FIRST PLACE -- $100

A classic winter scene -- outdoor skaters on a frozen pond (or, in this case, a frozen bog) captured the top prize in December's 'Tis the Season themed contest. Our judge, professional photographer Melissa Robotti, was fulsome in her praise for this shot:

READ MORE

ADD A COMMENT (22)

Of this photo, judge Peter Southwick of Boston University's photojournalism department said: "A really engaging image that earned the highest ranking because of the creative angle, and the right choice of lens and shutter speed to accentuate the action. The difficult light is handled well, and the subject's expression made it a winner. Everyone who looked at this picture smiled."

"It looks as though this image employed a lot of Photoshop post-production work, but the final result screams MOTION," Peter said. "Creativity was very much in play in the choice of camera angle and the use of slow shutter that accentuated the motion in the light sources while keeping the main subject sharp."

Peter said this photographer employed "a tried and true technique utilizing a slow shutter and zoom during exposure, but it's not easy to do this successfully. Great care has to be given to the coordination of the zoom and shutter, but even more important is the arrangement of elements in the frame so the viewer feels the effect of the motion. This photographer pulled it off very well."

Every time I show your photographs to whatever professional photographer happens to be judging or critiquing in a given month, they look them over and inevitably say, "Wow -- these are really good." Peter Southwick was no different.

READ MORE

ADD A COMMENT (8)

FIRST PLACE -- $100

izzysmama says: "Our cat Tilly. I'm surprised she let me get this close to her; she's not the friendliest cat ever." Camera info: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, focal length 60mm, 1/250, f/6.3, ISO 400.

Of this photo, Globe assistant chief photographer John Blanding, who chose the winners, said: "The eye color is stunning. You could even say the photo is a little scary, but it epitomizes the 'Get Close' theme."

Congratulations to izzysmama for taking home the $100 first prize. The rest of the winners:

READ MORE

ADD A COMMENT (20)

Hundreds of entries and thousands of votes later, you all have made the tough choice of picking the best photo that both fit the theme "My Neighborhood" and was an interesting, well-composed shot. Your choice was "Paesan and his Picciones", a simple black-and-white photo -- and a classic city neighborhood image -- of a man feeding pigeons ("picciones") in the North End.

This first-place honor earns the photographer, mecr22, a $100 American Express gift card. Second Place (and a $50 gift card) goes to mfitzy24 for the haunting "The Friendship After Dark" photo of a ship at anchor in Salem Harbor, and the $25 gift card for Third Place is awarded to kseiffer for her quiet, reflective shot of the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester.

The gallery also contains seven Honorable Mentions to round out the Top Ten. Don't forget that October's contest, with the theme "Get Close", is in full swing; here's how to enter one of your closeups.

The full slate of winners (try out "Full-screen"):

READ MORE

ADD A COMMENT (8)

FIRST PLACE

A cute yet forlorn doggie looking longingly at Revere Beach while sitting next to the sign banning her from joining the fun proved a winner for RAW readers, who voted this photo by photographer Rich Gurska First Place in our August photo contest, which had the theme, "At the beach". The award comes with $100 prize.

What's remarkable about this photo, other than the touching subject and nice composition, is that it was taken with a cell phone camera. Rich writes:

"I was walking my daughter's 12-week-old puppy, named Reina -- a beagle, Boston terrier, Chinese crested powder puff mix. When we approached this break in the wall, she turned and sat down on the cool sand in the shade of the wall. The only camera I had was my Samsung Alias camera phone, so I shot away hoping for the best."

RAW readers thought it was the best of all 238 entries, so congratulations. And now for the rest of the prizes:

READ MORE

ADD A COMMENT (45)