WINNING SHOT A photograph of Tundra, up for adoption at the SPCA, took the bronze in an international photo contest. Photo: Rebecca E. Hall
Santa Cruz nature photographer Rebecca E. Hall was shocked when she won a prestigious award in Paris for her work shooting a picture of a dog.
Her black-and-white photo of Tundra, a puppy up for adoption at the Santa Cruz SPCA, won in the prestigious 2025 Px3 Paris Photography Awards.
With only a few years working the lens of her DSLR Pentax, Hall’s photography has been gaining wall space and recognition nationally and internationally, with several of her shots winning awards and honorable mentions in 2025.
“I practice every day, but I still wasn’t expecting to be placed in a big competition. This is the first time I’ve placed in something so big,” Hall says.
Winning Hall the Bronze award in Nature/Domestic Animals, “Tundra” was showcased with other winners of the 2025 Paris Photography contest, appearing in an on-screen projection and presentation at the 24b Gallery in Paris earlier this fall.
Taken with a Pentax DSLR through the plexiglass of the SPCA kennel door, Hall’s picture of Tundra draws the viewer in.
“She takes time, and that’s what you have to do with animals,” says Alison “Ali” Talley, executive director of the Santa Cruz SPCA shelter. “You can’t pressure them to smile. Hall has that knack for taking her time and making the dog comfortable.”
She volunteers every Monday at the SPCA to photograph the new arrivals up for adoption.
Picking up a camera in 2022 for the first time was a game-changer for Hall, who has been living with cancer since she was 25. Connecting with nature and local wildlife has improved her emotional and psychological state.
“Now I have something to focus on when I’m struggling. I can lose myself in beauty and life. It’s really powerful,” Hall says.
Originally from just outside of London, Hall moved with her family to the Bay Area when she was 5. After growing up in the Bay Area, she moved to the Aptos hills. Her surroundings bring her peace and inspiration as she continues to combat stage IV breast cancer. Now at 40, she is holding steady and doing well.
“Photography gave me something to believe in,” Hall says. “Something to enjoy learning and crafting.”
Hall picked up photography during the pandemic, learning the basics by watching how-to videos on YouTube, and reading articles on photography techniques.
She discovered that being in nature was healing. She also found that she recuperated more quickly from her treatment sessions when she was outside and in nature.
The wilderness of the Central Coast was her sanctuary, the camera her witness to its beauty. Hall spent hours and weeks observing a family of California quails and came to notice the parents would switch off in their role of guardian.
One day after a chemo infusion treatment, Hall was feeling pretty rough. She ventured into her family’s garden and backyard to a nearby meadow. and captured the most glorious shots. A male quail, and father, is perched high up on a wild rosemary shrub, an oak moth hovering in the golden hue of the blurred background. This captivating photograph, titled “Guardian Angel,” won Grand Prize Runner-Up in the National Wildlife Federation’s 2024 Garden for Wildlife Photo Contest.
And then the quail went international, receiving honorable mention in Nature/Wildlife in the 2025 Prix de la Photographie, Paris (Paris Photography Awards).
“For so long my identity was all about being a cancer patient. I feel like the win is for me,” explains Hall, “having transitioned from a cancer patient who enjoys photography to a photographer who lives with cancer. It feels like I’m on the right path.”
Discover more work by the artist at RebeccaHallPhoto.com or on Instagram: @RebeccaHallPhotography. To support the local SPCA’s pet adoption program, visit spcasc.org.
