Joel Kurtzman spent years hiking Mount Tamalpais with his father, a photographer.

One evening on Bolinas Ridge, the 17-year-old Corte Madera resident pointed his Nikon D750 at the fog rolling over the hills at sunset and captured a shot that will hang in the U.S. Capitol for a year.

Kurtzman, a rising senior at Redwood High School in Larkspur, won the 2026 Congressional Art Competition for California's 2nd District with his photograph "Golden Hour Fog," Rep. Jared Huffman announced. The image shows Mount Tamalpais bathed in golden light as fog drifts across its ridgelines.

The photo won't just hang in Washington. Huffman said it will also be sealed inside the Semiquincentennial Congressional Time Capsule, buried beneath the Capitol's visitor center during a dedication ceremony on Wednesday, June 24. The capsule includes contributions from all 50 states and U.S. territories marking the nation's 250th anniversary. It won't be opened until 2276.

"One thing that still amazes me is that when I was up on Mount Tam that evening taking photos, I never imagined I was capturing a moment that would be preserved for the next 250 years," Kurtzman said. "That's pretty wild to think about."

Huffman, a San Rafael resident who represents a district stretching from Marin to Del Norte County, praised the young photographer's work, saying the image captures a landscape familiar and meaningful to North Coast residents.

A family tradition on the mountain

Kurtzman learned photography as a child accompanying his father, Dan Kurtzman, on shoots on Mount Tamalpais. He described the conditions the evening he took the winning shot as fast-changing, with only a brief window when the hills and fog caught the light.

He will serve as sports editor of the Redwood Bark student newspaper during his senior year and shoots both landscape and sports photography.

Huffman and his staff met Kurtzman and his parents at the Capitol on June 24 for a ceremony honoring contest winners from across the country.

Local students earn honors

Three other local students received honorable mentions in the competition: Madeline Leung of the Art School of SF Bay in San Rafael, and Redwood High School students Madeline Lim and Zoë Wells. Four additional students across the six-county district were named finalists.

Kurtzman's "Golden Hour Fog" will be on display in the Capitol's tunnel connecting the House office buildings for the coming year, alongside winning entries from congressional districts nationwide.