Glass

An elegant image of elegant architecture, beautifully framed. The moment is well-chosen – the diffuse light enhances the palette of rich neutrals, and the glass becomes the subject because it introduces movement that contrasts with the stasis of the architecture. Sunlight on the opposite buildings (behind the camera) reflects a rich glow onto the stone, and and fills the windows in the photographs with golden dancing forms. A calm and well-seen image that engages attention by using the distortions of the glass as a screen to project a feeling of energy.

The first impact of this image is perplexing, as we seem to be looking at some kind of netting – maybe a draped fisherman's net. So the close viewing brings an almost visceral shock as this becomes an image of glass carrying undertones of violence and a - perhaps averted - moment of catastrophe. The use of black and white is a well-judged decision. And the way the fragmented glass makes its frightening arabesques is very powerful, enacting the way any such accident becomes our total focus. All the elements of light and composition bring viewers inescapably to the experience. And not many submissions investigated the fear and danger that glass can imply.

This arresting photograph appears to collage an archival image of a photographer set against two bands of flat colour, in a way that references Modernist design or colour field painting. The image was in fact taken in the reflection of a mirrored glass window in a building in Barcelona. The photographer has abstracted the image by removing all traces of the reflections of the wider environment from the red and grey areas of the building and converting the reflection to monochrome. The effect of this manipulation is to create an ambiguous range of formal elements that make the image difficult to locate and format in the eye of the beholder, in a way that is both satisfying and carefully unresolved, whilst drawing on the history of design and painting.

The photographer has had a bit of fun with this - he mentions smuggling glasses out of the house without his wife knowing and we gather an air rifle was also involved! But it's a well-executed technical shot and is a good interpretation of the brief. The shattering glass captures all the attributes of the material - fragile, sharp, transparent and brittle. The choice of milk is also right, keeping a clean mono-tonal treatment.

Astonishingly, it looks like this was the only entry that had glass marbles as its subject - perhaps they are not a part of childhood these days. The image takes advantage of these colourful objects. It isn't too tricky and the shallow depth of field is well judged, giving pleasing, soft highlights. Perhaps the only criticism would be that the photographer has cropped the picture into a narrow landscape shape - was there a shortage of marbles? A deeper shape would have been richer.

What a romantic picture! It looks like it has been seduced into becoming a celebration of the art of architecture, rather than being an exploration of the ‘Glass’ theme. The choice of contre-jour light is orchestrated to create a sumptuous image, almost like a still from a high-production movie. The heightened end-of-day light makes an emotional atmosphere. It’s a good idea to control the corners of the image, so that it doesn't ‘leak away’ where the sky has no tone. The pictorial power of the moment produces a strongly pleasurable response for the viewer.

Getting a crowd shot where no one is disrupting the image can be tricky, and this image has avoided that problem. The rhythmic composition makes this a powerful photograph. Two horizontal bands are the foundation of the image: the upper one is an intriguing and rhythmic band of faces, arms, hands, shoulders, full of formal, understated echoes. And no one is staring into the camera - just thoughtful, inward expressions. This is reinforced by the people being reflected in the glass, which protects a scale model of Versailles. Here, the glass subtly brings the inflected human order to contrast with the geometric order of architecture. Moreover, our understanding of the image is enriched if we remember that Versailles was once a royal palace that excluded the masses; now the masses float above the palace, reflecting the reversal of the power systems.

This photograph, which - one assumes - depicts a detail from a stained glass window, captures the saturated colour of its subject. It's the most successful of the stained glass window images entered. The photographer has introduced a nice feel of movement with the use of a slow shutter speed (1/2 sec). Cropping into the detail was also a good idea - it has simplified the image and the fish are a strong symbol of Christianity.

‘Time’ is the essence of this image. The photographer has captured a regular journey in a snapshot which also feels rather voyeuristic. The viewer is drawn to the colours, movement and the inquisitive man peering out of the window. But what is he looking at? Perhaps the couple are married and the photographer has captured a moment in their lifelong journey, or perhaps they are just strangers. There were a lot of submissions showing reflections, and this was one of the judges’ favourites, but it just missed the top rankings.

This was the simplest submission of all. Well before we read the photographer's notes on this image, we are drawn to its compelling sparseness and ambiguity. There are only two compositional features: the field of blue and the six white scattered fragments. The immaculate gradation of the blue belongs to the perfect sky that is a universal motif we all respond to. It takes time to decipher the white fragments – unnatural clouds? Shards? Not quite random... The liminal quality of glass is successfully revealed – the sky lies beyond, the reflections come from within, and the glass makes an almost immaterial boundary. The photographer says he saw ‘dancing alien lights in the sky’ when in fact they are repetitious reflections of a fellow traveller in a window. This beautiful image is so simple and vibrant, it thoroughly deserves second place.

This interesting work is technically accomplished and the image is perfectly composed, combining framing devices with serpentine tracks and a sublime mountain range set against a clear blue Canadian sky. There's something truly evocative here. The snowy open road beckons to the viewer in a delightful way. The window frames the whole scene two times over, with the lack of glass in the centre giving a tantalising feeling of being connected to the natural world beyond the aircraft cabin. The photograph is cleanly shot square-on, which brings a sense of order to the image, with just enough depth of field to retain detail in the foreground. It's a very well-seen moment, as the plane wing in the upper left is echoed by the dark ground in the lower right, and there is even a narrow band of cloud that mirrors the tracks on the ground. The layered framing means that our gaze is led towards brightness, creating a sense of exhilaration. The strong formal and compositional aspects of the work, the simple yet clever way in which the theme of glass is referenced as a device in the construction of the view, and the ambiguous nature of the image - where and how was this view shot? - are all attractive elements of this photograph, and make it a worthy winner.

This work combines aesthetic pleasure with technical brilliance and is also conceptually interesting. A lens is held between two fingers to capture in perfect detail a scene – a line of brightly coloured beach chalets in the North Yorkshire seaside town of Scarborough – against what has become an abstracted prism of light. It scored highly amongst all the judges, who appreciated the succinct way in which the image defined the fundamental nature of photography as a way of seeing the world through a carefully honed piece of glass.

This photographer has captured a compelling image that generates curiosity and empathy at the same time. It is not clear what type of figurative subject has been recorded and in what situation, and this generates a direct appeal to the viewer. The subject is actually a photographic detail of a pre-existing artwork in the V&A’s collection called 'A Captive Audience?' (2001) by glass sculptor David Reekie. The work consists of a group of eight glass human clones, all facing forward in a metal pen, with the exception of a sole figure at the back who looks to acknowledge the viewer. The image would have been placed higher had it not relied for its impact and effect on the work of another artist. However, this photographer has clearly demonstrated great technical ability and an attentive eye, combined with a novel approach to the theme of glass.

Still life was a popular genre in this competition, and rightly so since it offers a chance for technical virtuosity. This image is beautifully lit and is sharp, but so are many others. Too often, such a picture can become a record of someone else's art piece, or follow the conventions of advertising photography too faithfully - a pitfall that this image avoids. This particular still life has a tightly controlled palette, and the glass itself takes centre stage, because the photographer is studying the visual distortions of the convex/concave interactions, with the meniscus reinforcing the horizontal elements. And, of course, visually this points beyond photography by referencing Op Art very stylishly.

This photograph is a very simple take on the brief - a plain window frame containing a broken pane of glass. The derelict nature of the frame chimes with the glass and effectively evokes decay. There is also a nicely contained colour palette. The main problem with the image is a rather random crop. It would have been better either to have focused more tightly on the hole in the glass or revealed the window in its entirety. Also, shooting more carefully and square-on to the subject would have improved the shot.

This is an intriguing image that just misses being magical. The photographer has a found a moment and an angle where a built environment has merged with the natural world: this arcade of windows has gathered the sunset, looking as though the building is filled with sky. The cropping here is a little slack, so some of the energy is drained away by the skyline. And the lettering that appears reflected in the glass weakens the image, adding nothing to the subject. At moments like this, if you can't find an angle to avoid capturing the reflection of lettering, Photoshop is your friend!