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Día de los Muertos
Las Vegas, Nevada • Photographed August 2010 (Elizabeth Parker)
A chair found in an abandoned building
Roanoke, Virginia • Photographed June 2010 (Chris Jones)
A foggy morning
Sausalito, California • Photographed February 2010 (Jim Patterson)
After sunset
Davenport, California • Photographed April 2009 (Jim Patterson)
Boys playing near Arenal Volcano
Arenal, Costa Rica • Photographed November 2008 (Ashley Cunningham)
Fountain
Rome • Photographed April 2009 (Massimo Strazzeri)
Decomposition
Vinadio, Italy • Photographed October 2009 (Karolos Trivizas)
Creepy crawler
Esbjerg, Denmark • Photographed August 2010
Lotte Pedersen finds photographic inspiration in nature. “I’m fascinated by the ‘big’ small world right outside in my backyard,” she says. “I can go on an adventure just by stepping outside.” Starting with her photo of a red beetle, she overlaid a shot of a concrete wall to create the textured surface of the final image. (Lotte Pedersen)
Storing hay the old-fashioned way
Andover, Connecticut • Photographed June 2010 (Philip Cardamone)
Great White Egret
South Florida • Photographed March 2009
A simple modification such as blacking out a background can yield dramatic results—as is the case with this photo of an egret. “These birds are magnificent animals,” Soto says, “and I have been photographing them since I was 18 years old.” This is the first Altered Images entry to win the Readers’ Choice award. (Antonio Soto)
A sign of the times
Chicago, Illinois • Photographed October 2010 (Ernest Wright)
Cape Royal on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona • Photographed October 2010 (Jeffrey Johnson)
A red building in downtown Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia • Photographed June 2010 (Julia Purcell)
A student miner
Idaho Springs, Colorado • Photographed April 2010 (Kelly Morrill)
The Twisselman family moves over 400 calves to get branded
McKittrick, California • Photographed March 2008 (Micah Albert)
Ocean Beach as the fog creeps in
Ocean Beach, San Francisco • Photographed November 2009 (Navid Baraty)
Mardi Gras on South Street with the Wild Bohemians
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Photographed February 2010 (Michele Frentrop)
Lonely schoolhouse
Schafferstown, Pennsylvania • Photographed July 2010 (Tammi Knorr)
Bronx teenager playing baseball
New York City, New York • Photographed March 2010
“It was dusk and the shadows were long and elongated, and I was captivated by the shadows of the players,” Lucka recalls of the fenced-in Bronx sports court where several teenagers were playing baseball. “There was enough light to get the ball in mid-motion. It’s one of my favorite photographs, to this day.” (Christopher Lucka)
Morning sun illuminating history
Sebastapol, California • Photographed April 2008 (Tahoe Butler)
A fishing pier seal awaiting scraps from the day's catch
Bodega Bay, California • Photographed October 2010 (Ananda Fierro)
The last prayer
Micanopy, Florida • Photographed June 2009 (Charles Littlewood)
Polar bear walking on a snowy day
Fugle Fjord in Svalbard, Norway • Photographed August 2010 (Alessandra Meniconzi)
King of the hill
Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles • Photographed May 2008 (James Kashner)
Mother's love
Banting, Malaysia • Photographed May 2010 (Ho Sung Wee)
Sun sets over Bonsai Rock
Lake Tahoe, Nevada • Photographed November 2009 (Jim Patterson)
Asian elephants in Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai, Thailand • Photographed January 2010 (Miles Tuttle)
A red fox trying to take a nap
Clear Spring, Maryland • Photographed October 2009 (Jennifer Dundus)
Horseshoe crabs spawning in the bay
Delaware Bay, Delaware • Photographed May 2009 (Nick Tucey)
Amber firefly
Fairfield, Iowa • Photographed July 2010
“In the Czech Republic where I grew up, I only saw fireflies a couple of times, deep in the forest,” Schreiber recalls. “When I came to the United States, I was shocked and thrilled to see the abundance of fireflies and their amazing glow. I was happy to encounter this firefly and photograph its magical bioluminescence.” (Radim Schreiber)
Dancer and musician
Budapest, Hungary • Photographed April 2010 (Csaba Meszaros)
Trying to get into the Oslo Opera House
Oslo, Norway • Photographed September 2009 (Christian Wakolbinger)
Indonesian artists make a few final touches before performing
Bhopal, India • Photographed June 2008
Hatvalne, who has worked as a photojournalist for the past two decades, was taken by the dancers’ fastidious preparations before a performance. “I love photographing people,” he says. “I also sometimes photograph landscapes as well, but there is no better landscape than a human face.” (Prakash Hatvalne)
Lost in the grasslands
Inner Mongolia, China • Photographed June 2009 (Hai Yang)
Racing bulls
Padang, Indonesia • Photographed January 2010 (Ho Sung Wee)
Village woman cleaning outside her house
Indore, India • Photographed March 2009 (Nitin Khatri)
Morning commute
Orvieto, Italy • Photographed October 2010 (Lance Burch)
A competitor takes part in the Youth Olympic Games
Singapore • Photographed August 2010 (Stefen Chow)
Kenyan students in school
Ahero, Kenya • Photographed May 2010 (Ryan Duncan)
Shyness
Sylhet, Bangladesh • Photographed October 2008
Islam, who is president of his hometown photographic society, encountered this young girl in a tea garden. “It was evening when I saw her waiting for her mother to bring back fresh drinking water,” he recalls. “The eyes, the solemn look, the shyness of the girl compelled me to take this photo.” (Fakrul Islam)
Beauty of Mrauk Oo City
Mrauk Oo, Myanmar • Photographed January 2009 (Kyaw Kyaw Winn)
Prayer flags in the Himalayas
Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal • Photographed May 2008 (João Paulo Barbosa)
Dali villagers using cormorants to help them catch fish
Yunnan, China • Photographed October 2009 (HaiYang)
Women coming home at sunset
Phan Rang City, Vietnam • Photographed October 2009 (Le Thai Son)
Returning home from the field
Mandalay, Myanmar • Photographed July 2010 (Myint Aung)
Muslim women entering a museum
Alexandria, Egypt • Photographed December 2009 (Peggy Abrams)
Before a serious rain shower
New Delhi, India • Photographed April 2008 (Olivier Boëls)
Decisive moment
Florence, Italy • Photographed March 2009 (Regina Orlando )
People taking a bath during a local religious fair
Kurukshetra, India • Photographed August 2008
“The whole atmosphere was very lively,” Chaudhary says of the solar eclipse festival where he took this image. “There was so much to shoot: water, reflections, pilgrims, sadhus. I couldn’t resist. As a travel photographer I am able to capture a whole story in one frame, making the viewer feel the place.” (Poras Chaudhary)
Winter morning
Mandalay, Myanmar • Photographed November 2008 (Kyaw Kyaw Winn)
8th Annual Photo Contest Winners and Finalists
See the winning photos from our 2010 contest
smithsonianmag.com
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