Two Oklahomans named winners in Ron Howard's new photography contest

A winner in the Character category, Johnson's photo “Her throne was magic” depicts a little girl bathed in silvery light holding court with a pack of stuffed animals underneath a stately tree. Waters' “Gone fishin,” which he took of two silhouetted fishermen casting their lines on foggy Lake Bixhoma, was among the 10 selections in the Relationship category.

“You know the phrase ‘The early bird gets the worm'? Well, I wake up the bird. If you're going to take sunrise pictures, you have to be there way before the sun gets close to coming up,” Waters said in an email. “I want to thank Ron Howard, Canon and the judges. I'm sure it was a tough job deciding which photos to pick for the finalists. ... I also want to say a special thank you to ALL that voted for my picture.”

Last year, Howard and Canon partnered for a similar creative endeavor, “Project Imagin8ion.” From the more than 96,300 photos submitted online, eight photos were selected and influenced the award-winning short film, “when you find me,” which Howard produced and his actress/filmmaker daughter Bryce Dallas Howard directed. Broken Arrow resident Chris Wehner's “Yea, Though I Walk,” a stunning image of a gate at Tulsa's Memorial Park Cemetery, was one of the winning photos in the “Project Imagin8ion” competition.

For “Project Imaginat10n,” Ron Howard again will mentor the celebrity directors as they begin the filmmaking process in his effort to prove that “we're all creative.” To see all the winning photos, go to http://imagination.usa.canon.com.