The September 'Jobs' contest winners

There was a nice variety among the "Jobs" contest entries this month -- a variety that made judge Glen Cooper's job challenging. Nonetheless, he reviewed his 25 choices and your votes and came up with the best 10 pictures.

FIRST PLACE - $100

Glen's comments: "Unconventional, graphic, interesting and it had great composition. This is a photo that you look at again and again. It is timeless. The colors were wonderful and simple (green field, red shirt). I like the high angle and the use of negative space (which is important to give it a sense of place). The curve of the hose contains the field, the pattern of the mowed grass leads right to the hose, and the man spraying the field in the top right is in the perfect place for the main subject. Just a nice moment, a nice composition, and an all-around solid effort."




SECOND PLACE - $50

Glen's comments: "Straightforward, simple, and very compelling. It says it all with nothing in the potentially busy background distracting the viewer from the main subject. This is a great environmental portrait - what other professional baseball stadium sells New England clam chowder? Maybe a bit too heavy on the sharpening/contrast/saturation. The shirt color, along with the shallow depth of field, pops the subject from the background just enough to give it an obvious sense of place."




THIRD PLACE - $25

Glen's comments: "This is hard, tough work, especially on days like this after a crippling ice storm, and the photo shows it. The backlight really makes the man in the cherry picker pop out amongst the tangle of ice-laden branches. The second worker on the ground anchors the tandem as they perform their job. This looks like early morning or late afternoon light, which is just wonderful. I personally might have cropped out - in the camera, of course (move those feet) - the bottom right dark shadow area a bit more. This was a photo worth 'working' a bit to see what else might be there visually, but overall, it's just an interesting and beautifully seen photo."


Here's a full-screen gallery of all 10 winners.

Don't forget to enter our October contest with the theme "Pink", open now.