The editors of Smithsonian magazine have just announced the 50 finalists in their 9th annual photo contest. They've kindly allowed me to share several of the final contenders below, including some amazing images from each of the competition's five categories: Americana, The Natural World, People, Altered Images, and Travel. Be sure to visit the contest page at Smithsonian.com to see all the finalists and to vote for this year's Reader's Choice winner.
Smithsonian Magazine's Annual Photo Contest
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An entry in the Altered Images category, this is "Where the soul meets the body" by Laura Diliberto from Wantagh, New York. Photographed in November of 2011 in New York City. #
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Jabulani the elephant greeting his caretaker, from the Travel category, by Paula Durham from Cave Creek, Arizona. Photographed in the Kapama private game reserve, South Africa, in September of 2011. #
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From the Altered Images category, a White Collared Kingfisher (halcyon chloris) dives out of the water, after a quick afternoon dip in the Kinabatangan River, Borneo, by C.S. Ling of Singapore. Photographer Ling: "This sequence was shot with a Nikon D3 with 500mm lens on a continuous high burst mode, capturing all 10 action shots of the kingfisher within a split second. The images were later pieced together in Photoshop into one sequence shot". Photographed in Sabah, Borneo, in July of 2011. #
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The shadow strikes back by Tihomir Trichkov, of Highlands, North Carolina, entered in the People category. Photographed in Highlands, North Carolina, in August of 2011. #
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Shrimp within vase sponge by William Goodwin of Birmingham, Alabama, in the Natural World category. Photographed in Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, in September of 2011. #
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Photographed in the Omo River Valley, Ethiopia, in September of 2011, this is titled "The Kara women are the backbone of the tribe", by photographer Nicholas Wiesnet of Garden Grove, California. #
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From the Altered Images category, The diversity of ordinary life, by Branko Stojanovic of Novi Sad, Serbia. Photographer Stojanovic: "During a two-year period (from 2008-2010), I was shooting every day activities of my neighbors. The idea was to show diversity of ordinary life and this old socialist building which I saw as some kind of prison. In that kind of huge structure with many people, even your neighbors are almost total strangers". Photographed in Novi Sad, in November of 2011. #
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