The Creede Arts Council would like to offer a sincere thanks to each of our photographers for participating in this year's Mountain Shootout Photography competition.This year our judge, John Gary Brown, stepped in to judge the submissions and was so impressed by the talent represented in our community of artists.

Out of 35 entries, Judge Brown selected first, second, and third place winners as well as three honorable mention awards. The winners are as follows:

First Place: Comet A3 Dancing Through the Milky Way by Dennis Schoenfelder

Second Place: Insignificant by Lon Houseman

Third Place: The Fox in Winter by Richard Smith

Honorable Mentions (three awards): Cow Ship Corvid by Bill Tite; Look at Me by Jenny Powers and Mountain Mahogany by Richard Smith.

We are very excited to begin our public exhibition on Friday, June 13th at the Creede Visitor Center with an opening reception at 5:00 pm.

The exhibition runs through September 14. Photography prints can be purchased directly from the photographers this year.

John Gary Brown ("Brownie") was this year’s judge for the 2025 Mountain Shootout Photo Contest. John Gary Brown has been a professional artist, photographer and author for almost fifty years. A native Kansan, he received his MFA from The University of Washington, in Seattle. His work has been featured in Smithsonian, Architectural
Digest and in numerous books. His book, Soul in the Stone, was published by the Kansas University Press in 1993. For 48 years, Brownie, was the staff photographer and archivist for Creede Repertory Theater. He is currently working on a memoir that examines the counterculture in America’s Heartland.

 2025 Mountain Shootout 1st Place Photograph, 'Comet A4 Dancing in the Milky Way'