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Sanford Lab Photowalk finalists announced

Global competition combines beauty, science and weirdness from laboratories around the world.
3 Photowalk finalists are combined in this feature article main image.

Sanford Lab Photowalk finalists (from left): Matt Kadlick, Bonny Fleming, Chris Yushta

We've got chills. 

The photographers at this year's Sanford Lab Photowalk captured the essence of Sanford Lab with dramatic clarity. We've narrowed the submissions down to three stunning finalists.

These selected finalists have been submitted to the Global Physics Photowalk competition. Organized by the Interactions Collaboration of global physics laboratories and supported by the Royal Photographic Society and the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC), the global shortlist was announced yesterday and the public vote is available now.

The Global Physics Photowalk offers a rare glimpse into the people, engineering and technology behind some of the world’s most inspiring, amazing and sometimes weirdest science through the eyes of hundreds of amateur and professional photographers around the world. 

The three winning images at Sanford Lab were taken by Bonny Fleming of Rapid City, South Dakota; Chris Yushta of Spearfish, South Dakota; and Matt Kadlick of Casper, Wyoming.

“I was blown away by all of our submissions,” said Matt Kapust, creative services developer for Sanford Lab. “We had several amazing and creative photographers who did a fantastic job capturing the science, people and environment of our facility.” Kapust organized the event for Sanford Lab. 

"I guess as a photographer you always hope you're good enough to be considered for an endeavor such as this one," said Yushta, a professional photographer. "Once you're actually doing it, it's very surreal. It's like nothing you've ever experienced." 

View all submissions to Sanford Lab  

The 17 participating laboratories study science topics ranging from exploring the origins of the Universe to better understanding how our planet’s climate works, and from improving human and animal health to helping deliver secure and sustainable food and energy supplies for the future.

Each lab held their own local competition then entered their top three images into the global competition. From those images, a public online vote will choose the top three, while a panel of expert photographers and scientists will also choose their three favorites.

Explore some of the world’s most intriguing scientific laboratories at www.interactions.org/photowalk where you can cast your votes. Each participant can vote only once online.

Voting closes at 12:59 a.m. Mountain Time on Monday, Sept. 16. The winners will be announced Sunday, Oct. 1, at the international Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) annual conference in Hartford, Connecticut.

Further information about the 2018 Global Physics Photowalk, including participating laboratories, is available at the Interactions website.

The original press release can be found here.