We're about to celebrate our one-year anniversary here at RAW, and we're thrilled with the success of the site -- and how so many of you have jumped in to participate, share your photos and tips, and make RAW what it is today.

When the Globe’s prize-winning sports photographer Jim Davis evaluated the 25 finalists in June’s Spring Sports contest to choose the Top 10, he hoped to find – or, in some cases, not find – several elements.

The Globe's Jim Davis made his final selections in the Spring Sports contest last evening, and I'm assembling them now. Stay tuned for the winners.

Connie Drapeau Kennedy, a RAW regular, sent us an e-mail about the Second Annual Worldwide Photo Walk being held this Saturday, July 18, in hundreds of places around the globe. She's hosting a walk in Marshfield, but there are 13 other walks in Massachusetts alone.

The walks are social events where photographers get together, usually in a downtown area or trendy section of town, to walk around, shoot photos, and generally have fun with other photographers. They last about two hours, and Connie says they're fun, free and it doesn't matter whether you're a beginner, serious amateur, or professional. All you have to do is sign up, using the event's web site, then show up.

By John Gavin
Newburyport

I discovered my passion for photography by accident - or should I say because of an accident.

It's summer, so I'm looking for water shots. But not just any water shots; let's get water moving, gurgling, splashing, spraying, and yes, rippling. In other words, water in motion. As usual, we're looking for creativity and good composition; we'll also look favorably on the effective use of light on water, but it's not a requirement.

NOTE: We're changing our tagging system. Usually to enter our contests you tag your photos with Boston.com contest month. We're altering that in two ways:

1) Instead of just the month, make your third tag the month and year. So instead of one tag being just July, it should be July2009 (no space).

2) We're adding a fourth tag to help the search results even more: The theme. This month, your fourth tag will be Ripples.

So this month, tag your photos with these four tags:
     Boston.com
     contest
     July2009
     Ripples

Remember, one entry per photographer. The deadline is midnight July 31. Here's more about how to enter.

By Pat Greenhouse
Globe Staff

In judging the May Flowers contest, I had to whittle 287 images down to 50 and then select a top 10. The top 30, those that immediately impressed me, revealed themselves in the first cut. The standouts made good use of natural and artificial light, perspective, composition, mood, and a bit of whimsy. The top 10 came from this group.