Landscape Photo Competition 2011 : Results

Competition Winner : First Prize
$1,812.00

Judges Comment
Simply perfect. Bare, bleak and beautifully colourless. I love the soft, grey tones which are infact so powerful and contrasted. The photographer has delicately captured a scene that most of us would not even have noticed. Turned these bare trees and some dreadful weather into a beautiful beholding photograph. I can hear the muffled quiet and see the snow falling. This is master class. The trees are reaching up, stretching out every branch as if posing for a portrait, silhouetting themselves against the blizzard. Exposure is spot on, the processing subtle. It is the shutter speed that gives slight, oblique movement to the snow flakes, I dare say perfect movement, producing the poetry and creating a dreamland dimension. The composition is simple, strong and symmetrical, with entrancing horizontal and vertical lines which draw one’s eye to settle gently in the middle, and to linger there. This is an image to look at again and again, to dream over. It is an image which conjures emotions, it has its own force. This is not photocopy. The perfect picture and the deserved winner of this competition.
Photographers Comment
This photo was taken at a park in Manville, NJ during a heavy snowstorm. I happened to be driving by the park and spotted these trees in perfect symmetry. The shutter speed was slow enough to slightly blur the large flakes. I used my Nikon D300 with a Sigma 18-200mm lens. F6.3 1/125sec. Focal length 29mm ISO 400. Slight processing in Photoshop CS4. www.siegristphotography.com

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Striking tones and beautiful saturation. This astonishing and extraordinary seascape (from the edge of the world) is beautiful and haunting. Icebergs floating expectantly on the dead calm, the dark water beckoning, in a misty, eerie half-light… I love the low contrast lighting which the photographer has exposed and processed perfectly delivering all the power of this forbidding, fathomless place. The focussing gives extra strength, the depth of field spanning the whole picture, almost bringing us a third dimension in the perfectly sharp, touchable icebergs, and great detail in the looming clouds. The composition is fine and the scene draws us comfortably in. The 2/3 sky is powerful and busy, the lighter tones there really setting off the ice in the opposing bottom 1/3. Quite wonderful, and the highlights so real. So why is this not the winner? Well, it’s to do with comfort I suppose, and the feeling the photograph brews up. It very nearly was the winner but we can only have one of those, so the hurdle is high and faults must be exposed. So…the framing along the bottom is a little tight and the icebergs in the foreground lack some of the space they deserve. A slightly lower angle therefore, whilst maintaining the 2/3 sky, and turning a touch to the right to better accommodate those mid distance icebergs, would have given extra strength to this near perfect composition. 2nd place and very nearly made it.
Photographers Comment
My name is Thomas Sass Pedersen. This shot was taken on a trip to Iceland with my father. I wanted to see the Jókulsárlón, which my father had never heard of and we ended up getting there in some tricky weather. I do think it enhanced the shot though. I do see the mentioning of the tight crop in the bottom of the picture. The reason for this tight crop is, that a straight line of black rocks didn't add to the frame. The gear used was a Nikon D700 with a Nikon 24-70mm lens. www.tsp-photo.com

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Beautifully soft colours and tones and graphic composition make this a wonderful image. The photographer has successfully, and tastefully, captured one of nature’s dramatic displays, packing all the beauty and power of that moment into a pleasing photograph. The gusty wind movement in the grass softens the field and makes the picture real, the saturated colours those of the pre-storm. I see no lightning but i feel the electricity in the air. The cloud formations and detail are wonderful and my eye is drawn along them into the very magnetic, red centre. So this photo has been technically very well taken, but has also been very sensitively processed. Contrast has been kept natural, and effective vignetting darkens the corners nicely holding our gaze and preventing it from dropping off the edges. I love the thin strip of light grass along the bottom of the frame which sets off the rest of the image, but sadly some of that grass is burnt out (left of centre) and so a little troubling, distracting from an otherwise harmonious, fulfilling scene.
Photographers Comment
Thank you very much! This image was taken during a trip to Nebraska and there happen to be an awesome storm to the west, which I of course had to stop and shoot! In post processing all I did was remove a fence and boost the saturation a tiny bit. After we reached our destination we found out that the storm was actually a tornado brewing! Deborah Flack Nikon D3100

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Wonderful drama in this wild, natural place. Here the strong composition, (the horizon splitting the image in two), the beautiful, low angle sunlight, the reflection and the moving clouds all give this photograph its magic. The very slow shutter speed has recorded the clouds’ movement, giving great depth and drawing us in across the lake. The colours are warm, the focussing is perfect. We have here all the ingredients for a winner, there is so much technically correct. The photographer must have visualised this photograph before making it work, managing to create that little extra mood. What’s wrong? Well, nothing strictly speaking is wrong. I feel this photo could have been improved though with a lighter foreground, particularly to the left. A little more detail in those dark foreground rocks would have answered back at the mountain opposite.

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Here is a strong, graphic composition with a clever, slow shutter speed. The photographer has managed to isolate the mountain with a short telephoto lens exaggerating its natural form, making this a powerful image. The enveloping, advancing cloud and low light conditions add warmth and an unusual mood. I love the contrast though perhaps the blacks are a little over cooked.

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Beautiful, misty forest atmosphere, but rather than being spooky I find this photograph intriguing, I’d like to climb over that fallen tree, feel the bark. The portrait format works well here, giving the trees presence and might, enhancing that fairytale, lost in the middle of the forest, almost anxious feeling. There is an interfering flare on both sides of the photograph, perhaps the result of over post-processing, which prevent this doing better.
Photographers Comment
I have been into serious photography for about 8 years now. I am self taught and love to learn something new about the hobby (passion) any chance I get. I call this capture " If a Tree Falls In the Woods, Does It Make A Sound" It was taken on a foggy morning at Pigeon Creek Arkansas. My name is Kaye and I shoot with a Canon 5D. Thank you Judges for taking notice.

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Fine composition and good focus bring infinite depth to this photograph. I would like to splash through that water and walk off into the distance. The foreground rocks lead the eye over this endless beach towards the couple standing far away. It is a lovely well balanced image, as good as possible under the rather dull circumstances. It is missing just a little extra something magic…
Photographers Comment
My name is Jill and I have been learning photography for less than a year. My photo was taken during a cool summer morning on the Oregon Coast. I am thrilled and appreciative of the judges' feedback and am honored to be included in the list of runners-up. I shoot with a Nikon D7000.

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
A bold composition which needed anticipating, and no doubt some perseverance, for the photographer to capture this lucky strike. Full marks for the ‘wow’ factor created by this remarkable single electric strike which touches the horizon so meaningfully. The cloud is bursting with energy and the band of rainfall in the strong backlight is magic. The photographer has produced great natural drama but perhaps a softer contrast and less ‘lost’ black would have benefitted this.
Photographers Comment
My name is Tom Marasco; I'm a photography student from central NJ. This photo was taken on Lake Ontario, NY during an incredible storm at sunset with the sun being just under the thick layer of storm clouds. I used a Canon 7D with a 17-40mm. Capturing the lightening with the strong back lit sun proved to be difficult due to the random nature of lightening. This exposure was 1 second and was taken with a remote. Curves were used in post processing to increase the contrast.

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
What an amazing place, the natural ‘geography’ here is beautiful. The lighting is gentle, the ocean swell magnificently calm, the sunset just perfect. I wonder where our photographer is standing! Great photo which has lost a little reality (and detail) through tone modification.
Photographers Comment
Thank you so much for this honorable mention among such great photographers. I was standing at the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. This view is toward the south looking at Cape Point and the southernmost tip of Africa. Thanks again for the acknowledgement and congratulations to the winner. Rich Clark - Ocean Air Imagery Canon 5D Mark II (17-40MM for this shot) San Diego, CA

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
I love this for its originality and for the photographer’s beautiful, partially saturated redistribution of colour and monochrome, and other interesting post processing techniques. Excellent, sensitive work, but too far down the ‘photoshop’ road to win this competition.
Photographers Comment
"Still Blue" by Barbara Simmons, a Florida based photographer. This image is a hand painted, infrared piece. It was taken with a vintage Minolta SRT-202 film camera, processed and printed in the darkroom then scanned into Photoshop to boost contrast. A lost, but most enjoyable, art form.