“My Favorite Fondy” Calendar Winners Named

Bursting with oranges and yellows, the clouds above Fond du Lac’s Lakeside Park appear to be burning in the dramatic photo that earned its place on the cover of the 2022 My Favorite Fondy calendar.

For the second year in a row, an image created by Fond du Lac resident Ryan Cords will be the first photo seen by those who purchase the 2022 calendar this fall as a part of a fund-raiser for the Fond du Lac Public Library. In fact, Cords had all three of his photos submitted to the contest selected for the calendar: “Fiery Sky” will be on the cover, while “Hidden View” and “Colorful Reflections” will be included as well.

His photos and others were selected by an independent panel of judges who conducted a blind review of submissions to this year’s contest. 

Cords, 29, explained that he’s only been taking photographs for a few years.

“I began using my Canon EOS R around Christmas time of 2018 to photograph my own family portraits with my wife and three children,” he said. “However, I quickly fell in love with landscape photography as well.”

Although Cords now has been featured twice on the cover of the My Favorite Fondy calendar, he is not a professional photographer — though he’s open to becoming a published photographer on a larger scale.

“[I] would love to have some of my images published in magazines someday (National Geographic, Wisconsin travel, etc),” he said. “To hone my craft, I watch photography videos and practice my editing by using photos of my kids, nature, landscapes, and really anything that catches my eye.”

A winners’ slide show is available at fdlpl.org. Photos selected for this year’s calendar, in order of calendar appearance, are:

• Cover: “Fiery Sky” by Ryan Cords
• January: “Winter Creek” by Dean Rockow
• February: “Snow on Fire” by Gary Diehl
• March: “Fond du Lac River Otter” by Yovani Jimenez
• April: “Common Grackle” by Yovani Jimenez
• May: “Lovers Bridge” by Dean Rockow
• June: “Roads Less Traveled” by Sarah Al-Sammarraie
• July: “Union Gazebo” by Sarah Al-Sammarraie
• August: “Hidden View” by Ryan Cords
• September: “Colorful Reflections” by Ryan Cords
• October: “Kettle Moraine Hike” by Sue Ringer
• November: “Fall Relaxation” by Sarah Al-Sammarraie
• December: “Crystalized Trees” by John Langolf
• Notes pages: “Fall Snow” and “Sunrise Over Supples” by Keetra Baker, “Lakeside Park in Bloom” and “To market to market” by Katherine Enderle, “Snowy Reflections” by Patricia Tosh,” and “Winter Thaw” by David Uselmann.

The 2022 calendar will be sold at the Main Library downtown and at Chapter 52 Bookstore, 52 Sheboygan St., in early fall as supplies last. The calendar is a fund-raiser supporting programming at the Fond du Lac Public Library.

Fond du Lac Public Library operates two locations: the Main Library at 32 Sheboygan St. in downtown Fond du Lac, and FDLPL Express at 1132 E. Johnson St. near Festival Foods. The main library is open daily: Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Chapter 52 Bookstore at 52 Sheboygan St. is open Monday through Wednesday from 2 to 6 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 52 Sheboygan St., while FDLPL Express is open weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m., and weekends from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For more information about any of these locations, visit fdlpl.org.