LIFE – Winners Announced!
It’s been a very tough task for our judges and we’ve finally managed to whittle the 1,925 entries down to just three… It took a little bit longer than we’d have liked and it’s cost us a lot more in coffee! But here they are.
LIFE
In first place, michaelmix
In second place, Flavunish
In third place, merzzie
I wanted to list so many images here in this post, what I will do is list the top ten (so, seven more) though I am sorry there are only prizes for the first three winners, I really want to thank everyone that participated, commented, viewed and supported each other during this competition. Whilst it was a competition about photography, it was a competition to show “Life” and I think that in so very many different ways, our dPS community has really pulled out all stops to show every aspect of LIFE in the four competition threads.
I want to thank all the people at DigitalRev.com who have helped us out with their exclusive partnership and sponsorship on this competition, without whom we wouldn’t have the awesome prizes for our top three places. Digitalrev, established in 1998, are my personal favourite camera store, not just because of their good prices, but because they’re approachable and very helpful. So to Richard and all the team at DigitalRev.com a HUGE thanks. (Did you know you could have your own image gallery on DigitalRev.Com?)
In no particular order.
55 Responses to “LIFE – Winners Announced!” - Add Yours
March 20th, 2010 at 11:34 am
WOW!!!! Amazing shots
I love the 2nd winner’s image.. 
March 20th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
Sime and all the judges and the entrants,
thanks for the final 10 images and running the competition – what a job! The top ten are very worthy finalists and well done to the winners. My favourite image of the ten was the haunting B&W by merzzie – only photography can capture life like that.
Thanks for guiding us all through this, I hope you are able to run more in the future.
March 20th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
First one is such a winner. It even made me laugh. The photo with the lonely pig is great too, even though it makes me feel sad.
March 20th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Great Picks!
I would love to know the location/story (?) about #3.
March 20th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Wow, I’m surprised the first photo one over the other two. They say so much. I love the eyes and the expression on the third place photo. I also love the very last photo in the entire series of the older guy. Wow.
March 20th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Ya, I question te first place winner too. The other two (9) are great, but I just don’t feel much of a story with the first. Just my opinion. Great
pictures everybody and a thanks to the judges for sifting through 1900 great images.
March 20th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
I don’t get the 1st place pick. Would have been much stronger had he cropped his face out and just had the baby, cat and his hand with the wedding band. But, I vote for the crying pig as #1. Very evocative.
March 20th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Some very emotive images there.
Particularly drawn to 2 & 6. Number 2 because of it’s innocence and cinematic ‘Close Encounter’s feel and number 6 for the sadness in the Pig; just want to walk up and release her.
Very powerful.
Thanks for sharing.
March 20th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
I’m so glad Michaelmix won first place, because I fell in love with that image as soon as I saw it. Fantastic!
March 20th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
Sime, all the judges and entrants,
well all 10 images are worthy finalists, and each says something different about Life, but my favourite by far is image #3 by Merzzie. Only insightful, B&W photography can capture a life like this. I to would love to know the history behind this shot. Well done everyone and congratulations to the winners.
March 20th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
The pig photo is mine, thanks for all your kind comments! It was taken in a rural village in Guizhou, China and the pig seemed to be very aware that it was about to be slaughtered…poor thing
Check out my portfolio for more of my pictures from China: http://www.wix.com/abjam77/Jamie-Manley-Photography
Thanks for the mention Sime!
March 20th, 2010 at 6:54 pm
I have reservations over the first image (I would have thought that bigmakoy’s image would have got into the top three), but nonetheless, they’re all fine images!
Congrats to the winners.
March 20th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
It’s nice to see judging working well when compared to the competition brief! The first image speaks “This is what life is all about” to me. Congratulations to all the amazing photos.
March 20th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Congratulations to all the winners! But I don’t get the 1st picture either. Maybe there’s something I’m missing? And I agree with @f.c. I would have thought that bigmakoy’s (#1) would land on the top 3. But yeah, kudos to everyone. These are all great photos. Must have been a tough call for the judges.
March 20th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
To those not sure about the 1st place image. It’s not the strongest image technically. I don’t think anyone will say otherwise. But, do keep in mind, the theme was “Life”. This photo screams life more than most.
An old cat, a new born baby, eyeing each other off as they try to come to grips with coexistance. And the owner/father holding them apart, looking extremely tired and over it. In terms of application of theme, the photo is definitely a winner.
Congrats to all! I’m stoked to have been short listed!
Thanks to Sime, the other judges, and all the other entrants for an amazing collection of photos on such an emotive subject.
March 20th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Congratulations to the winners, top ten and everyone on the shortlist. I was just pleased to get into the top 77!
When I first saw the winning shot I wasn’t particularly drawn to it, but in terms of the competition brief it fits perfectly, and also is very well composed and exposed.
I also really like the sad pig, a very evocative shot.
#3 is a brilliant shot, but to me it feels more like a photojournalism shot. There looks to be a very interesting story behind the shot, but does it say ‘Life’? Not to me. Just my thoughts, not criticising anyone, they’re all great shots.
March 20th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
I believe the taste of the judges is questionable. there were a lot of better photos to my taste in the top 77 than this first place winer. In my opinion all other top 9 pictures are better than this first place.
March 20th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Thanks DPS for choosing my photo (3rd)! merzzie here btw…
I’m so happy!! this is the first competition I’ve won!
By the way…saw some post that wants to know the story about that photo….The photo was taken in Lumbini Park, Nepal…its the area where buddha was born.
I stayed at a monastery for 3 days.. and this kid was always walking around the town following our group..he would be chanting mantras and prayers and ask for money…he would chant different types of prayers..from mahayana to theravada…its not easy to learn all that.
This photo was taken on the last day…early in the morning before taking a bus to leave the area.. he was there again and i found him so full of life and really cute…so i hopped out of the bus and snapped a few shots before leaving…and found this was a real keeper…
Thanks again! feel free to visit my flickr and blog page..! =)
March 20th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
I think the word you’re looking for is subjective, Martin?
March 20th, 2010 at 11:34 pm
I agree, with any competition like this one, I guess the judges choice is always subjective. The first lots of people can probably relate to as a day to day “Life” subject, whereas the 2nd & 3rd spot might not connect as much. Congratulations to all that participated & ofcourse, the winners!!! I hope to see some nice shots posted with your new gear
March 20th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
No, I do not want to be involved in a for-profit book with no compensation.
March 20th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
@Photoboothguy No, not for profit, for memories. What happens is I spend hours setting the book up and putting the images in, then I upload it to Blurb and you guys buy it from Blurb at whatever they charge you to make and ship it – check Blurb out, then maybe you will understand better?
Sime
March 20th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
“I was thinking that it might be awesome if we were to put the images from the four weeks into a self published book (Like Blurb etc) if you wanted to be involved you could, or not, it would be up to you obviously. It would be available for purchase directly from Blurb (or wherever)”
Sounds a lot like one of those “who’s who” book scams… who pockets the Blurb profits?
March 21st, 2010 at 12:10 am
Hey B, read the comment above your daft outburst… If you knew anything about dPS and the pains we go through to make things as fair as possible for photographers, you’d be feeling embarrassed about now…
March 21st, 2010 at 1:15 am
Sorry I misunderstood. All the same, I do not want to be included in the book.
March 21st, 2010 at 1:16 am
congrats to all the winners!
March 21st, 2010 at 2:01 am
the pig should have won.
March 21st, 2010 at 2:06 am
Every image is fantastic! I love having DPS in a shortcut on my desktop and in e-mail notifications. I’ll never live up to the photographic abilities shown here, but I can dream.
March 21st, 2010 at 2:34 am
Thanks to all the judges for the hard work and reviewing almost 2,000 images. Thanks also for making my “Tracks of Life” shot part of the top 10.
Sime: I fully support your book idea. Not everything’s about money. As long as we retain the rights to the photos, I don’t mind seeing my picture in print. Who knows…maybe the right person will see it and decide they want to something more with it.
Thanks again for a great competition. It was a blast!
March 21st, 2010 at 2:50 am
Wow! I am honered to be in the top 10 of almost 2,000! Congrats to the winners!!
) Have fun picking out something new!!
Huge thanks to all the mods DPS, I think you guys do such a great job here
)
March 21st, 2010 at 4:11 am
Congratulations to the 3 pictures chosen to speak life. Congrats to the judges. And many thanks to Sime for holding this all together. I think everyone that contributed to this competition submitted a picture that they felt best represented life as they know it, whether the judges agree or not. Therefore i’m all in favor of a book that compiles the many faces that life has, as seen through the eyes of many, as opposed to just one. That book would truly be a vision of LIFE. Thank you.
March 21st, 2010 at 4:24 am
While acknowledging that the decision is purely subjective, I am not happy with the first image either. As others have mentioned, any other pictures here except it would have been a definitely better choice for the 1st position. It has no apparent emotion to be winning a competition called ‘Life’, where the word itself means so much. Maybe the judges were too much on coffee (or spirit
. Congrats to all the winners, nonetheless.
March 21st, 2010 at 5:03 am
As an avid fan of America’s railroads, I would ask ALL forum members and guests to PLEASE stay off of railroad tracks everywhere. Far too many people are killed each year by moving trains. And the sad thing is that the vast majority of those tragedies are when people venture onto train tracks, not when trains leave the tracks. While the one photo posted in this set of a man walking between the rails is interesting, both he and his equipment were at risk to take this (and no doubt other) photos.
Let’s all make sure that we are using good, common sense at ALL times when out taking photos. No picture is worth risking your life for…
dlm
March 21st, 2010 at 5:04 am
Second photo is really great and creative for this category, I would have voted for it to take 1st place if I were a judge.
March 21st, 2010 at 6:16 am
Thank you very much for awarding my photo the second place:)
I feel honoured to have been chosen out of this multitude of great entries.
Congratulations to the other winners as well!
March 21st, 2010 at 6:46 am
I appreciate your concern about the tracks, Dan. Lighten up. I’m not an imbecile. I could see for 5 miles in both directions. Neither Spartacus nor myself were in any danger at any time. In fact, I’m hyper-vigilant about tracks. Two of my friends are engineers, and each has had the misfortune of being victims of suicide-by-train incidents. I appreciate your concern, but this is not the right forum for soap-boxing.
March 21st, 2010 at 7:01 am
Overall, great choices, but a couple of the top ten escape me. First place is cute and deserves a nod but cannot compare with the emotional power captured in the pig photo or the third place finisher. That pig photo stayed with me for days after first seeing it’s original posting — the mark of a great photo. The other one is the Toyota truck photo. It just says nothing to me, nothing. But as pointed out, judging is subjective so there you go.
March 21st, 2010 at 7:45 am
Hello, I really respect the opinion of the judges, especially because I am such a begginer in photography, but I really don’t like the winner pic at all (sorry!!). I don’t see any art in it! I love second place, and third, I LOVE the pig, love Boscopix’s pic of the girl who is/is not here (very clever!!) and loveeeee mmeangel19′s pic of the belly. Really, can’t get number one, could anyone at least tell me what’s so good about it? Maybe I can learn something I’m just missing here.
Sorry, didn’t mean to be rude.
March 21st, 2010 at 10:17 am
It would be nice to actually view the winning photo. Anywhere. It doesn’t show up above (the other 9 do), and when I did a search & found the entry, it wasn’t there either.
March 21st, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Congrats winners!
March 21st, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Lillian — Showing up fine for me.
March 21st, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Thanks – it is now for me too
March 21st, 2010 at 6:44 pm
The 2nd, 3rd, and last photos really touched me. Excellent entries.
March 21st, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Thanks to DigitalRev.com for the sponsorship and prizes; to dPS,Sime & Co. for the work that they put into the competition; and to the winners, honorable mentions and the rest of the participants for submitting some interesting images. I’m looking forward to whatever next great opportunity that dPS will make available to us.
March 22nd, 2010 at 3:36 am
Wow! I was happy enough to find out that I was shortlisted in the top 77. But to discover that I made it to the top 10 is something else entirely! It’s such an honor!
There were a lot of noteworthy entries in this contest. It’s really an honor to have my work noticed.
Thank you DPS, DigitalRev.com and Sime for this awesome competition. Congratulations to all the participants and of course to all the winners! =D
March 22nd, 2010 at 7:55 am
Congrats to the winners! And all mentioned. We have some serious talent at DPS! Makes me want to kick myself for not participating. I spent the four weeks trying to think of what it was about life I wanted to capture and before I knew it, it was over. Maybe I shouldn’t think so hard. ; )
And to Michealmix, to show humanity is still alive, wonderful winning image, mate!
March 22nd, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Wow! I was happy enough to find out that I was shortlisted in the top 77. But to discover that I made it to the top 10 is something else entirely! It’s such an honor! =)
There were a lot of noteworthy entries in this contest. It’s really an honor to have my work noticed.
Thank you DPS, DigitalRev.com and Sime for this awesome competition. Congratulations to all the participants and of course to all the winners! =D
March 22nd, 2010 at 6:20 pm
It is subjective, probably wouldn’t be my choice out of the top ten but I do see why its appropriate. So Congrats everyone, should let us know what you decided to get in equipment.
As for the book, how much would the book cost? are you talking about the top 10 images in the book or the top 77?
I think its a very nice idea. I understand peoples concern over pay.
Wes
March 26th, 2010 at 5:05 am
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
I really like michaelmix shot for it’s “staredown” composition…baby against the cat, big guy against the lens/photographer. It’s fun and made me smile…it’s great. But am still figuring out the what could be more meaningful relationship of the shot’s concept to the LIFE thym of the contest. It might be because of the “new life” of the “new born” child? I dont think I compete with LIFE itself or at least with all that is around me, thus the “stare down” concept of the shot could mean to me…rather, I live it (LIFE).
Personally, 2nd shot is a winner in ways to me. Its dramatic way of showcasing that in LIFE, no matter how difficult it can be sometimes…that there is always light ahead to look forward to…thus, the child facing towards the light herself. The child being the the focal point facing the light is also meaningful in ways…being the present and the future, and yes, being new still in the LIFE or world that we live in. The composition was also presented artistically.
The 3rd shot rather showcases the existence of a reality of what LIFE is to so many…and it’s spontaneously taken so it’s great. Again, the child being the focal point of the composition plays an inportant role of the LIFE . Quite a journalist style of capturing LIFE there too so it’s good.
Anyways…it is how I looked at it all…my opinion. But am sure the judges had a much more difficult time choosing, hard work! Cheers!!
March 26th, 2010 at 10:51 am
Would really like to see the winner, but it seems to be a broken link…way to go all you naysayers, you scared the winner away!
March 26th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Carrie – this is the winning image.
http://pchelnikov.ru/singlephoto/2010/vasya_003_compet.jpg
Best,
Simon
March 26th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
I absolutely LOVED the first place picture the minute I saw it posted…..well done @michaelmix!!! Very playful and light-hearted…the way LIFE should be lived!!!
March 26th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
I too don’t clearly understand the winning photo, althought it is good and funny. My choice for winner would have been Bigmakoy’s shot. Nothing says LIFE like wrinkles and in those eyes you can see LIFE lived as well as LIFE to be lived!…Great shot Bigmakoy!!
All photos are excellent! Nice job to you all!
March 26th, 2010 at 11:54 pm
I am very glad to see all the winnig photographs really very good photographs I enjoyed very mutch. ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;mahadeolalbarai
April 21st, 2010 at 9:30 am
I adore merzzie’s photograph.
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