So, after sifting through the hundreds of entries—well, nine, actually—we've decided upon the winners of the "Reflections" contest. <insert virtual drumroll here...>
The winner of Eli Reinholdtsen's book "Folk" and a signed print from me is Chris Ward, for his image "Space Needle Reflected."
Eli had this to say about Chris' image:
"This image makes me really curious. I am trying to figure out what is happening but I just can’t understand enough of it. Is it a train to the right perhaps? This is a great scene and I would have worked it a lot. Perhaps you could add a person to give it a stronger sense of scale. Or maybe a contrast colored balloon on the way up?"
Chris, I really like this. It crosses that line into the abstract well and, like Eli says, it makes me curious about what's really going on. Great job!
The second place winner of a copy of Eli's book, "Folk," is Barry Yanowitz, with his image "Reflecting on Coney Island."
Eli says:
"I like how you have captured the passing car twice – both in the rear window and on the street itself. This is often difficult to pull off with a good background but I think you have managed here. The orange works really well with the blue. Compositionally, I was thinking perhaps to crop a bit on the right since the sky takes up almost half of the frame, but in the end I decided against it, as the sky is really beautiful."
Finally, the third place winner of a signed print from me is Sabrina Henry (also known as the Chronicles of Learning Photography) for her image, "Main Street #1."
Eli's comments:
"Ooooh! My kind of place! I like how the trees blend in with the tapestry. I would have cropped a bit tighter on the left to get rid of the frame so the light shines more on the mannequins. I would consider coming back a bit earlier in the day so that the sun would shine 90 degrees down the street and perhaps in the face of someone passing by. Maybe another woman in white? Even with a hat? Or a man complementing the ladies?"
Congratulations to all of the winners! Please send your postal mailing information to info@thelightwithout.com and I'll get your books and prints out shortly. If you won a print of mine, be sure to let me know which one you'd like from the Hip Sips set, which you can find HERE. Let me know the title you want, and I'll print and sign it, and send it your way.
My thanks also to everyone who took the time to enter the contest. I really appreciate your participation and I hope you've gotten some ideas about how you can use reflections in your photography. In the next few days, I'll be posting Eli's comments on each of your photos on Flickr, since she was kind enough to share them for everyone.
Of course my thanks to Eli Reinholdtsen as well, both for her participation as a judge and for her inspirational photography. Even if you didn't win it, consider buying her book on Blurb. It's filled with her work in reflections and I think they will inspire you.
Thanks again to everyone! Have a great holiday!