Speed in Black & White

There were lots of blurry and not-so-blurry trains in the contest. This one works so well because of the very clear image of the waiting passenger in the light coat and, to a lesser extent, the faded people behind her.

This leaped out at me as soon as I saw it. It is the body positions of the two men that make it work so well. They 'fit' together. The expression on the closer runner is great too. You also have the pair of shadows and the straight lines in the background that all add to the composition.

Scream if you want to go faster. What's not to love about this image? There is symmetry, spatial contrast between light and dark in the background and a terrific sense of speed created by the streaking lines. Everything seems bigger and faster when you are a child and this photo puts you in that child's place so very well. The hands over the eyes are crucial to the overall effect as they convey the emotion of the child, but also mean that you, as the viewer, are not distracted from the overall sense of motion in the image by automatically making eye contact with the 'static' subject.

There were a lot of light trail entries in the contest, some better executed than others. You have to be careful not to burn out other light sources, and getting a good angle is important as it it easy for an otherwise good capture to be ruined by foreground objects, such as lamp posts. Having static objects, such as people, helps accentuate the sense of speed too. I chose this one partly because of the viewer's position in the thick of it, which added that extra dimension.

It's obvious why this works: it's the contrast of the speeding vehicle and the stop sign. It's a shame about the other wooden pole, but sometimes a photographer has to make the most of the scene with which they are presented.

There were several flying formation shots in the contest, many of them very nice indeed, but in terms of overall composition, this one stood out. There is no overlap in the planes and the way they curl out of the clouds below is beautiful.