Bernards Photographer Wins Wildlife Photo Contest

Betsy Bacot-Aigner, a photographer from Bernards Township who has contributed many photos to the Basking Ridge Patch, has won for "wildlife category" in Adirondack Life Magazine's annual photo contest.

The photographs are online at Adirondack Life Magazine. Bacot-Aigner said her photo is one of five that were featured on the main web page "slideshow' of some of the winners.

Bacot-Aigner said she captured the shot of a Wabetsu frog in September 2011, when she spied the little green creature in a small pond of water outside her mother's lakehouse in Westport, N.Y., on Lake Champlain.

"He or she was so cute and I got a lot of pics of it," Bacot-Aigner said of the frog. "I guess I picked the right one."

Bacot-Aigner also won first place in the adult category of the 2011 "Essence of Bernards" photo contest sponsored by Bernards Township.

She also was school photographer for the for six years, she said.

Bacot-Aigner grew up in Montclair and majored in art at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. She said she also took courses at the International Center of Photography in New York City, and worked as a professional in advertising and graphic design.

"I have been taking photos for as long as i can remember," she said.