Oregano Leaves, © Harold Davis

Harold Davis (no relation to previous winner Randy Davis :-> ) will be collaborating with KQED staff on our next 2-minute YPOQ segment for broadcast and web distribution. It will air and premiere online on Tuesday July 21st, 2009.

His winning set, Miracle Worlds of Nature , did a wonderful job of expressing a sense of scope and color, with a passion for nature, via a process that captures something unexpected and essential.

More in his own own words:

"The miracles of nature happen in our world at large and in small worlds no bigger than a water drop. The subjects for these photos are in my garden. I look for magnificent worlds of nature that may be, in fact, tiny. With many of these images I have also used studio photography, scanning, and alternative digital image processing to enhance my creative sense of entering an alternative and miraculous world of nature."

We will be doing yet more YPOQ calls in 2009, as well as blogging about great submissions on the Quest web site.

Would you your photography like to be considered for a future YPOQ episode on QUEST? Sign up for our email newsletter to get an announcement for the next submission call, or head on over to our Flickr photo group for KQED QUEST and read the Rules for Submission.

For inspiration, please see our previous YPOQ winner videos:

• Russ Morris
• Erin Malone
• Cris Benton
• John Albers-Mead
• Laura Watt
• Randy Davis

Sea level rise scenarios for San Francisco International Airport.
Click the map to see a larger image.

The most recent estimate looks pretty dire. The Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), a state planning agency, says it expects San Francisco Bay to rise about 16 inches by 2050, and 55 inches by the end of the century.

The map on this page shows what San Francisco International Airport and the surrounding area would look like, if the bay rose a meter (roughly 36 inches). You can check other maps around the bay as well.

And the real danger of that big rise in bay waters happens during storm season. High tides and storm surges could send that higher water inland, flooding Highway 101 and neighborhoods along the bay. If the bay runs right up to the edge of development and we build sea walls to protect property, then that deep pool of water will have much higher waves, stronger currents and will pound the shoreline much harder than where there is now graduated wetlands. The effect, experts say, would be similar to what happens when you churn up water in a bathtub, and the wave energy quickly builds up and spills over the sides.

Part of the challenge in BCDC’s design competition is to come up with barriers that might absorb some of the power of those waves, instead of simply deflecting those waves with straight walls.

Listen to the Redesigning the Bay radio report online.

We're launching our 3rd call for submissions for our new series of TV shorts, "YPOQ: Your Photos on QUEST." These are broadcast alongside our feature stories.

Previous and upcoming winners:

• Russ Morris
• Erin Malone
• Cris Benton (coming soon)

Could you be next?

We're looking for more than stunning nature photography. We seek to collaborate with a local photographer from our QUEST flickr groups who is inspired by science, environment and nature in Northern California, and uses innovative approaches to express their unique vision of our region.

Key Dates for YPOQ #3

Submissions due: August 21st, 2008
Selection annoucenment: August 26th, 2008
TV Broadcast : November 11, 2008

Although we can only broadcast one photographer's work on the air on November 11, we also plan to feature selected submissions on the KQED QUEST Community Science Blog.

Requirements

* You must be an individual over 18 (no minors or group submissions)
* You must be a current Flickr user in good standing
* You're a resident of Northern California – loosely defined as spanning the region from Mendocino to Monterey counties (N to S) and Sacramento to Santa Clara counties (E – W). This is the coverage area of our show.
* Be able to make available 20-50 images as source material (2 minutes moves fast!)
* If selected, you'll need to sign a release for materials use specifically for the QUEST TV show, web presence, blog and the promotion thereof (see fine print below)
* Available for an in-person audio interview and photo review/selection with a QUEST TV producer & audio engineer, either at the KQED studios in San Francisco, or other agreed-upon location, during business hours between August27th and September 12th.

How to Submit

* 1 entry per person
* Original photographic work only
* 1920 x 1080 minimum resolution (higher is better)
* Create a set that best represents your submission, and tag them with: YPOQ
* Add a 100-word description to your set telling us about your creative and technical process, and why you'd like us to consider your work
* Join the KQED QUEST flickr group and add all 10 photos to the pool
* Add your YPOQ set URL and a brief introduction to the YPOQ 3 Submissions discussion topic.
* If you submitted for YPOQ before, your entry is automatically eligible for consideration in YPOQ #3. You may also submit a new or updated set to the topic above.

We'd also like you to make KQED QUEST a contact, though it's not required.

Fine Print

* You will retain the rights to your original work.
* Rights clearances: in order to make the TV piece and promote it, KQED will need you to grant rights to recordings and derivative works for use in connection with QUEST. We won't do anything else without asking you first.
* This not a paid commission, but a collaboration. As a result KQED is unable to cover costs (e.g. travel & time, prints / processing, royalties)
* The choice of photographer is solely at the discretion of KQED.
* The producer's & editor's decisions are final regarding all aspects of the finished video work.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing your submissions!

KQED QUEST Team

The California Academy of Sciences is asking youth to get behind the camera to find discoveries in their backyard. On April 15, 2008, the Academy launched a photo contest for youth between the ages of 8 & 12 – "Through the Lens: California in your backyard". Future photographers, researchers and scientists are right in our own backyard and the Academy is curious about what they are seeing in their surroundings. This contest will give youth a chance to have a researcher's eye – to "get up close" and document what they observe.

The photographers with the "best eye" will have their work hung in a museum. The work of winning photographers will be exhibited as part of the Children's Gallery at the Grand Re-opening of the California Academy of Sciences on September 27, 2008 and throughout the inaugural year. Winning photographers will also be awarded cash prizes.

It is up to the photographer how to convey the theme of this contest – "California in your backyard" and the Academy's mission – to explore, explain and protect the natural world. All photographers entering the contest are encouraged to have lots of fun and be as creative as possible.

The deadline to submit photographs is May 26, 2008. Contest rules and submission instructions can be found at www.calacademy.org/contest. Aspiring and curious youth photographers are encouraged to submit work. It might be the catalyst to another great discovery!

Cat Aboudara is the Special Projects Manager at California Academy of Sciences and works in the public programs division. The Academy is a wonderful fit for her because of her curiosity about the natural world and her experience in working with native California wildlife.

We're launching a call for submissions for our new series of TV shorts, "YPOQ: Your Photos on QUEST." These are broadcast alongside our feature stories. Our pilot YPOQ broadcast in Season 1 featured local photographer Russ Morris.

We're looking for more than stunning nature photography. We seek to collaborate with a local photographer who is inspired by science, environment and nature in Northern California, and uses innovative approaches to express their unique vision of our region.

Key Dates

Submissions due: February 27th, 2008
Selection announcenment: March 3rd, 2008.
TV Broadcast : May 20, 2008.

Although we can only broadcast one photographer's work on the air on May 20, we also plan to feature selected submissions here on the KQED QUEST Community Science Blog.

We are running this call through Flickr, a website for sharing photos and much more. It's free to join and participate. See our discussion topic on Flickr for details!

Craig Rosa is the Interactive Producer for QUEST.