Congratulations To A Friend

One of the great pleasures is enjoying the success of friends and I had that opportunity yesterday when a Yahoo page blinked the news that Paul Souders was the grand prize and nature winner of the National Geographic Photo Contest. My first reaction when I learned the news: Great!

My second reaction: What took Nat Geo so long?

I first met Paul when I was the sports editor of a daily newspaper in Pennsylvania and he was a local kid studying (only occasionally he'll admit) at the University of Maryland and shooting pictures for our newspaper. He was a talented sports photographer back then and today is an astonishing nature photographer. He's also a daredevil world explorer and, oh yeah, absolutely one of the best writers I know. Here's his winning picture:

Click to enlarge Paul Souders photo

Find Paul's WorldFoto website here.

Remember I said he's a great writer? He has absolutely no idea how good he is. Many of the short narratives he includes with photos on his blog read like poetry. Here's one.

We have two signed Paul Souders photographs on the wall of our family room and I smile every time I look at them.