My high school friend,
Margie has given me a magazine subscription to the Smithsonian Magazine and
what great reading. I also found this Photo contest that you readers of this
blog should be sending images to. If interested e-mail me and I will send you
all information needed to compete in the contest. Fair prizes and I think with
your talent, you can blow these image makers away. This is some of the possible winners for 2013. This image was the grand prize winner for 2012.
and 1/2 are very good images, but is this the best of the best, these next images are in the running for images chosen for 2013, we are talking about the SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE,
our nation's greatest collection of the arts, the sciences, and industry our
country owns. I am convinced most of these images are amateurs. One quick give away to tell, all the images are horizontal 3x4 pichers that exactly fit the digital camera screen. There is no cropping. OK picher taker fill up that rectangle, don't think about a vertical, I can't imagine a panoramic image being used. Last years winner shows great composition. A great use of the theory of thirds. I love the terrific use of colors.
Smithsonian Magazine’s 10th Annual
Photo Contest has just announced the 50 finalists for this year’s
competition. The contest received over 37,600 photo submissions from
photographers in 112 countries around the world.
The Smithsonian will be awarding eight
prizes:
Grand Prize: $2,500
Category Winners: The winners of each of the five categories will receive $500
Readers’ Choice: The winner of the online Readers’ Choice award will receive
$500
Mobile: The best photo in any of the five categories that was taken with a
mobile device will receive $500.
The five contest categories this year
include: The American Experience — Events, objects or activities connecting the
American people to their history or their cultural heritage; photographs that
tell us what it means to be an American and provide a sense of what it is like
to live in this country.
The Natural World — Animals, plants and landscapes;
geological or climatological features; and scientific processes and endeavors.
People — Individuals from all walks of life.
Altered Images — Photographs manipulated for artistic
purposes by applying digital and/or traditional special effects (i.e.
colorizing, toning, collage, photo composites, HDR, etc.).
Travel — Locales, peoples or activities in the
United States and abroad that convey a sense of place.
Starting on March 29, 2013, the public can
begin voting for the Reader’s Choice Winner on Smithsonian.com.
All winners will be announced in June.
Smithsonian has also launched a new video
contest entitled In Motion.
The contest is open for entries until May 31, 2013, with over $4,000 available
in prizes.
Before you look at the contest images, I want you to see an incredible sight in Antarctica that the Smithsonian Magazine published.
Blood Falls seeps from the end of the Taylor Glacier into Lake Bonney. (Peter Rejcek, National Science Foundation)
Antarctica's Blood Red Waterfall
On the southern edge of the world, a waterfall runs red as blood
One of the world's most extreme deserts might be the last place one would expect to find a waterfall, but in Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valley, a five-story fall pours slowly out of the Taylor Glacier into Lake Bonney. And it's not just the idea of a waterfall in the frozen world of Antarctica that is strange: the waterfall is bright red, like blood running from a cut in the glacier.
Blood Falls. (Hassan Basagic)
If you're squeamish, don't worry—it's not blood that lends Blood Falls its unique crimson hue. Five million years ago, sea levels rose, flooding East Antarctica and forming a salty lake. Millions of years later, glaciers formed on top of the lake, cutting it off from the rest of the continent—meaning that the water in Blood Falls is something of an aqueous time capsule, preserved 400 meters underground. As the glaciers on top of the lake began to freeze, the water below became even saltier. Today, the salt content of the subglacial lake under Blood Falls is three times saltier than seawater and too salty to freeze. The subglacial lake that feeds Blood Falls is trapped beneath a quarter mile of ice.
But in addition to being cut off from the rest of the continent, the water that feeds Blood Falls is completely cut off from the atmosphere—it has never seen sunlight and is completely devoid of oxygen. It's also extremely rich in iron, which was churned into the water by glaciers scraping the bedrock below the lake. When water from the subglacial lake seeps through a fissure in the glacier, the salty water cascades down the Taylor Glacier into Lake Bonney below. When the iron-rich water comes into contact with the air, it rusts—depositing blood red stains on the ice as it falls.
A view of Blood Falls from Lake Bonney. (Mike Martoccia)
The color of Blood Falls isn't the only weird thing about it, however—it's what lives inside the subglacial lake that interests scientists more than the waterfall's creepy color. Millions of years ago, when those glaciers covered the salt lakes, there were microbes living in the water, and those microbes haven't gone anywhere, even though the water is now an extremely salty, oxygen-free bowl of complete darkness buried 400 meters under a glacier. Much like bacteria found living near deep sea thermal vents, the microbes of Blood Falls get their energy from breaking apart sulfates, which contain oxygen. After that, something eerily magical happens with the by-products—the iron in the water interacts with them to restore the sulfates, basically recycling the sulfates for the microbes to break down into oxygen over and over again.
Flowing into Lake Bonney, ancient microbes live in Blood Falls. (Hassan Basagic)
The falls and McMurdo Dry Valley can only be reached by helicopter from nearby Antarctic research stations or cruise ships visiting the Ross Sea.
Photos: India's Karnataka Coast
Explore western India's Coastal Karnataka region with these photos taken by our readers
With its diverse scenery and temples, it's no wonder India's west coast is becoming a popular travel destination. Although Goa is India's best-known holiday spot on the Arabian Sea, its popularity has pushed prices up. The Karnataka Coast, located just south, can be a worthy alternative, filled with beautiful beaches, waterfalls and historic temples.
Visitors to Karnataka can start their journey in the inland city of Hampi before traveling to the coast. A group of monuments in Hampi, the last capital of the former Hindu Kingdom of Vijayanagar, make up a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a beautiful view of the city can be seen atop Matanga Hill. The coast can be traversed by car or via the Konkan Railway, which stops in cities such as Gokarna, Udupi and Mangalore. All are home to beaches and temples to fill a day or more of time. One of the largest waterfalls in India, 830-foot-tall Jog Falls, is a short drive from the coast as well. While exploring the coast, you may even be lucky enough to spot one of the many annual Kambalas, or buffalo races, held throughout the region. Kambala season begins around November and usually lasts until March.
After traveling down the coast, head inland to the ancient city of Mysore, and visit the dazzling royal palace, stopping at the wildlife sanctuaries in Coorg on the way.
Nohkalikai Falls
Photography by Soamtirtha Adhikary, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
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