Premium Competition 2011 Q3 : Results

  • Mark Of Excellence
  • Judges Comment
  • This immediately gives a reaction in the stomach, as if the image is throwing your body backwards. The girl looking out is interestingly enough one of the first things you see, and the contrast in colors between inside and outside, as well as the implied change in time period from outside to inside helps the image. It simply works well.
  • Photographers Comment
  • I am an advanced amateur photographer and a stay-at-home dad with 3 kids. We live in McKinney, TX. This is a streetcar in New Orleans traveling back towards The Quarter on St. Charles Ave. I held the camera against the window sill, making sure to divide the image equally between the inside and the outside. Shot with a Nikon D700 at .8 sec @ f/20, ISO 400, Nikkor 18.0-35.0mm f/3.4-4.5 lens set at 23mm. Processed in CS5 and Topaz Adjust to add a little contrast to details.
  • Mark Of Excellence
  • Judges Comment
  • The observer does not know what is going on in this photograph. The unknown, and the person in in the background give it a mystic and film-like feel.
  • Photographers Comment
  • My name is Becca Haydu. I shot this photo at La Fortuna waterfall in Costa Rica. It is by far one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. This photo was taken with a Canon Rebel XT and a Canon 28-105mm f/3.5 lens. If you are interested in seeing more of my work, visit my website: beccahaydu.com. Thank you!!
  • Mark Of Excellence
  • Judges Comment
  • Light and darkness combined with a composition of an almost mirror effect, as well as an interesting angle makes this photograph beautiful and special.
  • Photographers Comment
  • My name is Noah Garbarino. The black and white photo of the window was taken in a stairwell of a parking garage in the afternoon. I had my Canon Rebel XT and 10-22mm lens with me and the small rectangles of light really caught my eye in the mostly dark stairwell.
  • Mark Of Excellence
  • Judges Comment
  • This image just makes you stop and think, we guess mainly under which conditions it was taken. The colors, the alignment of things just works perfectly.
  • Photographers Comment
  • I took this photo while flying the #5 position on the Lima Lima Flight Team. The opening maneuver of the 1997 Chicago Air & Water Show was a six-ship loop. I had a Pentax A-3000 with a 20mm lens focused at infinity mounted on the top of my glare shield, pointing to the left. A cable release that ran down to my throttle hand allowed me to shoot pictures as I flew the formation loop. This was the best of 15 images I shot during that maneuver. The film was Kodacolor ASA100.
  • Mark Of Excellence
  • Judges Comment
  • What may appear as a straight-forward photo at first becomes more and more fascinating the more you look at it and try to understand the phenomena. And it's well captured under difficult conditions where you don't get a second chance.
  • Photographers Comment
  • The shot of the lightning was taken on Delray Beach in Florida. It was during a major lightning storm that Florida summers are known for, and I managed to catch a few large strikes that scattered in the clouds and struck down to the ocean at once. Camera is a Canon 5D mark II with a 100-400mm lens.
  • Mark Of Excellence
  • Judges Comment
  • Amongst the many animal and flower photos we see, this one stands out as an animal, a sculpture and - almost - a flower. It's well-composed and cropped to show us strictly what is the essence.
  • Photographers Comment
  • This was taken at the Dallas Aquarium. I shoot with a Canon 7d and I think this was shot using my sigma 70-200 f/2.8. I took a few frames of this one particular bird, but his eyes were closed. This was just as he opened his eyes and was then startled by another bird and ran off.
  • Mark Of Excellence
  • Judges Comment
  • This image makes you dream yourself to an assumedly distant location where the sun is your friend. It has adventure and 1001 nights about it.
  • Photographers Comment
  • My name is Dr. Parvinder Sethi and I am a geologist. I used a Nikon D200 with a Bogen-Manfrotto tripod to take this photograph at Noon on the day of the Summer Solstice in the Antelope Canyon in Arizona - when the sunlight makes a unbroken beam from a little hole on the ground surface all the way to the dark depths of the canyon. You can view my photography at www.Parv.Smugmug.com (or in my facebook albums by sending me a friend request to Parv Sethi). Happy photographing and congratulations to the winner for a truly stunning image!
  • Mark Of Excellence
  • Judges Comment
  • All children deserve an iconic image like this to remember when they were young. It's the frozen moment with the subject paying attention, and an aesthetic setting that makes this a great image for the child in it to have for the future. And that makes it an icon for a group of people who knows her, and we feel blessed to have a look into her world as well.
  • Photographers Comment
  • A beautiful girl, lost in the Florida jungle, or modeling for me when I simply asked her to "pose." This is Adeline posing.
  • Mark Of Excellence
  • Judges Comment
  • There is something friendly about this image. What it does not possess in technical qualities, it does in human warmth. And that makes it work.
  • Mark Of Excellence
  • Judges Comment
  • This image works well in a filmic way. You feel in the midst of a story being told and can almost hear the sounds and smell his aftershave.
  • Mark Of Excellence
  • Judges Comment
  • We find it interesting to study this "historic" photo, the face expressions of the persons in it, as well as trying to imagine what the story might be.
  • Photographers Comment
  • Gizem Demircioglu, shot in Prague - Czech Republic.
  • Mark Of Excellence
  • Judges Comment
  • Lovely black and white photograph. The reflections and a person stepping out of a building to the left make this photo a great photo.
  • Photographers Comment
  • I took this photo outside a popular chain of coffee shops. It had started raining a few minutes prior and these ladies were out their way out. I stepped outside and intuitively captured this photo as the way the light was dancing off of the pavement caught my eye. I made 2 frames and this one was the better of the two. This photo was made with a Leica M9+CV 50/1.1 in Kansas City, MO in July 2011. My name is Reinhard Lampano and I'm an amateur photographer and Leica enthusiast. I currently serve in the United States Air Force stationed in Kansas. My motivation to shoot people in everyday situations was inspired by Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank with influences from modern day street photographers, Chris Weeks and Frank Jackson, et al. In an interview 4 years before Cartier-Bresson’s passing, PBS’ Charlie Rose asked him, “Why photography”? HCB quipped, “…because it’s quicker than drawing”. Check out more of my photos at http://quickerthandrawing.tumblr.com/
  • Mark Of Excellence
  • Judges Comment
  • The balance in this photo, the cleanliness with which the nature seem to have been prepared for the people to enjoy and join into this photo ... that is what makes it interesting. A moment captured just in the minutes before life starts unfolding - it gives us as the viewer possibility to contribute with ideas about what will happen.
  • Photographers Comment
  • Everyone calls me Kat and I live in Muncie, Indiana. I have been loving photography as an expression of my world for many years now. This very chilly, clear morning came after a heavy snow fall had been cleared and was just starting to melt. I went down to Morrows Meadow in Yorktown, IN, where I found everything covered in a beautiful shimmering coat made from an overnight of freezing fog. The morning light was perfect and the scene took me back to a time of splendor in the snow, a scene inviting you in to explore it more. I took this image just last year with a Sony A700. I used a 18-200 zoom at 30 mm and ISO200, 1/640s, f9 settings.