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Travel Photo Contest 2012 winners There were majestic peaks mirrored in mountain lakes, storm clouds brewing over wind-whipped oceans, the cobblestoned streets of European cities and the dusty lanes of Asian and African villages. In the end, the1,400 entries were culled to four winners, 11 finalists and many more honorable mentions
Winner: Judy Bondeman, Washington
The public interest attorney and retired professor, 68, was at a rooftop party in Havana in February when the host surprised his guests by releasing some homing pigeons from their cage. Bonderman grabbed her camera to capture the birds “flying in front of the sinking sun” and snapped a shot just as one white dove came in for a landing. It was “a magical vision framed by the crumbling city scape of the Cuban capital,” she said, “amost unexpected shot from a trip filled with spontaneous poetic moments.” Our favorite kind of travel.
Judy Bonderman
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2nd place: Barbara French Pace, Washington
The colorful flash of a kayak against the dark water of Antarctica’s Paradise Bay caught Pace’s attention as she stood on the deck of her cruise ship in February, trying for that one shot “that would sum up the many days of beauty that I felt privileged to have experienced.” The retired foreign affairs professional, 69, who’s now a landscape painter, was struck by “the sense that two people had stopped paddling to sit back and marvel at the incredible beauty around them in this remote place on a perfect day.”
Barbara French Pace
3rd place: Rebecca Olson, Point Reyes Station, Calif.
It was a rainy April day in Rome when Olson, a 30-year-old student and innkeeper, shot this scene of vivid umbrellas moving through the Colosseum with her iPhone, using the Hipstamatic application. “I wanted to remember their bright colors in contrast to the somber Colosseum,”she said.
Rebecca Olson
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Rebecca Olson
4th place: Meredith McCormack, Washington
“I liked the contrasting colors and clean line of the sand dune as it framed the subject reaching toward the sky,” McCormack, a 27-year-old U.S. government contractor, said of her striking shot, taken in April at the Erg Chebbi sand dunes near Merzouga, Morocco. We liked the same things.
Meredith McCormack
Finalist: Eric Baker, Columbia
Baker was in St. Joseph, Mich., last September when a fall storm blew across Lake Michigan. As the late afternoon sun broke through the clouds to illuminate the old Coast Guard walkway to the lighthouse, the 51-year-old health administrator took his stunning shot.
Eric Baker
Finalist: Martha Embrey, Arlington
Embrey, 51, and her husband were backpacking in the Spanish Pyrenees last September when they crossed a Roman stone bridge over the Rio Ara and “paused to look longingly at the cool water.” With the sun directly overhead, Embrey, a public health professional, “noticed how nicely our shadows combined with the reflection off the rocks at the bottom of the shallow river. I snapped a couple of shots before we hurried off to lunch.”
Martha Embrey
Finalist: Dan Mangan, Carroll Valley, Pa.
“My first reaction was that the road looked like ribbon candy,” the 66-year-old retiree said of coming upon this scene while driving through Nevada’s Valley of Fire State Park in January. “I was struck by the geometry and curvature of the roadway within the framework of the amazing sandstone formations.” So were we.
Dan Mangan
Finalist: Evelyn Brooke, Bel Alton, Md.
On a religious studies tour through the Himalayas with her college in June, the 20-year-old rising senior snapped this shot of a woman in her home in an Indian village. “I thought it would be great to have a photo of her in her environment,”said Brooke, “and the dog being there, too, was an extra stroke of luck.”
Evelyn Brooke
Finalist: Chris Blackshear, Washington and Durango, Colo.
Blackshear and his wife, Elaine, and dog, Luna, arrived at the seashore in Bandon, Ore., around dawn one day last September, just as the tide was going out, “leaving a beautiful reflective sheen of water on the beach.” As his wife and dog romped in front of the iconic sea stacks in the background, the 55-year-old retiree snapped the “fabulous scene” of sky blending seamlessly with sea.
Chris Blackshear
Editor’s Pick: Rosemary Claire Smith, Falls Church area
The retired attorney, 56, was touring Seymour Island in the Galapagos last August, toward the end of blue-footed booby mating season, when she spied this little fellow still showing off his best moves to a prospective mate. We don’t know about the object of his ardor, but we were so impressed, we made him our Editor’s Pick.
Rosemary Claire Smith
Finalist: Maura O'Brien, Washington
"While traveling in Bosnia-Herzegovina with my great friend Katherine, we stumbled upon the annual diving competition at Mostar's beautiful Old Bridge, or Stari Most," says O'Brien. "I wanted this photo -- of the flares celebrating the beginning of the diving competition -- to capture the resilience, wonder and joy that we witnessed in Mostar."
Maura O'Brien
Finalist: Calvin Guyer, Rochester, Minn.
At Cameron Lake in Alberta, Canada, "The canoe at the dock draws your view off into the distance to the white capped mountains. The waves on the lake and the clouds over the mountains give a sense for how cold this late June day really was."
Calvin Guyer
Finalist: Alexander Tsao, Brambleton, Va.
"While Venice is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, it is also one of the most clichéd cities in terms of photography. It was a challenge to find a fresh take at Venice. In this picture, it was simply the decisive moment of the sun and the gondola being perfectly aligned from a dynamic angle that creates the magic of this composition," Tsao said.
Alexander Tsao
Finalist: Steven Silverman, Ijamsville, Md.
Says Silverman of his trip to Yellowstone National Park, "The entire trip was heavily overcast and for just a brief few minutes the clouds parted and the sun illuminated the valley. I loved how the clouds and snow interacted with the sun star (I deliberately shot at f22 to create the star) and how the shadows on the hill contrasted all the brightness."
Steven Silverman
Finalist: Moutaz Kotrob, San Francisco
In Manila, Philippines, Kotrob was moved by the children "living above stagnant water but still having a sense of curiosity to the outside world."
Moutaz Kotrob
Angel LaCanfora
"I was up early, about 5:30 a.m., and braved the 12-degree temperatures to catch what I had thought would be a nice sunrise," LaCanfora said of her shot of Big Bear Lake, Calif. " It surpassed my expectations."
Angel LaCanfora
Raghu Amaravadi
Amaravadi snapped this photo of Schwabacher Landing at sunrise in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park.
Raghu Amaravadi
Sam Hess
Mount Katahdin looms above bright fall foliage in Hess's photo, taken from Abol Bridge in Millinocket, Maine.
Sam Hess
Brian Huseman
"I was taking a a picture of the boy in the foreground and loved the mountains and plain behind him. All of a sudden, his younger brother popped up in the background, yelling something at his brother," Huseman said of his picture taken in Samburu village, Kenya. "I think it perfectly captures the dynamic of these brothers and tells us that boys are boys, no matter where they live."
Brian Huseman
Anzia Rae Mayer
Mayer snapped this photo in her favorite place in Kyoto, the bamboo grove in Arashiyama. "I can feel the bamboo looming above me, alive, shadowy, enchanting -- knocking in the wind."
Anzia Rae Mayer
D. Angel Medura
A black-and-white shot of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
D. Angel Medura
Lonker captured an image of the Tetrapylon in the ancient Roman ruins of Jerash, Jordan.
Steven Lonker
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Steven Lonker
Ira Robbins snapped a reflective image of the medieval cistern in Marvao, Portugal.
Ira Robbins
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Ira Robbins
A portrait from Lake Niassa, Mozambique.
Rebecca J. Vander Meulen
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Rebecca J. Vander Meulen
A cloudy sky above Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina's Los Glacieres National Park.
Frank Binder
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Frank Binder
Crouch captured a stunning shot of Niagara Falls at night.
Elena Crouch
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Elena Crouch
Flying over Lake Powell, Ariz.
Brigid Shaw
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Brigid Shaw
Digging for mollusks.
Lucy Chien
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Lucy Chien
The sweeping landscape of China's Xinjiang Province.
Edward Zhao
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Edward Zhao
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