January 31st I was forwarded this letter by my daughter Jessie (Louie’s Mom). She works for Highlands County, Florida and it seems all county employees got a copy. She asked me if I would be interested in participating:
From: Mike McMillian Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 2:54 PMTo: ALLSubject: Photograph request
Parks and Natural Resources is looking for a photograph for the front cover of the soon-to-be-printed Highlands County lakes brochure. This brochure will be distributed in welcome centers throughout south Florida and all Highlands County Chamber of Commerce offices. In past years this brochure has been one of the most requested brochures in chamber offices. The goal of the brochure is to increase tourist/visitor attention to Highlands County lakes.
Photographs can be emailed to me no later than Feb 10. The photograph should have been taken in Highlands County. The subject matter can be anything water/lake related. Possible topics are fish, fishing, recreational boating/jet skiing, water skiing, canoe/kayaking, landscapes like sunset/sunrise on a lake, and aquatic wildlife. The space to be filled on the front cover of the brochure (4” wide by 6” tall) is best suited for a portrait-oriented photograph as opposed to a landscape-oriented photograph.
The selected photograph will appear on the front cover of the new brochure. Thank you and good luck.
Mike McMillian
Lakes Manager Assistant
Highlands Co. Parks and Natural Resources Department
4344 George Blvd., Sebring, FL 33875-5803
phone: (863)402-6545 (ext 4043), cell: (863)253-7007
I thought “who better to represent Highlands County lakes than the Louster”. After all, in keeping with our “fishin mission” to fish all the lakes in Highlands County, we’ve made it to 13 already. (Yes, it should be more, but some of the lakes we’ve fished are so good that we’ve just gotten hung up on them). Anyway, along with a couple of others, I sent Mr. McMillian this photo:
On February 17th, I received this e-mail:
From: Mike McMillian To: 'Dan Echols' Sent: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:43:28 -0500 (EST)Subject: brochure
Good morning Mr. Echols,
The group loved the photograph of your grandson holding the fish. Which one you say, the one from Lake Josephine where he is standing up holding the fish in the boat. They loved the colors, his expression, the fish, the piece of lake in the background, everything. So, if it’s okay, this will be the front cover of the brochure with the photography credit going to you.
When you sent me the photograph was that the best quality you can send? It looked pretty good to me but I wanted to make sure. Sometimes people reduce the quality to make sure it goes through email.
This was my favorite photo from the time I saw it. I didn’t influence anyone at the meeting though and let them come up with their own choices. Surprisingly,the graphic artist in the room liked a different photo of your grandson but we overruled her. Someone in the room said something about an interview so maybe there will be a newspaper interview in the near future.
HighlandsCo. Parks and Natural Resources Department
4344 George Blvd.,Sebring, FL 33875-5803
How cool is this? Louie’s mug is going to be showing up all over the State of Florida. I can’t help it...I'm just a very proud grampa.
That's awesome!
Congrats to Louie...Well deserved!