A photograph of an event few people can capture was chosen as the People's Choice winner in the annual Foto Fest contest.

Alvin Kamp's photo of a lightning flash received the most votes in the contest. His picture was chosen from the more than 1,200 entered in the six-week contest and displayed at Westfield Shoppingtown West Park.

Kamp's photograph was taken in the spring at Birch Creek bottoms in rural Cape Girardeau County.

Kamp, of Jackson, Mo., said he pulled his vehicle to the side of the highway and set up his camera on a tripod to try and catch the lightning display on film. He set the lens to its widest exposure and opened the shutter.

"The lightning flashed while I blinked my eye," he said.

With so much traffic on the road and a storm coming, Kamp said he left shortly thereafter and just hoped he had a good picture. "You saw what was processed. That's unusual because it's not easy to get and many people have no idea what exposure to use."

His guess paid off in prizes as both a weekly semifinalist winner and finalist in the contest.

Kristi Jansen, of Leopold, Mo., also was chosen as a winner in the Best of the Web category for the Foto Fest contest. Jansen's photo of her children dressed in denim overalls sitting on the family's front-porch swing was a favorite among visitors to semissourian.com.

The Best of the Web category was a new addition to this year's photography contest. More than 1,700 people voted in the online contest.

The Foto Fest contest is an annual favorite, drawing entries from throughout Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois.

The amateur photo contest was sponsored by the Southeast Missourian and Westfield Shoppingtown West Park, Mac's Smokehouse, the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport and Schnucks.

For a look at all the weekly winners, visit www.semissourian.com/fotofest.

ljohnston@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126