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Smithsonian 10th Annual Photo Contest Finalists: Americana

Check out the 10 finalists in the Americana category

Workers in cowboy hats try to wrangle a horse during Miles City’s annual bucking horse sale. Wallpaper Download: Desktop | iPad. Photo by George Burgin (Billings, Montana). Photographed in Miles City, Montana, May 2012
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This image, captured using a 4x5 Shen-Hao field camera, is part of a larger series that recognizes the importance of the American Dream, California small towns and the photographer’s interest in past history. Wallpaper Download: Desktop | iPad. Photo by David Egan (San Francisco, California). Photographed in Petaluma, California, September 1, 2011.
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This image captures the well-known spokesman for underwear company Fruit of the Loom taking a break during his own photo shoot. “I liked the very American and friendly image of the Apple Guy juxtaposed against a vast desert, creating the allusion of a stop on a long journey,” says Henderson, who used a Canon 5D Mark III. Wallpaper Download: Desktop | iPad. Photo by Ron Henderson (Dallas, Texas). Photographed in the Dumont Dunes, California, May 2011.
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This billboard bearing the American flag caught the photographer’s eye during a Thanksgiving visit to the Big Apple. Using a Nikon D200, Vandezande waited for an adjacent traffic light to change four times before he could successfully capture the light of the billboard reflecting off the moving cars below. Wallpaper Download: Desktop | iPad. Photo by Doug Van de Zande (Raleigh, NC). Photographed in New York City, November 1, 2012.
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During his first visit to New York, the photographer was surprised by the quaintness of the East Village, where he snapped this photo of a busy barbershop using a Nikon D300. “It wasn't until I was cropping the photo that I thought it looked like it could have been paintings by Edward Hopper and Norman Rockwell joined to each other,” Hicks says. Wallpaper Download: Desktop | iPad. Photo by Winston Hicks (Austin, Texas). Photographed in the East Village, New York City, September 23, 2011.
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A man stands in the misty streets of Chicago, known for its jazz and blues scene. Wallpaper Download: Desktop | iPad. Photo by Javier Arcenillas (Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain); Photographed in Chicago, Illinois, October 2010.
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The photographer lives and works on her family farm, where she captured this photo of her nephew helping his grandfather clean out the last of the corn from the previous summer’s grain bins using her Sony DSC-HX9V. Wallpaper Download: Desktop | iPad. Photo by Jenny Braun (Hampton, Minnesota). Photographed in Hampton, Minnesota, July 2012.
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A thick layer of dust covers this abandoned kitchen in Bodie, California, captured with a Nikon D200. “The compelling part of the photo for me was the normalcy of the setting contrasted with the obvious time that has lapsed,” says the photographer. “It is important to me because I love to find beauty in age, and I found it that day.” Wallpaper Download: Desktop | iPad. Photo by Cleat Walters, III (Charlotte, NC). Photographed in Bodie, CA, June 2012.
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The photographer first stumbled upon this snow cone stand, which are as common in Texas as hot dog stands are in New York, several years ago. He captured the stand against the backdrop of dusk using a Canon 5D Mark II on a tripod. Wallpaper Download: Desktop | iPad. Photo by Kelly Berry (Murphy, Texas). Photographed in McKinney, Texas, May 2012.
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The photographer and his mother took a road trip to the Ham Orchards, known for its fresh peaches, fried pies and towering cones of peach ice cream. This photo, taken with a Canon 5D Mark III, shows Henderson’s son trying to catch melting droplets of ice cream as they drip down his fingers in the hot Texas sun. Wallpaper Download: Desktop | iPad. Photo by Ron Henderson (Dallas, TX). Photographed in Terrel, TX, July 2011.
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