Brooks Jensen, Editor of LensWork, informed us, as a result of the single image worldwide contest, one of Lexi’s color photographs (“Bluebird Morning Song”) and one of my black and white photographs (“Aspens and Pines”) were selected and included in the LensWork Our Magnificent Planet book.

This is the email from Brooks Jensen:

We cannot adequately thank all the participants who participated in our latest LensWork Community Book Project, Our Magnificent Planet. Such a wonderful collection of photographers! You have no idea how difficult it was for use to narrow the selection to just 300 images (from 300 photographers) for publication! The list of photographers whose images will appear in the book is listed below.

We will now begin the layout for the final book publication. Our printer (in Vancouver, BC, Canada) is back up and running amidst the COVID quarantine, so we are not anticipating any delay in printing the book. We are scheduled to print in August and mail in September. Every entrant will receive one book. (Please let us know ASAP if you have changed mailing address from that on your Entry Form – as book class mail is not forwarded!)

If any of you would like to order additional copies other than the one you will receive from your entry, we will offer OMP in mid-August at a discounted pre-publication price just as we have done in years past with Seeing in SIXES. You will receive an email notifying you of this online opportunity.

Again, thank you so much for submitting your work for consideration in this project. It was a daunting task, but one that impressed us and infused us with creative pride in our community of LensWork readers. 

Brooks Jensen Editor, LensWork Publishing

Comments from Facebook and emails:

• Congratulations! (Devorah Beinart)
• Beautiful work Laszlo and Lexi !! (Jaimie Ladysh)
• Congratulations to you both ! (R.J. Phil)
• Excellent. Well done !! (Steve Sherman)
• So pleased for you, well done! (Holly Gettings)
• Beautiful! (Marie Messina Curtis)
• The country life suits you both well. Enjoy!! (Alan Montgomery)
• Congratulations Laszlo and Lexi… (Sandi Pazman Foisy)
• Congratulations on the acknowledgment of the beautiful work you both create (Paul Smead)
• Great news. I am so happy for both of you. (Narinder Sall)
• Congratulations guys, well done! (Michael Hart)
• Congratulations, beautiful work! (Linda Bloch Taibel)
• That’s terrific you two. (David Mann)
• Congratulations to you and Lexi (Bob Schwartz)
• Congratulations.  It was great to see you at the meeting on Monday.  Stay safe. (Joe Aker)
• Mindenek elott szivbol gratulalunk mindkettotoknek az ujabb sikeres LensWork palyazathoz es a publikalasra kerulo konyvbe bevalasztashoz. Ez ismet egy fantasztikus eredmeny, igazan buszkek lehettek magatokra es arra, amit es ahogy csinaltok. (Horvath Gyozo)

After several hikes to the Copperas Creek and Lost Pines area, we found the beautiful, Bracken Ferns, an ancient type of plant with fossil records dating to 55 million years ago. I always had a strong connection to these ferns and photographed some areas of Lost Pines before the 2011 fire. Nine years after, when we moved to the Pine forest of Tahitian Village of Bastrop TX, we wanted to find these ferns and photograph more in large format, 4×5 black and white sheet film. Enjoy my first, after-the-fire large format images from this delicate fern.