter ranged from Seattle skylines to wildlife in photographer’s back yards.

Young photographers claimed the other top prizes in the scenic category of competition. James Ricks, a junior at Mount Si High School, took second place with his photo of a “railroad trestle bridge on the Iron Horse trail Dec. 6, a day after the pass got a foot of snow.”

Maddox Malcolm, age 14, also won with his experimental photo, that could have gone into the people category, too.

“My friend and I were trying out a new technique, Steel Wool Photography,” Malcom explained in an e-mail. “As my friend ignited the steel wool and whirled it over his head, I used a long exposure to capture all the trails of the sparks that were created. He is standing on a stump near the water’s edge at Rattlesnake Lake and in the background, you can see Rattlesnake Ledge above.”

In the people category, family photos were the favorites. A simple black and white photo, taken by North Bend’s Judith Milstein of her daughter, Izzey, took the top prize. Deidrah Wright of Fall City captured her husband mid-stroke in a swim in the Snoqualmie River for an intriguing image in second place and Karen Dennis, North Bend, took third with a spectacular kite-flying shot of her husband and son at Cannon Beach.

Animals are great, if unpredictable photographic subjects, as proven by Maddox Malcolm’s story of a split-second shot of a tiny frog that emerged from an algae-covered pond just long enough for him to take the photo, then disappeared again.

Malcolm’s frog shot was in close contention with the winners. Wright, Fall City, took first with her lovely shot of horses in a field on a foggy morning.

A charming chipmunk scored second for Ricks, and Zach Wolf of North Bend, took third with a trio of turtles.

Although Wolf got the turtle image at Juanita Bay, he said there’s no shortage of wildlife at his North Bend Home. “We see bobcats, bears, elk, deer and coyotes back there frequently – almost every day in the summer and fall months,” he wrote.

James Ricks’ photo of the Iron Horse railroad trestle, after a heavy snow last December, took second place in the scenic category.

Maddox Malcolm’s Steel Wool Photography took third place in the scenic category.

Judith Milstein’s portrait of her daughter, Izzey, was first place in the people category.

Deidrah Wright captured a photo of her husband, swimming in the Snoqualmie, in this second-place picture.

Kite flying at Cannon Beach by Karen Dennis took third in people.

First place in the animal category went to Deidrah Wright’s horses on a foggy morning;.

A chipmunk photographed by James Ricks took second place in the animal category.

Zach Wolf’s trio of turtles was the third-place winner in the animal category.

Another beautiful photo of the mountain by Jim Reitz.

Sweet photo of a dog by Alana Hall.

A shot of the supermoon from Kathryn Moon.

Gary Furulie entered this photo of an elk, from a rare perspective.

Cloudy peaks by David Billick.

Heather Thompson entered this picturesque scene of happy cows.

Ed Hall captured this moment of a wooded trail in the fog.