KINSA SEMIFINALISTS CHOSEN

Dale Humphries of Cape Girardeau photographed 7-year-old Rheagan Butler taking time out from her busy play schedule.

After a day in the sun, Mary Cobb's two children and their playmate took time out for popsicles, and Cobb saw a photo opportunity.

Her picture is one of four semifinalists selected in the first week of the KINSA competition. Also named semifinalists were Dale Humphries of Cape Girardeau, Larry Randol of Scott City and Peter Hilty of Cape Girardeau.

The third week of the competition begins today. Judging for the second week's entries will be Tuesday. Each week's competition is independent of the previous week.

"They went out on the deck and sat real close. They were real worn out and looked like they could barely hold their heads up," Cobb said. "I decided to take their picture."

KINSA fans may recognize two of the children in the picture. Cobb's photograph of her two children in the bathtub, their faces surrounded by bubbles, won international honors in last year's competition. Cobb lives in Scott City.

Hilty's photograph of a railing and ornate shadow also struck the judges' fancy.

The photo was taken in Phoenix, Ariz.

"The sun was very bright. I noticed this spectacular shadow and this was the result. It was lovely," he said.

Hilty said looking for subjects to photograph "sharpens your eyes."

Larry Randol saw his daughter surrounded by a field of Texas Blue Bonnets and just had to take her picture. Randol doesn't take many photographs, but this one caught the KINSA judges' attention.

Little Elizabeth Ashley was just about to celebrate her first birthday when the picture was taken.

Dale Humphries enjoys photography as a pastime and especially likes to photograph children, animals and scenery. Seven-year-old Rheagan Butler is one of her favorite subjects.

"Her mother is a good friend of mine, and she's a real photogenic kid," Humphries said. "There she was, after a day full of play being uncharacteristically quiet and introspective."

Humphries said the KINSA contest has encouraged her to hone her photography skills. "I've been trying to take more pictures. I just hope to get one good one out of two or three rolls of film."

KINSA, Kodak International Newspaper Snapshot Awards, is the world's largest annual amateur-snapshot contest.

The Southeast Missourian's contest is open to current residents of the Missouri counties of Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Scott, New Madrid, Stoddard, Perry and Madison and the Illinois counties of Alexander, Pulaski and Union.

Each week of the contest four semifinalists will be selected. Semi-finalists' names and winning photos will be published in the newspaper.

In all, 24 semifinalists will be selected by a panel of community judges. From those, eight finalists will be forwarded to the international competition.

The local contest runs for six consecutive weeks. The last date for entries is 5 p.m. Friday, July 31.

Entries will be accepted at Schnucks, Southeast Missouri Hospital's Generations Center, Target, Western Sizzlin and Delmonico's.

Entries also will be accepted at Southeast Missourian offices in Cape Girardeau and Jackson and the Banner Press office in Marble Hill.

Entries can be mailed to the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63701, Attention: KINSA.

For more information, contact Joyce Hunter at (573) 335-6611, ext. 150.