“The winning image is one that snuck up on me. It is not an image that wows upon first viewing, but I love how it grows on you. There is a quiet quality to the image. I like the subtleties of the body language, the color palate and the emphasis on the blue sky. Both of the runners-up images are extremely graphic images. I especially like the broken shadow image. In the end, though, I am won over by the humanity of the two people on the hay bales. The winning image hints to a current trend in photography that depersonalizes photographic subjects but this image is much more successful than many of the “trend-follower’s” because it makes me feel the expansiveness of the sky and most importantly it allows me to connect with how the subjects are feeling in that environment. Well done!”