Dear all
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Firstly, I must apologise for taking a long time to judge this first competition of the year. Although the quality of entries was extremely high I can not claim indecision as my reason. With the PMA show in Las Vegas and the production of our Informer show news newspaper (free with 1 March issue) I have been somewhat snowed under. However, wait no longer, as I have been through the images again and have selected the winners.
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The prize has changed slightly, as the Nikon S200 is no longer a current model. We now have the S210 still in red so now youll have a few more pixels to play with (8 million instead of 7.1 million!) See more detail here
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Happily the AP mugs are still in production so they will be as advertised!
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Thank you to all that entered. I realise the theme was not especially easy, but to stretch your imaginations I think themes should be challenging. The results speak for themselves. From the entire entry I made a short list of nine first class images, from which I made a secondary selection of six before I could whittle it down to the three I needed.
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As has been noted in the comments section, not all the entries maintained the link with their photographic interests and some suffered as a result. Gizmo2071 put in a great picture, but the lack of photographic reference has cost him a place. Great shot though Gizmo.
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The finalists then are:
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3rd place: datawise
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Third place goes to datawise for this excellent shot. Submitted early on, it set quite a standard. The colours are powerful and the picture is full of atmosphere. I love the composition and his ghostly appearance at the rail.
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2nd place: HotBlack
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The second prize goes to HotBlack. I love this shot, as well as the variations it hatched in the comments area! The shot is so naturally lit and taken that the whole emphasis is on what he is doing and its a clever idea too.
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1st place: Willjhatton
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The winner though this month is Willjhatton. This is a simple shot that has turned out really well. I like the composition, so it hardly matters whether the blank space at the top of the frame was intentional or not. The diagonal arm and the half-lit face balance nicely. This has to be the first time I have seen anyone lighting themselves with a flash reflected off a thumb! Great idea, well taken and nicely toned in monochrome.
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Conclusion:</p>
So thanks again to everyone that entered. I have really enjoyed this round and putting faces to names has added to the fun. Except in the case of Bill Will of course though he did help me lose a few pounds that day!
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Damien Demolder</p>
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Great choices, and congrats to the winners. 
