Here are the honorable mentions in no particular order.
Alive and Dead: I loved the HDR tones of this image - just enough to give it that HDR surrealism but not so much as to be completely over the top. I also can't help but wonder what the horse is looking at. Does she see something that we can't? What is floating above the gravestones, visible to her eye but not to ours?
Ancient and Modern: My eyes kept going back and forth from the red door to the bike to the door to the bike, creating a tension between the opposites. I also liked how the door was illuminated and the bike was in shadow. Great shot!
The Rich and the Poor: This image made me cry. It sickens me that we live in a world where poverty and wealth live side by side, and this photo suggests that this person is pretty much invisible to the wealthy who will simply walk on by and continue on with their day.
Now for the winners:
THIRD PLACE:
Mother and Son;
Happy and Fear;
Smile and Tear;
Intimate and Escape;
In dress and Bare
This was a fantastic photo. The expressions were incredible, and the dof made the mother and son radiate from the background. I loved her expression which seemed to say, "I don't care how much you cry. You are mine, and I will always love you." I thought this was a beautiful photo.
SECOND PLACE:
Fragile and Strong
This blew me away. I needed to look at this in the original size because the dof is awesome. The arm and the chicks are perfectly in focus, emphasising the differences of strength and fragility, yet the man's chest is slightly out of focus, suggesting that the strong also has a soft side as well. I really loved this photograph.
FIRST PLACE:
A phone in the middle of nowhere. Rural/ modern...city/ country...natural/ unnatural
Whatever her theme was, I kept going back to this picture. The colors were phenomenal, the placement of the phone in relation to the scenery was perfect, and I felt the tension between the phone and its setting. The phone seems to belong yet not belong all at the same time, and as much as the country might want the phone out of its presence, it seems to envelop the phone and welcome it into its surroundings. Great shot, Yulia. The next contest is all yours!!!!!
