The Mirror Newspapers Reflecting Life Along The Maumee River
BY MIKE McCARTHY | MIRROR EDITOR — The Outdoor Writers Association of America has honored Art Weber, of Metroparks Toledo, with its prestigious President’s Choice Award for a beautiful nature photo that he captured on a photo shoot at the Side Cut Metropark in Maumee last November.
The photo, titled “Gull Gathering,” depicts a massive assembly of ring-billed gulls frolicking in the Maumee River rapids near Jerome Road.
Weber was honored during the recent OWAA 2022 Excellence in Craft Awards ceremony with a first-place award in the photo action category. The same photo went on to earn President’s Choice honors as the best photo entered in all photo categories.
Weber, a resident of Whitehouse, was honored by Metroparks Toledo in March for his 50 years of service to the organization. He has specialized in nature photography and writing since 1972, when he joined the organization fresh out of college.
Weber has produced five books featuring his nature photography and two more are in the works. He has also won 20 national or international awards for his nature photography, plus a North American award for a nature video titled A Different Kind of Wilderness, exploring the local Metroparks preserves.
Weber has been associated with The Mirror for nearly 25 years, serving as the newspaper’s outdoors editor and writing his popular Natural Observer columns since the 1990s.
He has also photographed local sports for The Mirror and the Anthony Wayne community for the past 25 years.
Weber’s award-winning photo was captured at approximately 8:30 a.m. last November. It was taken with a 200mm Nikkor lens at f-16 and 1/2000 of a second exposure.
