KINSA PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST BEGINS ITS FINAL WEEK TODAY

Today starts the final week of the local Kodak International Newspaper Snapshot Awards.

Entries are pouring in at an impressive rate, said Joyce Hunter, KINSA coordinator at the Southeast Missourian. She expects nearly 1,000 photographs will be entered in all.

KINSA entries will be accepted through 5 p.m. Friday.

Week Four was a week dominated by retired people and travel. Three of the winners are retired, and three of the photographs were taken outside of Missouri.

Week Four semi-finalists are:

-- Joe Stahly of Cape Girardeau

-- Doris C. Bollinger of Jackson

-- Robert L. Cox of Cape Girardeau

-- Edwin M. Slesak of Perryville

Week Four boasted of the highest number of entries yet: 243.

But Hunter has noticed a rather troubling trend. About 20 photographs printed on Fuji paper were entered over the past few weeks.

"I want to remind people that the K in KINSA stands for Kodak, and all entries must be taken with Kodak film and printed on Kodak paper," she said.

"It would be criminal to have a beautiful photograph disqualified because of the paper," she said. "We're not even allowed to pass these prints onto the judges. It's part of the official rules."

-- Doris Bollinger's photograph showed her daughter's two Lhasa Apso dogs jumping through a field of blue bonnets.

The dogs -- Mercedes and Porsche -- are pampered pets, Bollinger said. They're used to having their photograph taken.

"They're really my daughter's `children.' I babysat them about three months," she said.

The photograph was taken in an open field along a road near Killeen, Texas, in the central part of the state.

"There are just fields and fields of blue bonnets throughout Texas. They're just beautiful," she said.

Bollinger is retired from 33 years of work at Associated Natural Gas in Jackson.

She enjoys photography, and especially likes to take pictures of people, wildflowers and streams.

-- Joe Stahly is owner of W.E. Walker Insurance agency in Cape Girardeau. He captured a colorful rainbow during a fishing trip in Canada.

He took the trip in mid-June.

According to his daughter, Jodi, Stahly enjoys taking wildlife and landscape photographs when he travels to such places as Alaska, Canada and out west for hunting trips.

"He was really proud of the rainbow," she said. "It's really a pretty picture."

-- Robert Cox captured an unusual angle of seagulls in flight during a trip to Florida. It was taken around Panama City.

"We were driving along the Gulf coast and we could see the white sand beach from the highway. We decided to stop for an hour or so and piddle in the sand," he said.

Cox was tossing bread to the birds and his wife began taking photographs from the distance.

"As I looked up in the sky at all the birds, I thought it would be a good picture so I asked her to hand me the camera," he said. "I shot straight up as the swarmed for the bread."

Cox enjoys taking travel and family photographs.

He retired six years ago from Southeast Missouri State University. He taught at the university 27 years, including courses in printing and photography.

-- Edwin M. Slesak photograph of the Mississippi Queen steamboat at the height of the 1996 flood captivated judges.

The high waters prevented the boat from traveling beneath the Chester Bridge. It had to wait several days before proceeding.

Slesak has lived in Southern Missouri for five years with his wife. He loves the area and enjoys traveling around, taking photographs.

"I love to photograph children, weddings, scenery and live action like sports," said the 84-year-old. With three cameras, he's ready to photograph at any time.

A retired sales manager for the Heinz company, he sold ketchup 25 years. He's been retired 19 years.

KINSA contest entries will be accepted through 5 p.m. Friday.

Week 5 winners will be announced Friday, and Week 6 winners will be announced Aug. 8.

The judges' decision on the eight finalists will be announced in a special keepsake publication that contains selected KINSA entries. It will appear in the Aug. 24 edition of the Southeast Missourian.

All entries will be displayed at the West Park Mall, Aug. 26-Sept. 2.

For more information on KINSA, contact Hunter at 573-334-7115 or 1-800-444-4812.