Mini Challenge #150 - Backlight - WINNER!

SciurusNiger

First, I want to thank everyone who participated. All entries hit the theme so you made my morning here very difficult!

In no particular order, I did a first pass to narrow down my choices:



Then it was look and ponder, look and ponder, look and ponder some more. At the end of my angst, these three came out on top.


Third place: puzzledpaul

I really like the way the rule of thirds plays out here: the smooth water, tack-sharp swan, kicked-up splashing water.


Second place: JRomie

This is one of those great images that puts us in our place, to to speak, by juxtaposing the smallness of man against the grandeur of nature. The serenity it evokes and the colors are wonderfully done.


First place: Syncopation

I kept coming back to this one over and over and that is what finally made up my mind. There is an inherent rawness to the story here and the backlight (along with B&W) helps to reinforce that, making this a very compelling image.


Congratulations, winners! And thank you all again for making this a great mini-challenge!

PJ.

sapphire73

Many thanks, PJ, for a great theme for a mini! Great choices for the top three images.

Syncopation, I would be interested in hearing about the back story of your winning image. Puzzledpaul, your swan entry is amazing. And Jromie, your entry brings to mind some of Galen Rowell's work. Many thanks, PJ, for a great theme for a mini. Congratulations to you all!

PJ, I am honored to have one of my entries in the runners up pool, so to speak, with so many fine entries. It was good R & R to take time to look back through my collection and see what I might want to share - usually after taking another run at the processing.

Gretchen

JRomie

Many thanks from me as well! It's an honor to be mentioned among a selection of fine photographs. And, in my book, any comparison to Galen Rowell's work, even if a fleeting one, is about as good as it gets!

puzzledpaul

Well done to all - and thanks for your efforts /time in running this.
Thanks for thinking mine had some merit - especially as it was a last minute job - purely based on my laziness (pic already uploaded)

pp

lifeinfocus

puzzledpaul wrote: »

Well done to all - .....

pp

Looking forward to the contest you post.

Phil

puzzledpaul

lifeinfocus wrote: »

Looking forward to the contest you post.

Phil

Phil - I think you've got me mixed up with the winner - Syncopation

pp

lifeinfocus

puzzledpaul wrote: »

Phil - I think you've got me mixed up with the winner - Syncopation

pp

Sorry, yours was top notched too.

Syncopation

Thank you for the comments.

This image was taken in Bali. I was riding a scooter round the countryside in the late afternoon and was attracted to the light shining on some cows in a field. I could see thick smoke down at the far end of the field and as the smoke cleared I saw a crouched figure who appeared to be digging and scraping the earth. I soon forgot about the cows and concentrated on trying to capture a strong image from a scene that clearly had lots of potential. I took about a dozen shots and this one had the most striking combination of figure and smoke.

Bali is the original tropical paradise however step away from the tourist hotspots and rural life is often very tough with only basic tools available for manual work. I like to think that this image reflects a side of Bali that has remained unchanged over the years and one that is not often seen by holidaymakers.

I'll post details of the next mini-challenge shortly

linyangchen

Thanks very much for the hard work setting up and judging this contest. It has been a great learning experience for me, and I look forward to more!

Best regards,

Yangchen