December Photo Challenge Winners – Whiten Up

Today we're announcing the winners of December's Photo Challenge. See below for the photos that took first-, second-, and third-place…

Note: December was our last online photo challenge. We’re revamping our website and some of the online systems we have here at AWAI and need to take the challenge down for a while to make adjustments <tear>.

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WHITEN UP -- WINNING ENTRIES
By Shelly Perry in Portland, Oregon

Last month’s photo challenge theme was “Whiten Up,” a color theme which is always interesting to see what people come up with. Submissions ranged from dinosaurs playing in the snow (yes, you read that right) to churches and people in white. Johnny, November's challenge winner was our guest judge this time around.

** First Place goes to beebopbev for “White Icelandic Horse”

** Second Place goes to alwaysae for “Winter Wonderland”

** Third Place goes to LindasPhotography for “Blue Cookies”

** Honorable Mention goes to pioneershutter for “Myke-Myndy”

FIRST PLACE - WHITE ICELANDIC HORSE
Johnny says, “First place goes to the White Icelandic Horse image. The composition follows the Rule of Thirds and depicts a sense of movement. I was drawn to the strong and powerful eyes immediately. The overall color theme is appropriate and soft. This is an amazing shot that I wish I could have taken.”

SECOND PLACE - WINTER WONDERLAND
I find this shot striking and mysterious. Without the clouds as reference in the background, I would really wonder what I was looking at. It reminds me of things under a microscope -- funny how nature repeats itself like that. I really love the colors here, a quiet and striking shot.

THIRD PLACE - BLUE COOKIES
Again we have great colors here and the photographer really took their time to take a nice clean shot with no distractions. Everything is in that should be in, and everything is out that should be out. The crops feel deliberate and intentional. It’s nice and clean, which designers like, and could make a good stock photo.

HONORABLE MENTION - MYKE-MYNDY
Here are the dinosaurs in the snow I mentioned. This is such a unique and creative shot I had to share it with you. This photographer is obviously thinking out of the box and going to great lengths to think cleverly and execute a fun and interesting shot. I love the feel of the shot. The only thing I'd like to see is just a bit more light on the front of the faces, but not so much that it takes away the long shadows. I think those are great.

Congratulations to each of our winners! I hope 2012 will be an amazing year on your photography journey.

The first-place winner will get a $30 gift certificate to the AWAI E-Bookstore, and all winners will be entered into the Hall of Fame to compete for the $2,000 Grand Prize in October 2012.

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