Winning and Finalists Photos from the 2009 'Best Pest Photo Contest'

PCT BEST PEST PHOTO CONTEST WINNING PHOTO.  Timothy Joner, office manager of Palmetto Exterminators, Greenville, S.C., takes top honors (and a cash prize of $500) for his up-close photo of a honey bee atop of a sunflower which one our judges describes as having the 3 Cs for a winning photo: color, clarity and composition. “Even the dollops of pollen are visible on the bee.”
 

 Finalist photo: The species of spider is Dinopis subrufa, commonly called the ‘net caster’ or ‘ogre faced’ spider (although I personally think he is quite handsome!). This is quite a harmless species to humans, however for the arachnophobic, the presence of this spider can lead to a quick call to the local pest control operator. The image was taken on the wall of a brick home in Taree, which is 300km north of Sydney, Australia.

Photographer: Stephen L. Doggett, Senior Hospital Scientist,Department of Medical Entomology, ICPMR, Westmead Hospital, Australia

Finalist photo: This is a photo of a honey bee caught in flight in front of the flower of the banana tree plant. Taken in Oct '09 in Baton Rouge, La. 

Photographer: Dan Cutrer  

Finalist photo: This photo was taken in July, in Southwest Missouri.  These beetles cause a lot of devastation in short order.  This particular beetle was one of hundreds that decided to descend on an ornamental tree in our front lawn. 

Photographer: Michael Woodring, Bug Zero, Springfield, Mo.
 

Finalist photo: Photographer Pete Elbert described how he captured this harvester ant photo. "I can honestly say that this particular shot took me about two hours of many of photos and a lot of sweat to get the right one.  Along with a lot of sand in my camera equipment, I received a lot of chigger and mosquito bites in the process. All in all, I can honestly say that it was well worth it looking at the final print." 

Photographer: Pete Elbert, Residex of Jacksonville

Finalist photo: Stoy Hedges captured this photo of butterfly in full flutter.

Photographer: Stoy Hedges, Terminix, Memphis, Tenn.

Finalist photo: The image is of a reproductive Eastern Subterranean Termite (Reticulitermes flavipes) in flight. The image was taken at Stengl "Lost Pines" Biological Station at the University of Texas. On March 20, 2009, the photographer ran across a large emergence or reproductives and use high speed flash to capture this image at 1/50,000 sec.

Photographer: John Abbott, University of Texas

Finalist photo: Photographer Kevin LeMasters simply sums this photo up as "true" Katydid.

Photographer: Kevin LeMasters, Schendel Pest Services, Topeka, Kan.

 Finalist photo: This house fly (Diptera Musca domestica) photo was taken in Sterling, Conn., on a flower outside of the photographer's home.

Photographer: Jennifer Dacey, Waltham Services, Sterling, Conn.

Finalist photo: The photographer took a picture of the "office pet," a well fed black widow spider. "We use her at home shows and to get kids interested in insects. My camera is a Canon Digital Rebel XSi with 85mm-150mm lens. The cage top is off in this pic also. Please zoom in a bit to bring her into full frame."

Photographer: Nathan Christie, Orkin Pest Control, Hattiesburg, Miss.