The last scheduled ICF Pro-Am US of 2012 was held from October 25th to the 29th. This was the first Pro-Am to be held at Martin Refuge, and the first time for Larry Ditto to act as a Pro-Am coach. We didn’t plan it this way, but this was Santa Clara’s 4th Pro-Am…and Michael Francis’ 4th time as a coach. We can’t stress enough how wonderful both ranches and both coaches are, we are proud to be associated them.
Our participants were: team Michael Francis at Santa Clara; Tom Ambrose (his 2nd Pro-Am), Cheryl Stewart, Phillip Horowitz, Jackie Horowitz, Gary Meyer, and George Phile…and team Larry Ditto at Martin Refuge; Myer Bornstein, Bill Caskey, John Martin (his 2nd Pro-Am), and Jo Don Rawls. To keep things equal, team Francis participants submitted 2 images per day each, and team Ditto participants submitted 3. The atmosphere between and within the 2 teams was competitive and cooperative, this was an incredibly fun group and we’d all love to do it again.
Daily and overall prizes were awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places, plus a daily win for the highest scoring ranch and the overall ranch. Once again, every participant won something and learned something, and all walked away with thousands of great images beyond what was submitted. This is a result of the coaching and the learning that goes on in the Pro-Am format. Martin Refuge also treated all participants to an afternoon shoot following the tournament.
Daily 3rd place winners were Myer Bornstein and Jo Don Rawls tied for day 1, Tom Ambrose and Gary Meyer tied for day 2, and Gary Meyer and George Phile tied for day 3. Daily 2nd place winners were Myer Bornstein for day 1, Bill Caskey for day 2, and Tom Ambrose and Bill Caskey tied for day 3. Finally, our daily 1st place winners were Jackie Horowitz for day 1, Myer Bornstein for day 2, and George Phile for day 3. Myer Bornstein’s 1st place day 2 image scored a perfect 50 out of 50 possible points, the first in ICF Pro-Am Tournament history.
Our daily ranch winners were…….day 1 with 468 points, team Ditto at Martin Refuge; day 2 with 454 points, team Francis at Santa Clara, and day 3 with 480 points, team Francis at Santa Clara. The daily ranch totals were close, but team Francis at Santa Clara won the overall points total with a score of 1,389 points against team Ditto at Martin Refuge’s total of 1,326. Congratulations to all of you, it was a pleasure viewing your work and spending time with each of you.
A special thank you to our judges, especially those who were affected by hurricane Sandy but still managed to judge this event, thank you and best wishes for a speedy recovery. Our judges are; Steve Freligh (Nature’s Best Photography), Susan McElhinney (National Wildlife Federations’ Ranger Rick Magazine), Kim Rothe (Texas Wildlife Association Magazine), Ryan Henry (South Texas Outdoors), and Keely Lewis. Our judges are an important part of these events, we really appreciate their support and their volunteer efforts to help save wildlife.
Some of our participants were also from areas hit by hurricane Sandy, our thoughts and prayers go out to them and all who were effected by this storm.
All of the images from this event can be seen by clicking here. We hope you all had as much fun as we did and we hope to see you at another ICF Pro-Am.
