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Grand Prize Winner - Action/Energy
Barrett Hedges
Action/Energy
Coming at You
Coastal brown bear in attack mode after a salmon
Jim's Comments
Everything about this image speaks of energy and action. The power and brute force of the bear, the unbridled charge through the river, the water thrashed into action and captured in a frozen moment. All of it is in your face and thrilling.Jim's Choice
What a tough decision! Every one of the 12 finalists is worthy of honor and could have been the winner. After hours of pondering and weighing the decision I kept coming back to that great Brown bear, charging straight at us with all the energy of a freight train. Perfectly sharp and face to face with a force of nature, the image carries us into another world, at once frightening and magnificent. The crystalline splashing water, frozen in the moment just adds a sense of all-out exertion. Congratulations to our winner, and congratulations to our finalists. It's a bit sad: so many great pictures but only one winner. -
First Place Winner - Action/Energy
Matt Walsh
Action/Energy
Space Shuttle Discovery
A view of the Shuttle Discovery from New Smyrna Beach, Fl., April 5, 2010. This was the last shuttle launch in darkness.
Jim's Comments
The vast energy of a shuttle launch lighting up the sea and the beaches is just one part of the beauty of this image. Add to that the coming dawn, the tide and waves of the sea washing ashore, and the wonder and awe that you can just feel in all of the people transfixed by the scene and you have a profound sense of great forces at work -
First Place Winner - Animals/Wildlife
Reed Miller
Animals/Wildlife
By the Sweat of Thy Brow
The male bald eagle brings in a duck for dinner to his mate and two young chicks.
Jim's Comments
Eagle pictures abound but this one is just over the top. What a moment in the life of an eagle family when dinner arrives. Beyond the precise action, the image includes the setting from an angle that is rarely seen and very tough to get. An engaging moment. -
First Place Winner - Animals/Wildlife
Brian Overcast
Animals/Wildlife
Battling Egrets at Lake Chapala, Mexico
A pair of egrets fight over food during the annual migration of white pelicans near the village of Petatan, Michoacan in Mexico.
Jim's Comments
This poetic dance of egrets is stunning for it's elegant action precisely captured and elegantly composed. The icing on the cake is the sea of birds behind and all of it graced with the far mountain balancing the aerial ballet. -
First Place Winner - Nature
Antonio Busiello
Nature/Weather
Anacapa Arch
I took this picture of Anacapa Arch last November. Visibility is usually good during October and November at the Channel Islands but that day was incredible. It was a perfect day; calm water, strong sun, and great visibility. I also helped myself with the underwater strobe.
Jim's Comments
This beautiful chance to see below the surface (both literally and figuratively) is just gorgeous. This image reveals in such a graceful, serene way how much more of the life of the sea we never see or know. Such visions are a gift. -
First Place Winner - Nature
Brian Young
Nature/Weather
Wisteria
This beautiful picture of a giant Wisteria tree was taken in Ashikaga Flower Park, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.
Jim's Comments
At first glance I hardly knew what I was seeing. This image reveals itself gradually but with patience it becomes richer and richer. Layer after layer of subtle color adds up to a scene that is at once serene and intense. -
First Place Winner - People/Cultures
Roxann Lovette
People/Cultures
Civil War
Every year Allison Woods, of Statesville,Nc, host a civil war reenactment. This was captured during a battle scene.
Jim's Comments
There is in the lean of the horse and the lean of the soldier a unity of action and a harmony of purpose. The scene is graced by just enough background to suggest a greater tableau, of events larger than life and part of our history, but it is that graceful cant caught in the moment that is beguiling. -
First Place Winner - People/Cultures
Maggie Winters
People/Cultures
Fire Breather
A local fire breather let me photograph her practicing.
Jim's Comments
There is something deliciously improbable about this woman sitting in an alley breathing fire! The color, composition and lighting are superb as well, but it is the whole situation that makes it fun and intriguing. Just why is she there? -
First Place Winner - Travel
William Lee
Travel
Star Trails, Windmill and Tulips
Captured during the 2010 blooming season of Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm in Oregon, this is a long exposure of star trails over the tulip farm. The windmill and tulips were illuminated by my flash and building lights far away.
Jim's Comments
With color as intense as an artists color wheel, this image goes on to enchant us with layers of depth and precise composition, the extended "moment" inherent in the star trails and the lovely sweep of a passing cloud. Night scenes are rarely so colorful. -
First Place Winner - Travel
Frank Fakinos
Travel
Glacial Hiker
Glacier Grey, Torres del Paine, Chile. As I stood on a ridge gazing across at this enormous glacier with awe, I spotted a lone hiker in the distance. Seeing him out there on his icy adventure, I couldn't help wonder what thoughts and emotions he was experiencing. I found myself grinning ear to ear as I vicariously strapped on some crampons and journeyed alongside him.
Jim's Comments
Veins of blue, white and dirty brown sweep across the image, delivering a beautiful graphic domain. But it is the lone hiker that makes this an enticing travel picture, inviting us to share in the grand experience of being there on the ice. -
First Place Winner - Weather
Jeff Berkes
Weather
Midnight Lightning
An isolated thunderstorm in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Jim's Comments
The juxtaposition of a tranquil night on a rural farm with an almost nuclear thunderhead, lit from within, gives this image a bewitching lure. The cloud dominates and is the immediate attraction, but the subtle pastoral foreground, dark and shadowy leads me to remembering quiet nights punctuated by distant thunder. -
First Place Winner - Weather
Zachary Caron
Weather
Placid Awe
The awesome power of this tornado, just south of Parker Colorado, is evident by the amount of earth being consumed in its vortex. Despite this power, Mother Nature was just putting on a spectacular show; only a single tree was damaged.
Jim's Comments
Rare indeed is the chance to witness the stupendous power of a tornado. But this image goes on to show how gracefully the force descends from the clouds, how precisely it targets one spot on the ground and how oddly tranquil the rest of the scene remains, untouched and unharmed. Very rare indeed.
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Jim Richardson
Judging the contest will be award-winning photographer Jim Richardson, whose work has graced the pages of National Geographic and other publications.
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Jim Richardson's Gallery
National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson has travelled the world during his long career. Check out a selection of images from his travels!
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Categories
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Category 1Animals / Wildlife
Whether it's our family pet in the living room or magnificent wildlife in Africa, the animals and wildlife of our world bring us delight, affection and wonder. Winning pictures in this category will bring back all the personality, devotion, excitement, and shared experience we feel with our fellow beings on this planet.
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Category 2Nature / Weather
The natural world has always made great pictures. And the weather that shapes our environment can be a subject unto itself. Either way, pictures in Nature/Weather will focus on wilderness, landscapes (and seascapes), nature's incredible variety of flowers and plants, and the wonders of geology and geography. Weather, always part of our daily world, brings with it every emotion from awe to tranquility. Strong emotion in these scenes will set winning pictures apart. Note: Animal pictures belong in the Animals/Wildlife category. But a beautiful, grand landscape of Africa with the inevitable zebras in the distance belongs in Nature/Weather.
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Category 3Travel / Cultures
Our travels around the world bring us in contact with the incredible variety of human cultures. These pictures—whether of native dress, festivals, food, celebrations, history or architecture—will celebrate the vast and colorful variety of how people express their human nature and what they value, from one side of the planet to the other. Note: Interesting people and characters you meet while traveling belong in this category. Pictures of your family and their antics, even while traveling on vacation belong in the Family/Community category.
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Category 4Family / Community
Family/Community is about the people we know in our daily lives and the places where we live every day. This could be halfway around the world, but it's more likely in your hometown—or in your kitchen. Family, friends, children, grandparents, neighbors and complete strangers fill lives with humor, love, emotion and meaning. These pictures don't have to be close to home, but they should be close to our hearts.
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Category 5Arts / Music
New for this year, the Arts/Music category will feature pictures that celebrate how music and the arts enrich our lives. Concerts and art galleries would certainly qualify for this category, but so would intimate jazz sessions, pub music in Ireland, and high school marching bands. The arts are everywhere around us, from art fairs to Halloween pumpkin carving, from grand public art and murals to children's fanciful sidewalk chalk drawings. It's all welcome in Arts/Music.
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Category 6Action / Energy
When things move into high gear, when the picture is all about the energy and beauty of things in motion, when you can just feel the electricity of the action, that's Action/Energy. Sports action pictures are a natural for this category, but so are pictures of animals galloping at high speed, and the dogged efforts of the long distance runners. Pictures here will almost always show things happening. Keep it lively.
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Jim and Energizer Batteries
The Galaway Inn was alive with Irish music, packed wall to wall with people and like all Irish pubs, very dark. My Energizer-powered flash units lit up the scene—the musicians kept playing, the energy was fantastic, the action never let up and my camera outlasted us all.
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