2026 Ducks Unlimited Member Photo Contest presented by Drake Waterfowl and Wild Wings.
Overall Category
Winner: Pintail in Spring Snow
Josh Van Ommeren - Hill City, South Dakota
“It was cold and snowing. The small lake even started to refreeze. It was just a typical spring morning in South Dakota,” jokes Josh Van Ommeren while recalling the day he shot this photo. However, his striking image of a northern pintail is anything but typical.
Van Ommeren knew that ducks were packed into a large pond outside of Rapid City that day, and with the forecast calling for snow and plummeting temperatures, he figured it would be the perfect time to try to shoot some photos. He also knew that a mature drake pintail had been in the area for the past week, so he set out for the lake with a goal of getting a shot of the gorgeous sprig.
“As the lake froze, it pushed the ducks closer to me,” he explains. “There were a bunch of mallards, but that was the only pintail out there, and trying to get a shot of it alone was tough because there were so many other ducks. When it began to snow, I was able to separate it from the mallards, but the heavy snow made it difficult to focus, and then I got it.”
In the moment, Van Ommeren knew that he had captured several great shots, but it wasn’t until later that he realized how much this one image stood out from the others. “I’ve submitted several images for other contests, and I’ve been a DU member for years, but I never sent anything for the Ducks Unlimited contest,” he says. “But after I had so many family and friends mention how great that picture was, I figured I’d submit it this year.”
Equipment: Sony A7R IV with Sony G OSS lens
Runner-Up: All in a Day’s Work
Cory Barker - Shiloh, Georgia
Any photographer worth his salt knows that being in the right place at the right time is half the battle. As a guide for Arkansas County Guide Service in Stuttgart, Arkansas, Cory Barker is often in the middle of some thrilling waterfowl action. His retriever, Bandit, makes countless retrieves throughout the season, and Barker is there to try to get a picture of each one.
“As he comes back to the blind, I’m always standing right there in the pit or at the edge of the field trying to get a shot,” he explains. “Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn’t. That time it worked out.”
Barker is not a professional photographer, but he goes out of his way to capture these moments on his mobile phone when he can. “I remember that day,” he says. “We had bluebird skies. We were in a rice field and the sun lit up the fields. That was a good shot, but I missed a couple of other opportunities that day—one with a banded black duck and one mallard–pintail hybrid. But I’m excited this one was selected for the contest. It’s great!”
Equipment: iPhone 16
Waterfowl Hunting Category
Winner: Everything Alaska
Alec Boyd-Devine - Juneau, Alaska
Based in Juneau, Alaska, Alec Boyd-Devine’s full-time job is documenting whales and dolphins throughout the Pacific. As someone who is passionate about hunting diving ducks and sea ducks, he lives in the right place. Thousands of migrating and wintering ducks visit nearby coastal habitats, which is exactly where he was able to capture this amazing image.
“We run two or three layout boats, with one guy in the tender to pick up downed ducks,” he explains. “I prefer to be the first guy in the tender boat to catch the best light. However, we live in a temperate rain forest, so there are very few days of actual sunshine. This day was an exception. You don’t want to get your camera out in the rain. Some days, I have to pull the camera out really quick and then tuck it back into a dry space.”
Boyd-Devine, who began to focus on photography during the past five years, was able to capture his hunting partners just as a flock of scoters decoyed into their layouts under a beautiful Alaska sky—a perfect memory of hunting sea ducks and diving ducks along Alaska’s coast.
He didn’t put much thought into the image until he was volunteering at his local Juneau Ducks Unlimited banquet. “My best friend is the committee chair for the local event, and I always help. While we were putting on the event, I showed it to a few people,” he says. “They were all pretty impressed and suggested I submit it to this contest.”
Equipment: Nikon Z8 with a 70–200 lens
RUNNER-UP:
Dalton Dildine - Blytheville, Arkansas
Waterfowl Category
Winner: Eye Candy
Kyle Lopez - Kennewick, Washington
Kyle Lopez picked up a camera in 2017 because he had just acquired a Labrador retriever, and he wanted to begin shooting images of his beloved dog. That first camera kick-started a passion for capturing moments in the field. This particular image was taken during an especially productive day of off-season waterfowl photography.
“There’s a ranch up here called Eagle Lakes Ranch Lodge, and I’m good friends with the guy who owns it,” he explains. “In February, they take me out to the ponds to shoot photos, and we hang out in the duck blinds and just kind of wait. I have a ton of images from that day—mallards, pintails, and other species. I was snapping shots at 15 frames per second. Then we looked at the pictures and we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s banded!’”
Lopez predominantly hunts geese in dry fields in Washington, so having the opportunity to photograph ducks over water was a treat. He set out decoys just as he would if he were hunting. He feels that being a hunter and understanding how ducks work decoys help him capture great images, and he had a feeling that this particular mallard photo would get noticed.
“I’ve entered the Ducks Unlimited magazine Member Photo Contest for a few years and never got a call back,” he says. “I was very confident in this shot. The way you can see the mallard’s eye through the wing made it very special, and the band isn’t really hidden, but it is kind of tucked up, which makes it a surprise when you see it. The more you look at it, the better it gets.”
Equipment: Nikon D9 and Nikon 180–600mm lens
RUNNER-UP:
Phillip Comer - Shelton, Washington
Retriever Category
Winner: Shaking Things Up
John Beier - Sidney, Nebraska
John Beier picked up photography and filmmaking as a hobby less than two years ago, and while this lifelong hunter has always had a passion for duck and goose hunting, he found his niche with a camera in hand.
The dog in the photo, Reed, belongs to Colton Caldwell, the owner and operator of Front Range Guide Service. Beier explains that he was only able to capture this image due to the dog’s charismatic behaviors. “Reed is a very unique dog. He has a few things he always does, and you can predict when he will do them,” Beier says. “I knew he always shakes off right when he steps out of the water, every time. So I belly crawled to the edge of the water and waited for him. Reed seems to enjoy the attention, and he definitely isn’t camera shy.”
On this frigid morning, a thick fog had set in around the island where they were hunting, and this provided an ideal backdrop for the shot. The conditions were perfect, and Beier put together a plan to capture that moment. “I was able to get him in that exact moment,” he says. “I consider myself an amateur photographer and filmmaker, but I’d like to eventually make a career out of it. After getting a camera, I think I enjoy taking pictures more than I do actually hunting.”
Equipment: Nikon Z6 II and 24–200mm f/4 NIKKOR lens
RUNNER-UP:
Travis Madden - Eagle Mountain, Utah
Honorable Mentions
