Staff report Columbia Gorge News THE GORGE — The winner of Friends of the Columbia Gorge’s ninth annual photo contest is Portland schoolteacher Dave Edwards Noyes. The grand prize in the “GorgeGram: Framed in Beauty” contest went to Noyes’ photo taken in spring 2023 on Mosier Plateau Trail. Six category-winning photos, a special camera phone sub-category winner, and nine honorable mentions were also announced.
All winners and honorable mentions were selected by professional photographers Debbie Asakawa, Paloma Ayala, and Vince Ready, all three of whom have experience in landscape and portrait photography as well as conservation advocacy. “Thanks to protection efforts by Friends of the Columbia Gorge and others who love this wild, wondrous place, Gorge lovers can keep coming back to photograph their favorite vistas, wildlife, wildflowers, and other attractions year after year, season after season, to get that perfect shot,” said Tim Dobyns, communications director at Friends of the Columbia Gorge. “I was not expecting this gorgeous scene to unfold before me when I visited Mosier Creek Falls for my first time in spring 2023,” said Edwards Noyes, a music teacher at Sojourner Elementary in Milwaukie.
“The gnarled wisdom of the oak, the golden evening sunlight catching in the arching branches and the new grass, and the trail meandering through it all made me stop in my tracks. In that moment, so perfect, I felt a sincere gratitude to be in the midst of such spl.
