Local Woman Running First in National Photo Contest

As of Friday evening, a long-time Wauwatosa resident, now retired to a Brookfield condo for a number of years, was running in first place in a national magazine's nature photography contest.

Wildflower Magazine sponsors the contest, and among nearly 700 entrants, Carrol Fibich is leading the pack but neck-and-neck with one strong competitor.

Photos in the contest need only feature native wildflowers in some way.

Fibich calls herself an amateur photographer at best, so she's thrilled and a little astonished to find that she and a professional nature photographer are far out in front of even the best of the rest.

Fibich's contribution, with 1,961 votes as of 7:45 p.m Friday, still held a slim margin over Carol Fox Henrichs of Texas, who had 1,917 votes. The next closest competitor had just 744 votes.

Henrichs, Fibich said, "Is a professional, way up there, with gallery showings. I'm just amazed I'm in the running."

Voting is open through May 6, and anyone can vote once a day at https://app.wizehive.com/voting/wildflowercontest.

Fibich's photo entry is straightforward compared to Henrich's and many other thoroughly composed shots. It's a full-on portrait of a bright-orange monarch butterfly, fully spread upon the also-orange blossoms of a butterfly milkweek plant.

Fibich didn't even have to go traipsing across the plains and prairies to find her monochromatic moment. She took it in her back yard, on a plant she planted for the purpose of attracting monarchs.

"In your own back yard, you can do a lot for nature," Fibich said.

For Fibich, nature photography is just an adjunct to what you can do to help. She's not only planting on her property, she takes her cause public as a member of the Friends of the Monarch Trail.

"Carrol is one of my super-volunteers," said Barb Agnew, the founder of the trail on the Milwaukee County Grounds. "She'll do anything, anytime. She's always there."

That includes plantings, publicity, trail work, removing invasive species – the works.

The Monarch Trail was established to protect and promote a phenomenon unique to monarch butterflies, the world-champion insect migrators. Each fall, swarms of monarchs return to the same few trees to roost on the County Grounds on their way to overwintering sites in Mexico.

"It means a lot to me to work with these people," Fibich said. "It's such an amazing thing. And I lived for 34 years on Swan Boulevard (in Wauwatosa) with this in my back yard, and I never knew about it.

"Photography is a great hobby, but I really want to help the species," Fibich said. "I just got very involved. It's such a great resource."