Frank Howd bought his first camera 60 years ago for a whopping 49 cents. Photography has been a serious hobby for the 72-year-old retired University of Maine geology professor ever since.

This week his photos are on display at the Bangor State Fair. He won best of show in both the color and black-and-white divisions of the annual contest sponsored the Eastern Maine Camera Club.

Both winning photographs were taken within 100 yards of each other on Branch Lake, where Howd has a summer home. In the black-and-white print, mist rises off the water as clouds sweep across the sky, their movement reflected in the still water. In the color photo, a canoe, shrouded in darkness, waits in the foreground for the sun to burst through the pink clouds and warm its skin.

“I do a lot of early morning work,” said Howd, from his camp. “Those photos were taken at sunrise in October. Because the water is warmer than the air at that time of year, you get a lot of mist on the lake. I look for ordinary things that look different because of the way the light hits them, and the shadows that are made as a result.”

Howd now owns four cameras, and could be classified as a landscape photographer. He takes about 2,000 color slides and 2,000 black-and-white photographs a year. He estimated that he keeps less than 1 percent of those.

“I do mostly quiet sorts of things,” he confessed. “I’m not an animal or bird or people photographer. That’s very time consuming because they don’t hold still. I don’t have the patience to wait for them.” Although, Howd admitted to photographing his “moving” grandchildren.

Last year Howd and his cameras visited the Southwest. He, and Colorado-based photographer Gary Ladd, hiked three miles into a wilderness area on the Utah-Arizona border to photograph the Navaho sandstone formations there.

One of those photographs, which took first place in the color-nature category, exposes swirls of pink sandwiched between beige layers of rock. At first glance, it looks like a melted ice cream sundae, the bright toppings held captive by the mounds of softened, dull vanilla.

“Because I’m a geologist, I probably see things others don’t,” Howd said about that photo. “The pink and brown cross-bedded sandstone formations were once sand dunes at the edge of the ocean. It’s the same rock that’s exposed at Zion National Park in Utah.”

Eleven-year-old Josh Whinery took best of show in the youth category. Although he’s been taking photos since receiving his first camera as a Christmas gift two years ago, this is the first contest he has entered. His winning entry of Arlington National Cemetery was taken during a family vacation to Washington, D.C., in April.

“I liked how the stones all look alike, but make different and interesting shapes with the shadows [they cast],” he said. “What I like about photography is the way the moment freezes in time. It just looks really neat.”

Andrew Wilcox started taking photos 10 years ago at summer camp. Next year he will be a senior at Orono High School and the photographer for the school newspaper. His photo of coneflowers, taken at the Littlefield Ornamental Gardens at the University of Maine, was the best of show runner-up.

The flowers’ fat centers stand like plump ballerinas, listening for the music to begin. Their pink petals fan out like tutus, waiting for the wind to set them dancing again.

“I like to capture something people may have seen, but from an angle or in a way people haven’t really looked at it before,” he said. Wilcox, who could have entered the 18-and-under youth category, chose to compete with adults. He entered a photo in every single category.

Ed Maxsimic, president of the camera club, said there were about 460 entries this year. Winners receive cash awards as well as ribbons. The nine adult categories are flowers, people, children, scenics, animals, nature, Maine, experimental and open. Entries are limited to one black-and-white and one color print in each category. Youths may submit one color print in one of three categories: flowers, animals and open.

“The main goal of the club for the upcoming year will be to get youths more involved,” he said. “We used to have as many youth categories in color and black-and-white as we have for the adults. But now we’re down to only three in color.”

The club meets the first and third Thursdays of the month, September through May, at the Bangor Parks and Recreation building in the old Armory on Main Street, where members have their own darkroom. One monthly meeting is educational, according to Maxsimic, and the second is for intraclub competition. The club also competes with other clubs in Maine and New England.

“I feel as though my work has improved by 10,000 percent by being in the club competitions,” observed Howd, who teaches darkroom courses through the Parks and Recreation Department. “I was really stagnating as a photographer without the critiques of others.

“One of the reasons I’ve improved as much as I have in the past 10 years is my involvement with the camera club. I take more photos than I ever would have, so I get more practice. This is the best year I’ve ever had in the state fair competition.” Howd won three first place ribbons for his color photos and five for his black and white.

First place color winners by category are: animals, Christine Dysart of Newburgh; experimental, John B. Poisson of Livermore Falls; nature, Howd; people, Mary Hartt of Dixmont; children, Sonya Eldridge of Bangor; scenics, Howd; flowers, Wilcox; Maine, Howd; and open, Helen Clarke of Belgrade.

First place black-and-white winners by category are: animals, Poisson; experimental, Poisson; nature, Howd; people, Mari Bennett of Union; children, Poisson; scenics, Howd; flowers, Howd; Maine, Howd; and open, Howd.

First place youth winners by catergory are: animals, Julia Garder of Bangor; flowers, Rachael Weinstein of Garland; and open, Whinery.

All of the photo competition entries are on display during the Bangor State Fair 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. through Aug. 3 at the Bangor Civic Center.