Smithsonian.com

Wow! People sure miss a lot when they just look at the photos without reading the comments. Look at the controversy this one photo elicited. That quality alone makes it a winner! But, my goodness, folks, they're just branding those cows - not slaughtering them. Doth thou protest too much?

Amazing photo in many aspects it is, but i do find that it is hard to appreciate as a image recently taken in 2008 and they are being so brutish and old fashioned, maybe the family could invest in a cattle crush, there is less manhandling involved, not to mention a bit quicker too.

I love This photo!!! well done.

Everyone is complaining about the subject matter of the photo. It's people working to make a living, and while it's obvious that it's not exactly pleasant, it's an amazing photo. Perfect contrast. It jumps out at me more than most the other photos that were chosen as finalists.

I absolutely love this picture, truly showing one side of an American family and the bonding they share between one another and the cows themselves! I appreciate them and the hard work they do, they always seem to be criticized at what they do, but you never seem to hear them complain. They just do their job and they love what they do. Truly unsung heroes.

Done some of this, and some of that, in my wonderlust days and think of the years often now that I'm 63yrs.an holdin.

Oh that this younger generation could know the labors of men such as these to produce the everyday things taken for granted. Some would say cruel, but it is a necessary event that is only momentary in pain for all involved. Take heart America and wake up to reality

I give up! What's to like about this picture?

Side splitting funny that there are those who decry this photo as they wear their leather Birkenstocks. But then, I guess they think that leather comes from some chemical lab.

This is life, boys and girls. This photo represents the hard work of providing for the rest of the nation. It ain't pretty, it ain't easy, and it ain't glamorous. But it is real, and gets my vote.

Barbaric, mindless and disgusting. Thanks to the photographer this brutal practice is getting some publicity. ... now, if only abattoirs had walls made of glass.

Wow, I was just thinking how much I like this because it is so Americana. It's a picture taken in the American West of what built the American West. Oh, such brutish behavior, really? Oh, that thou are so much more evolved than the family that still breaks a sweat everyday and is the backbone of what keeps this country fed. Vegan? Fine. Take a moment and think of all the children in this country who are growing because of cow's milk, and no, soy milk protein is not the same. And cruelty elevated to art? Let us not ever filter the subject of art based on the disdain it may invoke in others. And unless you are vegan, step down, the hypocrisy is painful. This is a picture of a family working, and they work with cows, and unless you were raised vegan from start to finish, you owe them a thank you. Either way, step down--the superiority and condescension is far more disdainful than branding a calf.

A rather poor photograph of a group of men brutalizing bound animals? Why was this photograph placed in the "best" group? What sort of person would vote on this photograph as being the best? I think it is very sad that this image was placed in contention with other images of great beauty and inspiration. This photograph should be either placed in a PETA ad displaying man's inhumanity to animals or simply destroyed.

Perhaps the photographic elements could be judged separate from the subject being photographed (as well as what it's being subjected to).

The composition is somewhat interesting in that all of the cowboy-clad humans appear faceless, and are looking away from the tortured suffering they're inflicting.

Other than that, the image seems gratuitous. Unless it is commentary intended to either expand awareness, or invoke strong feelings of misanthropy.

Cruelty elevated to art? Smell the singed flesh? Hear the bawling of the seared calves? Amazing that this brutish behavior evokes wistful, sentimental comments ....