Submitted by: Sarah Samsel
My Thoughts: I
had no expectation of winning, but I figured that it was still worth entering a
picture for the chance of it being chosen as the 2014 Hello Habersham magazine cover. I had complicated ideas about what
sort of picture I might enter until my mom suggested that I simply make a fish.
It would fit the local theme of the contest since the fish could be a rainbow
trout.
Rainbow trout live in the Soquee River—the only river that begins and
ends in Habersham County. I also liked the idea because if I won I’d have a
fish on the cover of a magazine, like my dad does. Dad is a freelance fishing
writer and photographer so he’s had lots of (non-pressed-flower) fish on the
covers of magazines. So I began snipping and gluing trout-colored leaves.
John Kollock was a well known
and loved local artist. He was dedicated to preserving our region’s history
through his many watercolor paintings. Mr. Kollock and his wife Nancy Kollock
were (she still is) extremely supportive of my business in many ways. One
wonderful thing that Mr. Kollock did was welcome me to show him whatever
pictures I was having problems with or simply wanted his opinion on. I wanted
to show him my trout before I entered it into the contest. He really, really
wanted it to win. That was my last picture that I ever showed him.
When news reached me that I’d
won the contest I could hardly believe it! It was such exciting news on such a
very hard day—the day that Mr. Kollock passed away. I don’t know if Mr. Kollock
was well enough to understand the news but Mrs. Kollock said that she thinks
that she saw a small smile when she told him.
Usually Soque is spelled with
one “e” but Mr. Kollock insisted that it should be spelled with two so I did so
in honor of him. I wasn’t aware that he’d resolved that Soquee should be
spelled that way when I first titled the picture, so in the magazine it just
has one “e” but now I use two J.
