[Photo Contest] Picture Perfect

In December, PCT announced that Donna Richardson, vice president of Royal Pest Management, New Castle, Del., was the winner of PCT’s 6th annual Best Pest Photo Contest.

This year’s winning picture  a cluster of brightly colored boxelder bugs in the nymph stage  was taken on the side of a hill near Richardson’s home in Newark, Del. “An orange and black cluster of insects on a leaf caught my attention, so I went to investigate,” she said.

Richardson said she took several photographs of the boxelder bugs using a Nikon D200 camera with a macro lens, which helped her create the effect she was looking for. “It’s probably one of my better photos in terms of color and the definition of the bug. The color came out amazing.”

PCT received more than 75 entries this year. Our judges reviewed those photos, narrowed them to 11 and then determined that Richardson’s photo was tops. Here’s a look at some of the finalist photos.

All of the finalist photos can be viewed here.