What a rich tapestry of colors and compositions. We immediately liked about a dozen entries, narrowed that to about nine, and then debated extensively. We really liked a couple entries visually, but the content was really heavily into the general news category. We know it can be difficult to decide (going both ways in those two categories) when something is a "planned event" and when something is a "found moment". The line blurs for sure. We opted, since we had the really strong "pure" feature moments, to stick with the category description with our placements. For first place we couldn't stop looking at the classic silhouetted runner. Sure, there may be something cliche about the silhouette, but when it's executed so well that it catches the eye and then engages the brain we had to go with it. The combination of the light and shadow and the near-perfect moment of the runner and dog all framed in a sea of golden hour light and shadow made this image sing. Second place maybe cold almost be a co-first place, the genuine spontaneity of the moment, the delight in the face, the light, the perfect blur of the raindrops. The image is cinematic in the visual, and really only hurt the slightest bit by the composition. For third, the child sledding in the rare Austin snow was a moment of quirky delight. Here in New England that photo would be a dime a dozen in January, but in Austin it's gold (well, bronze in this case) with a great face, a clean moment, good composition all combining to make it stand out over the other snow-in-the-south photos.
Judges:
Sean D. Elliot/The Day, Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
Judges Comments
What a rich tapestry of colors and compositions. We immediately liked about a dozen entries, narrowed that to about nine, and then debated extensively. We really liked a couple entries visually, but the content was really heavily into the general news category. We know it can be difficult to decide (going both ways in those two categories) when something is a "planned event" and when something is a "found moment". The line blurs for sure. We opted, since we had the really strong "pure" feature moments, to stick with the category description with our placements. For first place we couldn't stop looking at the classic silhouetted runner. Sure, there may be something cliche about the silhouette, but when it's executed so well that it catches the eye and then engages the brain we had to go with it. The combination of the light and shadow and the near-perfect moment of the runner and dog all framed in a sea of golden hour light and shadow made this image sing. Second place maybe cold almost be a co-first place, the genuine spontaneity of the moment, the delight in the face, the light, the perfect blur of the raindrops. The image is cinematic in the visual, and really only hurt the slightest bit by the composition. For third, the child sledding in the rare Austin snow was a moment of quirky delight. Here in New England that photo would be a dime a dozen in January, but in Austin it's gold (well, bronze in this case) with a great face, a clean moment, good composition all combining to make it stand out over the other snow-in-the-south photos.