Smithsonian Photo Contest 2012 finalists announced

Smithsonian has announced the 50 finalists of its 10th annual photo contest, with the winners expected to be announced shortly.

The Smithsonian Institution is the parent organization of one of the most popular magazines around the world, focused on arts, sciences, popular culture, and history illustrated with the help of beautiful imagery.

Smithsonian Photo Contest 2012 finalists selected

The Smithsonian mag is also holding an annual photo contest, whose 2012 finalists have just been announced. The 2012 photo contest features five categories and 10 finalists have been selected for each category.

The magazine’s contest categories are: The Natural World, Travel, People, Americana, and Altered Images.

The Natural World

“A Man-Made Ice Geyser” finalist of the Smithsonian Photo Contest 2012 – The Natural World. Photo taken with a Nikon D70 by Nathan Carlsen.

Smithsonian’s first category, The Natural World, consists of landscape, animal, plant, geology, or climatology photography. The 10 finalists have submitted photos of the Milky Way galaxy, a baby owl, a gorilla, a solar eclipse, a caterpillar species, a Spectacled Spiderhunter, penguins, ice geyser, ants, and a pair of bald eagles.

Travel

“Alternating Rice Plots in the Bacson Valley” Smithsonian Photo Contest 2012 – Travel finalist. Photo taken with a Nikon D3S by Hai Thinh Hoang.

Travel is the name of the second category and it consists of images of people or activities around the world.

Ten finalists have been selected for Travel and this year’s most interesting images are showing workers harvesting salt in Vietnam, rice terraces in Vietnam, Namibia’s sand dunes, musicians in Colombia, people taking part in a West Bengal festival, river ferries in Malaysia, rice plots in Vietnam, Thailand monks, a hiker in the USA, and a Bagan image in Myanmar.

People

“Policemen in Brazil” – finalist of the Smithsonian Photo Contest 2012 in the Travel category. Credits: Olivier Boëls.

The third Smithsonian Photo Contest 2012 category is called People and it is all about individuals.

The 10 finalists have submitted photos of policemen in Brazil, girls in a church in Israel, an evening in a West Bengal barbershop, farmers in Indonesia, a group of worshipers in Bangladesh, a mother and her child in the Democratic Republic of Congo, tribesmen in Colombia, a farmer drying rice in Indonesia, a day laborer in Bangladesh, and a self-portrait of a South African Rastafarian.

Americana

“Nighttime at Times Square, NYC” finalist of the Smithsonian Photo Contest 2012 in the Americana category. Photo taken with a Nikon D200 by Doug Van de Zande.

The fourth category is about the American experience and is thus suggestively called Americana. Sharing a beautiful image of events, objects, or activities in the United States has allowed 10 photographers to become finalists in the 10th annual Smithsonian photo contest.

The images contain cowboys, a snow cone stand, a liquor store, a little boy eating an ice cream, the Apple Guy in the desert, nighttime in Times Square, a barbershop in New York City, a man standing in the streets of Chicago, a small boy helping his grandfather, and a kitchen in an abandoned home.

Altered Images

“Twisted” – a finalist of the Smithsonian Photo Contest 2012 in the Altered Images category. Photo of a tornado aftermath taken with a Canon 5D Mark II by Tim Wright.

Last but not least, the fifth category is called Altered Images. It is the contest’s single area where manipulated photographs are allowed to be adjusted with editing techniques, such as composites, HDR, toning, colorizing, and collaging.

The finalists submitted photos of the Midwestern USA tornado aftermath, electric cigarette smoke behind a mask, a montage of photos consisting of shadows, portraits of models, a glorious ladybug, composite image of a house in Norway, a busy model preparing for a photo shoot, another composite image of the Times Square, composite images of “Il Duomo di Firenze”, and a photoshopped image of a building under construction in China.

Smithsonian to announce the winners soon

Five winners will be selected and they will receive $500 each for their hard work. Additionally, the Smithsonian Photo Contest 2012 grand prize winner will be awarded $2,500. As stated above, all winners will be announced in the coming weeks.

The magazine is also holding a special “Readers’ Choice Award” section, where the readers can vote for their favorite image. The votes will not affect the final outcome of the contest, but will award $500 to the winner.