I'm very happy to letting know you that we have 4 winners!
Yes, 4, because there are 2 second place.

First of all, thanks to all the 331 participants.
You really made the judges go crazy, since all of your works were good and therefore it took us quite a while to make a decision.

But I don't want play more with your patience, so... here we go!

O U R W I N N E R S


*First place

=alexa-k with Photography with soul

1) Tell us about you, =alexa-k: how old you are, your occupation, your hobbies and where you are from.
I'm from Bacau-Romania, I'm almost 19 years old, and this autumn I'm going to college, to study photography and as you can see this is my biggest hobby!
2) How long have you been dealing with photography and what kind of relationship do you have with it?
Mmm...I don't remember exactly but I love photography
3) What's your favourite photography style and why?
My favorite photography style is nature, despite the fact I don't take many shots, but I promise I'm gonna do this when I'll have in my hands my new Nikon D300 and I also like black&white's becausese they can give you a great and special feeling!
4) How did you come up with the idea of taking the picture that made you win the contest?
The picture was taken before, and when I read Amersill's journal I knew that it will fit there.
5) Was it difficult to represent your idea? How long did it take and what resources did you use?
As I said before, the picture was taken before and it was purely an spontaneous and experimental idea.
6) Can you please point out two of your best works and two of the best photos you have seen on DeviantArt?
Public's favorite: Where my heart's at and my favorite The girl with no soul. dA favs: by ~Mordsitha and by =Amersill
7) Three DeviantArtists you regard highly because of their works.
*yv and Crina, =mamazmeilor, she is from Romania too
8) If you had been a judge, who do you think should have won (please specify first, second and third placement)?
3rd:
2nd:
1st:
9) Do you want to say anything you'd like to be included in the article in which you'll be declared one of the winners?
Thanks all for the votes, winning such a contest means very much for me


___________________
*Second place

=Nerugla with Spread it out

1) Tell us about you, =Nerugla: how old you are, your occupation, your hobbies and where you are from.
I am 20 years old and i live in Stockholm Sweden. I studdy at the moment at the royal institute of technology in Stockholm and when i have spare time i phorograph as much as i can.
2) How long have you been dealing with photography and what kind of relationship do you have with it?
2 years ago i got a compact camera which i ran around and took some "unserious" photos with. One year later after my time in the military was over, i bought a D80 and thats about a year ago now. So i have been into photo for about 2 years.. but could get serious about a year ago when my DSLR arrived.
3) What's your favourite photography style and why?
Landscape, waterscapes.. all kind of nature, even animals. I love to be out in the wild and i love a beautiful sunset. I really like walking around on open fields or in the woods with my camera and just perpetuate the beautiful sights.
4) How did you come up with the idea of taking the picture that made you win the contest?
I read about the method in a magazine. The method to photograph smoke. I tried it out, first i didnt have a flash but i borrowed one from my friend and so it began. I started to experiment with the flash (first time i have ever used a flash) and i realized that it was both simple and very effective. I learned a whole new part of my camera and i'm really greatful for that article that made me experiment with smoke.
5) Was it difficult to represent your idea? How long did it take and what resources did you use?
Watch 4. and i used D80 with a 18-135 lens and an old flash.. really old. Cant even remember the name of it. Just a black background and some incense.
6) Can you please point out two of your best works and two of the best photos you have seen on DeviantArt?
I would say Along the watchtower and Old.
7) Three DeviantArtists you regard highly because of their works.
*pheelfresh, =jjuuhhaa and *wingmar
8) If you had been a judge, who do you think should have won (please specify first, second and third placement)?
First:
Second:
Third:
9) Do you want to say anything you'd like to be included in the article in which you'll be declared one of the winners?
Thank you!


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*Second place

~pfveneroso with Orage dans une tasse de the

1) Tell us about you, ~pfveneroso: how old you are, your occupation, your hobbies and where you are from.
20 years old; from brazil, but really interested on living in bruxelles; currently living in belo horizonte; working mainly with design and video; studying visual arts at ufmg – federal university of minas gerais; interested in experiments, locative media, technologies, programming applied to arts, animation, video, arts; software and hardware development; possibilities of photography and its interaction with other media; intermedia; music; generative art; video; mathematics; electronics; circuit bending; physics; linguistics; […]
2) How long have you been dealing with photography and what kind of relationship do you have with it?
I started working with photography two years ago, when i bought my canon eos 20d. the first two months were entirely dedicated to experimenting with my new equipment [to discover its possibilities] and to studying photography deeply [35mm and digital]. in no time i got interested in taking the photographic equipment beyond the limits i knew so far, thus always increasing the gamut of technical and conceptual possibilities i used to work with. it is always a challenge to imagine something complex and surreal and try to create it.
3) What's your favourite photography style and why?
Each photograph demands a specific style; i just try to always experiment new techniques and possibilities. sometimes concepts interest me more than the technique, sometimes i find that the technique is more important than the concept; each subject asks for its own style; it just depends on what is to be said. for each context it is important to decide how to produce the most interesting image. i tend to prefer the usage of multiple styles, both for the photographs i produce and the ones i see.
4) How did you come up with the idea of taking the picture that made you win the contest?
'Orage dans une tasse de thé' was created as an experiment of a technique that i started to use two years ago to produce graphical/conceptual compositions related to surrealist procedures. the idea originated from a brazilian expression that could be literally translated as "to make a storm in a glass of water"; i just decided to associate a cup of tea [pacific image; and my favorite drink which i find very reinvigorating] with a storm to power this dichotomy that takes place on the relation calm/agitated'. this whole idea was one specific phase of the whole process of experimentation of techniques; at the same day i took orage dans une tasse de thé i took more than one hundred photographs dealing with similar issues (concept and technique).
5) Was it difficult to represent your idea? How long did it take and what resources did you use?
As I stated before, Orage was part of a bigger process. it was not difficult to take this specific photograph, but the whole process that resulted in orage took more than two months. i only used my canon eos 20d and a lantern to take this photograph. no post-processing involved. as for the idea, i don't think it is very complex [the interest for me on this particular image is the strongness of the conceptual simplicity; and the possibilities of the technique itself, that allows the interaction between drawings and objects], so it did not demand much effort to create an image that represented the idea, but to create the precise image i intended in the first place.
6) Can you please point out two of your best works and two of the best photos you have seen on DeviantArt?
Most of my photographs are not yet uploaded to deviantart. this will happen soon. Vider bleu is an experimental photograph taken with the same technique used to create orage; and schw cabinet suitcase i was part of a series of photographs in which i drew over the naked body of a woman to create the inventory of a collection we have decided to call [schw kabinet].
The best photos I have seen so far are Circus incident by *side-of-orange, and Flutter by *lauren-rabbit; the first one because the atmosphere was nicely created by the employment of interesting techniques, and the second due to the employment of a simple experimental process to produce an expressive surreal photograph.
7) Three DeviantArtists you regard highly because of their works.
I am new to deviantart, so i have not yet been able to see many deviantartits. so far i think *lauren-rabbit is one of my favourites, due to his highly expressive style and concepts. two other deviantartists I always check are *side-of-orange [for the same reason i am interested on *lauren-rabbit] and ~sophisdecay [whose photographs are quite simple, but humorous at the same time].
8) If you had been a judge, who do you think should have won (please specify first, second and third placement)?
1st place; both concept and technique increase the expressiveness of this photograph. due to this nice interaction I would have selected the following image as the first place

2nd place, for the use of unusual procedures to produce the final image and the interaction between manual and technical issues.

3rd place; even if this is not a photograph that deals with technical experimentation itself, the way the idea was reproduced is quite interesting; a nice visual poetry.

9) Do you want to say anything you'd like to be included in the article in which you'll be declared one of the winners?
-


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*Third place

=alireza1 with Thirst For Life

1) Tell us about you, =alireza1: how old you are, your occupation, your hobbies and where you are from.
I’m 34 from Vancouver BC. Currently I’m working as consultant engineer. About my hobbies…obviously photography is one of them! Besides, I like travelling and adventure!
2) How long have you been dealing with photography and what kind of relationship do you have with it?
Photography was one of my interests since I was a teenager and this enthusiasm was growing during the time. Comparing to those times of film camera, nowadays with digital stuff there are a lot of opportunities to explore this type of visual art and experience different styles.
3) What's your favourite photography style and why?
I personally like abstract, conceptual, photojournalism and macro. But I’d say abstract and conceptual are on top of my list! These styles provide a path for viewers to observe and think about details in vicinities more meticulously. But I’m still trying to explore various styles and learning more experiences.
4) How did you come up with the idea of taking the picture that made you win the contest?
I was seeing a lot of droplet pictures from great photographers and the idea came up in my mind when I received a banner related to African children. And thought having that as a reflection in a droplet could bring more concept into it!
5) Was it difficult to represent your idea? How long did it take and what resources did you use?
I have to say it was my most challenging shot I’ve ever taken. Eventually when I got the proper gadgets, I spent hours and more than 400 continuous shots to take this one. As I didn’t have proper flash gun, there was no choice but to use the camera built-in flash. I stuck clear tape on the flash to disperse the light and prevent sharp reflection from the printed banner itself. Although later on I had to use a transparent print to minimize this flaw. I tried different combinations of focal length and close-up filters. But finally, two close-up filters of +2 and +4 combined were used for this capture with the focal length of 55mm to reduce the distance between camera and the droplet and also have a blurry background. Since the DOF was extremely shallow I had to set F-stop to 32 to partially compensate of depth of field. Imagine with one hand I was keeping dropper, with the other hand keeping the remote control and at the same time looking at the viewfinder to make sure the subject is in the focus!
6) Can you please point out two of your best works and two of the best photos you have seen on DeviantArt?
Besides “Thirst for Life” I would definitely say Set me free. And two of best photos I’ve seen in DA, Source and Balance
7) Three DeviantArtists you regard highly because of their works.
`gilad, =ninazdesign, `larafairie, also I should mention =RichAllen for his wonderful tutorials on macro photography of droplets.
8) If you had been a judge, who do you think should have won (please specify first, second and third placement)?
first
second
third
9) Do you want to say anything you'd like to be included in the article in which you'll be declared one of the winners?
I would like to thank DA for providing a cool environment for art appreciators to share their ideas and experiences. Also a special and warm thank you goes to jury members for choosing my work as one of the winners and managing this contest. It’s truly appreciated.


_________________________
From my side, THANK YOU one more time.

Here you can find all the entries:
I part
II part
III part
IV part
V part






And thanks who has offered these:

P R I Z E S

First place
3 months of subscription offered by =Amersill
Article with feature.
A wallpaper made by ~DecemberInstinct
Feature in =Amersill's journal.
Feature in *BeautifulFotography's journal.
Feature in ~Beautiful-Photos's journal.
Feature in *Care-Club's journal.
Feature in =Cityscapes-Club's shoutboard:
Feature in *Close-Ups's journal.
Feature in =DandiBooks315's journal.
Feature in =evalovinlucy's journal.
Feature in *Ex-po-zure's journal.
Feature in *flower-lovers's journal.
Feature in *iLovePhotographyClub's journal.
Feature in *Insect-Lovers-Club's journal.
Feature in ~katt-25's journal:
Feature in *night-shots's journal.
Feature in =Nikonist's journal.
Feature in ^Obsidian-Fox's journal.
Feature in *Photo4People's journal.
Feature in =Pinkest-Princess's journal.
Feature in *ProjectEarth's journal.
Feature in *SkyAndNatureClub's journal.
Feature in ~stamps-club's journal.
Feature in *Unframed-Nature's journal.
Feature in *ViOLeTjaniS's journal.
Feature in =waterscapes-club's journal.

Second place
1 month of subscription offered by =Amersill
Article with feature.
A wallpaper made by ~DecemberInstinct
Feature in =Amersill's journal.
Feature in *BeautifulFotography's journal.
Feature in ~Beautiful-Photos's journal.
Feature in *Care-Club's journal.
Feature in =Cityscapes-Club's shoutboard:
Feature in *Close-Ups's journal.
Feature in =DandiBooks315's journal.
Feature in =evalovinlucy's journal.
Feature in *Ex-po-zure's journal.
Feature in *flower-lovers's journal.
Feature in *iLovePhotographyClub's journal.
Feature in *Insect-Lovers-Club's journal.
Feature in ~katt-25's journal:
Feature in *night-shots's journal.
Feature in =Nikonist's journal.
Feature in ^Obsidian-Fox's journal.
Feature in *Photo4People's journal.
Feature in =Pinkest-Princess's journal.
Feature in *ProjectEarth's journal.
Feature in *SkyAndNatureClub's journal.
Feature in ~stamps-club's journal.
Feature in *Unframed-Nature's journal.
Feature in *ViOLeTjaniS's journal.
Feature in =waterscapes-club's journal.

Third place
Article with feature.
A wallpaper made by ~DecemberInstinct
Feature in =Amersill's journal.
Feature in *BeautifulFotography's journal.
Feature in ~Beautiful-Photos's journal.
Feature in *Care-Club's journal.
Feature in =Cityscapes-Club's shoutboard:
Feature in *Close-Ups's journal.
Feature in =DandiBooks315's journal.
Feature in =evalovinlucy's journal.
Feature in *Ex-po-zure's journal.
Feature in *flower-lovers's journal.
Feature in *iLovePhotographyClub's journal.
Feature in *Insect-Lovers-Club's journal.
Feature in ~katt-25's journal:
Feature in *night-shots's journal.
Feature in =Nikonist's journal.
Feature in ^Obsidian-Fox's journal.
Feature in *Photo4People's journal.
Feature in =Pinkest-Princess's journal.
Feature in *ProjectEarth's journal.
Feature in *SkyAndNatureClub's journal.
Feature in ~stamps-club's journal.
Feature in *Unframed-Nature's journal.
Feature in *ViOLeTjaniS's journal.
Feature in =waterscapes-club's journal.


In the end, here are some other works that judges think are noteworthy:













______________________
=Amersill aka Valentina