“It’s definitely a day I’ll never forget,” said Jennifer Bechard, the Hallowell-based photographer whose image of a snowy owl, entitled “Arctic Visitor,” is Best of Show in the 17th Maine Photography Show.

Bechard and three friends went to Biddeford Pool in the early morning of Feb. 22 – despite a Nor’easter.

“It was so cold! I was having a hard time keeping my equipment dry,” Bechard said. “But, weather excites me; the crazier. the more dramatic!”

There were three snowy owls there that morning. Locals said the three had been there all season and each had been named. The owl that seemed to interact with the photographers was Daisy.

“What impressed my three friends and I most about her is that she was not phased at all that we were there,” Bechard said. “I’m not a birder, but I was determined to make a connection.”

“She sat on the log and then, actually walked across the log, turning her body and holding her wings in different positions; almost like a balance beam routine,” said Bechard. “Then she hovered just slightly above the log, her wings moving ever so slightly with her head turned towards us. She came down and sat on the log and then all of a sudden she looked right at me.”

Bechard took 25 photos of her encounter with Daisy; six of those images are her favorites. “Once I took the shot I felt it … that morning,” she said. “For me to capture this was so exciting. I normally don’t see something like the owl.”

The camera Bechard used was the one she calls her “workhorse;” a Canon 5D Mark IV with a 400 mm lens. She uses a 5D Mark III Canon as back up.

Bechard has been a professional photographer nearly 20 years. She bought her first camera after her daughter was born, now 22 years ago, because she “just didn’t want to miss a moment.” Bechard was the “camera mom” throughout the years her daughter began riding horses at age 5 all the way to the quarter horse show circuit.

Bechard is out shooting for a while every day and has to be ready for anything. Bechard has two photo backpacks. In the main one, she carries six extra lenses, and batteries and memory cards. The second backpack will have a camera, a couple lenses, batteries, and an extra memory card.

Bechard’s specialty is equine photography. “That’s where my heart is. I really believe in order to work with these animals you need to understand them. You need to be comfortable around them; and they can be challenging. They all have personalities and, horses mirror our emotions so it’s pretty incredible working with them.”

This year is Bechard’s second time in the Maine Photography Show. In 2020, she was selected for the show, but didn’t place.

Awards were presented to the photographers at Boothbay Region Art Foundation April 9.

Here’s juror Reid Callanan’s comments, one more time, about “Arctic Visitor”: “The eyes are locked on the photographer as the Snowy Owl floats by in slow motion, wings perfectly splayed to show off its magnificence. This is a perfectly composed image with a long rock as a leading line as its base and a softly blurred winter backdrop – all placed to center our attention on this haunting creature.”

The show, with 112 gorgeous photos, at BRAF runs through May 6. And, all of the images are for sale.

The gallery, at 1 Townsend Ave., Boothbay Harbor, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Can’t make it? See it at mainephotoshow.org’s 2022 Gallery.

Check out more of Bechard’s photography at https://jenniferbechardphotography.com

For more information on the show, call BRAF at 633-2703.