Places of worship

This is the winning image because it is so wonderfully mysterious and evocative. I love the monochrome [well, blueish-chrome] of the colour palette. The composition is perfect, the central line leading the eye towards the back of the image. The foggy pagoda type building in the background is a perfect choice for this winning composition and the trees in silhouette add a wonderful asymmetry to the shape of the image. Overall a very sophisticated and original interpretation of the competition brief.

What drew me to this image was the very delicate cobweb on the angels face; It is so reminiscent of visits to quiet country churches. The simplicity of the composition works perfectly for this subject; the strong light source entering from the left is a perfect visual foil for the intensity of the black shadows below the angel. The photographer's decision to shoot in black and white was correct as the tonal palette is very even and balanced, whereas in colour the delicacy of the cobwebs and highlights might have been lost.

The colour palette of this photograph reminds me of a painting or 19th century hand tinted photograph, where the colours are somewhat surreal. It's a very strong compostion and a great idea to rotate the photograph so it's read upside down. The beauty of the architecture lends itself well to the strong symmetrical composition of the photograph. The photographer has chosen wisely to reduce the 'visual noise' of the tourists in the background by shooting the palace from the distance; a difficult composition to achieve in such a widely photographed and recognisable location.

This photograph is a wonderful depiction of the burning incense at this Vietnamese temple. The strong top light perfectly captures the swirls of smoke. It's so evocative one can almost smell the incense through the screen! The shallow depth of focus is also a good decision to draw the eye to the figure in the foreground. Arguably it might have benefited from cropping the red incense stick entering the photograph on the left side, but apart from that, this is a great image.

I was drawn to this image because of its highly original interpretation of the competition brief, and that it's of my favourite London Brutalist building. I'm always very happy to see photographs that have been 'constructed', the photographer has made the effort to choose a site and use a person for narrative and scale etc.

The ambiguity of the composition and title are intriguing. This space has difficult light conditions so the photographer has done well to achieve this exposure.

I love the strong, graphic composition of this photograph. Here the decision to shoot in black and white was correct; the photograph becomes a graduated palette of grey tones, with the travatine marble in the foreground adding a wonderful texture. In colour, the bright sunshine and blue sky would have created a distance between the foreground and background, whereas here I love the way the tonality evens out the scale and perspective. The simplicity of framing the window aperture around the dome is make this a sophisticated image.

I love the simplicity and graphic composition of this image. The photographer has made strong and successful decisions of where to crop the image; by reducing the architecture within the photographic frame the ceiling extends, a wonderful example of the architectural adage: less is more. Normally the hazyness of the light might be a problem, but here it adds to the aesthetic and emphasises the sacred nature of the space. Arguably it looks a little soft on the left side, but this in no way diminishes from the composition.

This is a very difficult subject to photograph and the photographer has achieved a very evocative composition. My only slight concern is that the composition might have benefited from a small crop. The burning incense creates a wonderful mysterious element within the image but the people in the background distract from this. I would have definitely cropped the two people on the left and perhaps waited until the main figure had moved position slightly so as not to get so lost within the smoke.

I love the simplicity of this image and it is very nearly perfect. I feel that the idea of the composition is not fully executed within the actual image. Photographing the Big Buddha from behind is an original approach, but the angle is slightly lacking, leaving the sky, head and shoulders of the Buddah too equal. I would have tried either much closer or further away from the statue to disrupt the equilibrium. Photographing from much closer to the statue and looking up its back would have created a very unusual image.

This is a very well composed and exposed image. Pointing the camera directly into a light source can be problematic. My only slight concern is the hanging light in the bottom right of the frame. Because the photographer is pointing the camera towards the ceiling, the light is entering the frame at an extreme angle. Naturally we understand why this is but personally I find it distracting from the intensity of the light source. I would have simply cropped out the hanging light entirely to tighten up the composition.

I think this is a wonderful photograph which captures a difficult light condition. My only slight concern is that the stained glass window on the left side of the image is unnecessary. I think the image would have been much stronger if this window was cropped out so that the image begins with complete black tones on the left, leading across to the shadows and subtle light falling on the pews, thereby making a strong juxtaposition with the rest of the image.

I was very impressed by this reportage style photograph and the photographer's decision to submit it for the competition. It makes a great, refreshing change to see this type of photograph within the submissions. The photograph has an energy and immediacy that engages the viewer and draws you into the composition. The decision to photograph in black and white, although perhaps conventional within reportage photography, was a good choice for this subject. The tonality of the image shows the photographer's mastery of exposure control.