Lit by a window

A wonderful photograph of not very much. The smoke drifting in through the window is the magic dust that makes it work, adding some beautiful subtlety to the image. What the space is or was is a mystery, but the photograph is fantastic.

For my winning photo, I was hoping to find an image which would have been nothing without the light. In this photo there is a door, a radiator cover, and some shutters. That's about it - about as uninspiring subject matter as you can imagine.

However, the way the light falls transforms what would otherwise have been an extremely dull image into a beautiful, engaging shot which gets more beautiful the more I look at it.

A beautifully executed portrait which asks more questions than it answers. Where is the shot taken? What's he using that zoom lens for? The use of the soft light from the windows on the subject adds to the mood, without leading to too much contrast in the rest of the image.

Easily my favourite image of a religious building in the contest - the soft sunbeams through the windows is beautifully captured and really shows off the blend of modern and ancient architectural styles which can only be the Sagrada Familia.

Corridors with windows down one side showed up very often in this contest but I really liked this particular example showing the stark regularity of the modern architecture. I wonder how much would have been detracted from leaving the colour in - it's such a dramatic view anyway.

There were dozens of images of sunbeams from church windows in this contest, but this is the only which which made me giggle. "Hallelujah" she cried!

It's a shame that there are so many other people in the foreground, I know this is hard to avoid at popular tourist destinations but it really detracts from the comedic central performance.