ALDEN — Darcy Sime is no stranger to the news when it comes to her true passion, photography. Sime has won the Albert Lea Tribune photo contest quite a few times and has also been handed many prestigious awards in the field.

In 2013, she will have two of her photographs published in the 2013 Minnesota Weatherguide calendar. One of those photos shows a foggy landscape, and the other is of a muskrat sitting on ice.

Presently, Sime entered the National Camera Exchange’s Photo of the Month contest, and it is down to the top 20 photos. These 20 photos are on National Camera Exchange’s Facebook page to be voted on by fans and photographers alike.

“If people ‘like’ National Camera Exchange, they could vote for my photo there,” said Sime.

Her photo is the hummingbird feeding at the sunflowers. If her photo is chosen as the winner, she will win something from the National Camera Exchange’s gift collection.

“I have a blind set up in my backyard; actually, I made my husband put a window in our shed, so I can sit comfortably and wait for the birds to come. Outside of that window, we have a variety of flowers planted specifically to attract birds and butterflies. I also have a water feature, a small pond with a fountain in it and bird feeders. On this particular day, I was sitting in my blind when a hummingbird came over and was feeding at the sunflowers. She was there for several minutes, allowing me to take many photos of her,” Sime said.

Sime has been into photography since she was 12. She remembers getting a Kodak 110 Instamatic as a birthday present. When she turned 18, she asked for a single-lens reflex camera for her birthday and graduation present, and at that time she took a college course on darkroom techniques.

“I took a break from photography when my kids were young, though I still took a lot of family and event photos. I didn’t start exploring my more creative side until the digital age arrived, then there was no looking back!”

A typical day in the life of Sime will be to stop out to Myre-Big Island State Park on the way home from work, or to go home and sit in her homemade blind until sunset.

“I have spots that I go during certain times of the year to capture certain types of wildlife. I know where raccoons like to fish, where to watch migrating waterfowl, where to find deer and where to watch bald eagles fishing,” Sime said.

Since Sime considers herself a wildlife/nature photographer, her goal is to have the words “nature photographer” attached to her name as more of a professional title.

Sime also has some photos published in Capture Minnesota, which is a book of Minnesota photographs by photographers from the state.