in which my brother wins a contest and i am proud of him

My brother is a hell of a photographer, and is on the verge of turning his hobby into something much, much more.

He took this picture last year, and it instantly became one of my favorites. This morning, he told me that he'd recently entered it in a contest that had hundreds of other entries.

Last night, he totally won the GRAND PRIZE! His picture will be part of a traveling exhibit up in Montana, where he lives, and will be put on long-term display in one of the biggest banks in his small town. He says that the prize package is pretty cool, too: "My wife and I get to go to Yellowstone next winter, stay overnight in the park, and get to go on one of those awesome snowcat bus thingys that takes us to old faithful!"

I convinced Jeremy to release his winning image under a Creative Commons license, so WWdN readers could create awesome derivative works from it. If you make something cool with it, let me know and I'll link to your creation in this post.

Jeremy's only been seriously taking pictures for a few years. I know that I'm not an impartial observer here, but I think it's pretty clear that he's uncovered a hidden talent.

I'm really, really proud of him. Congratulations, Jeremy!

Click the image to embiggen at flickr. You may also want to follow links to Jer's website and flickr stream.

Reader Contributions:

fatsvernon did this cool mashup of my work with my brother's work.

Reader TB did a Fark-ish mashup of his own. Tennis, anyone?

N used Jer's photo as the backdrop for a stick figure comic. It's funny.

Comments

[cole]

That photograph is breathtaking. I may try to get it printed and framed to give to my western Kansas cattle rancher grandfather for his birthday. Congratulations to your brother; he has created a thing of beauty.

[cole]

Follow-up comment: If I did indeed get it printed and framed for my grandfather, it would be with your brother's permission and in exchange for giving him shiny gold rocks.

[Keith Coogan]

In which A. A. Milne would be happy, and that photo is really frickin' great!

[Brian]

That's an amazing shot. I love landscapes, and that one really makes me happy.

[SandieK]

Youve said it, youve heard it. Im repeating it anyway...
Your brother is an INCREDIBLE photographer. Im seriously jealous here. I cant get anything to come out that well.
Kudos!

[horsenbuggy]

I have to admit that I don't understand the desire to use a Creative Commons license if you also want to support yourself through your art. Can anyone explain it to me? I am a hobbyist photographer and I have very strong opinions against Creative Commons. How do you build a brand if you let people dilute your work?

[chilepepper]

I hope it's not too late to have my "awesome derivative work" looked at. I call it "When on vacation, Wil says..."
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii295/shaun_rp/wil_vaca.jpg

[Dalian Moon]

Your brother's work is amazing! It really is! I suck at photography, so I can appreciate when someone is good at it. Congratulations to Jeremy!

Have the two of you ever considered collaborating on a book? Your words and his images would be a powerful combination, I think.

[Mr. Lizard]

Gimme the weekend to see what I can do with this one (like the one I did of you.) If it's half decent, I'll share.

[Tim.]

Hey Wil!

My wife's a photographer and every time I see your headshot, which seems to get used by other sites as a publicity shot (like when you were featured in wired), I always think... Wil needs a new portrait!

You look a bit angry in your web site photo to me, which I think is maybe caused because you're squinting a bit (looks like it was taken outside?).

You should get your bro to do up some snappy new photos of you!

[Pazy]

I made something or other with the picture. Its awful but here it is [photobucket.com]:
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/Pazy160/ForWeAreTheMountains.jpg

[pojut]

That looks absolutely fantastic! The contrast is great, and the picture itself has that kind of "hazy" look that is in the air in the winter...exceptional!

http://www.livingwithanerd.com

[Pazy]

Attempt #2 to make something worth looking at. Though its really attempt #1.5. Have a look see:

Attempt #1 Small Version
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/Pazy160/ForWeAreTheMountains.jpg

Attempt #2 Bigger Version
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/Pazy160/ForWeAreTheBigMountains.jpg

[Carrie]

What an absolutely gorgeous photograph. I'm a bit of a camera junkie (on a strictly amateur level), and I'd love to be able to capture the kind of beauty that's on his website.

[featcovers]

Just to echo everybody else's comments - these photos are great - I just got a nice email from Jeremy and have done a small post over at my place: http://thumbrella.blogspot.com

[Miss Ali]

As a different sort of photographer myself (portrait), I must say, that is a great shot! What camera does he use? You must be so proud!
-Ali

[Eric in PA]

Hidden talent indeed! Good on ya, Jeremy!

Looks like those Wheaton boys are finding their second winds, as it were!

[Mr. Lizard]

I emailed my submission, as promised, but will link to it here, as well. http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm228/mrlizard_2008/JeremysPainted.jpg

[Mr. Lizard]

I emailed my submission, as promised, but will link to it here, as well. http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm228/mrlizard_2008/JeremysPainted.jpg

[JacqueChadall]

Have my addition to your photo edit. I can't believe nobody did this Fark-esque tribute yet, took me 10 minutes and that includes doing it in Gimp (my first time using it, nice program though) with a cat half across the laptop. Totally worth it, this is my new desktop BG.

http://69condoms.com/blog/index.php?/archives/2-I-Love-Wil-Wheaton.html

-Jacque Chadall

[savage]

I know it's in black and white, but I swear I can see this in color.

I think that's neat.

[Pinhole]

It doesn't appear that anyone has taken you up on the tennis challenge, yet. I'll give it a shot, but please be kind. I've never before held a virtual racquet in my hand.

First Volley

If this image is too large, I've posted a smaller version on my blog at:

Pinhole's Blog

Nice Serve.

[Rich]

Great photo! That's awesome, as are the rest of his! I've been playing with HDR photos and decided to see how this would look as an HDR: http://www.flickr.com/photos/richtpt/2380562965/

Not bad, though I'm not happy with how the clouds turned out. Oh well, that's what I get for being quick. ;)