Northern Lights, trains, kayaker among prize-winning images in Go Laurel Highlands contest

Keeping her sights aimed sky-high earned Scottdale resident Christina Stoner two prizes in this year’s Go Laurel Highlands photo contest.

Stoner won second place in the contest’s “nature” category with her image of the Northern Lights, captured over Acme Lake. Her photo of a fireworks display lighting the sky above her town’s Loucks Park garnered her third place in the “events and attractions” category.

Stoner, who has been taking photographs since her early teens, counts sunny skies and kids among her favorite subjects.

“I want to lighten up people’s spirits,” she said.

Her 4-year-old daughter, Amelia Dillinger, often joins her on photography expeditions.

“She gets up bright and early with me for the sunrise,” Stoner said.

More recently, Stoner’s photographic sessions have occurred in the middle of the night. She joined other area sky watchers who were on a quest to view and capture images of the Northern Lights when they became visible in Southwestern Pennsylvania in early May.

“I drove around until 3 a.m. looking for the Northern Lights,” she said. “I could see pink pillars in the sky but they weren’t very bright.”

Eventually, she found a promising view at a lake near the village of Acme, where she had grown up. When she took a photo of the sky, the screen of her camera turned red.

“I thought I broke my camera,” she said.

She soon was pleasantly surprised when she viewed the image of the Aurora Borealis her camera lens had captured.

“It was seeing hues I just couldn’t see with my eyes,” including a thin band of orange, she said. “I was jumping up and down and screaming. I was super excited.”

That was the image that earned her a second-place prize of $200 in the area destination marketing organization’s 20th annual photo contest. She earned $100 with her third-place fireworks photo. A first-place finish in each of the contest’s three categories is worth $500.

The success of the photo encouraged Stoner to continue her night photography efforts. While operating her own photography business, C.Marie Imagery, she said she wants to explore time-lapse techniques.

This was the first time she entered the Go Laurel Highlands contest, and she’s planning to submit more images for the 2025 competition.

“I will definitely be looking for subjects to photograph,” she said.

More than 700 entries submitted for the 2024 contest were judged by professional photographers Alex Newill and Cristy Marsh. The top images will be published in Go Laurel Highlands’ 2025 Destination Guide and will be displayed on the organization’s website, golaurelhighlands.com, and at its visitors center on the Diamond in Ligonier.

“Using authentic photography allows us to portray a sense of place to visitors and helps us tell the distinctive story of our region,” said Ann Nemanic, executive director of Go Laurel Highlands.

First-place wins went to: Carol Saylor of Meyersdale, who entered her photo of the Appalachian Wagon Train passing through her town in the “events and attractions” category; Holly Harris of Coal Center, whose top “nature” entry shows a passing freight train, captured as she was passing over Somerset County’s Salisbury Viaduct on the Great Allegheny Passage trail; and Tom Bush IV of Uniontown, a photographer for Wilderness Voyageurs, who entered an action shot of a kayaker on the Youghiogheny River at Ohiopyle.

“I was walking across and just happened to have a train pass,” Harris said of her trip across the viaduct, which is just outside of Meyersdale. “I just got lucky.”

Other 2024 winners:

Events and attractions

• Dana Echard of Greensburg — Bullskin Rodeo, second place

Nature

• Kyle Rose of Hannastown — Osprey at Kingston, third place.

Outdoor activities

• Krystal Blake of Ruffs Dale — Kids playing in Ruffs Dale, second place;

• Elijah Spellman of Uniontown — Laurel Caverns, third place.

Entries for the 2025 photo contest are being accepted. Contestants may submit an unlimited number of high-quality color images taken in the Laurel Highlands — Pennsylvania’s Fayette, Somerset or Westmoreland counties.