Photo Contest IV: Finalists, General

By Matt Young

Update, noon, October 28: Voting is now closed. We will post the finalists in the Lab Rats category on Monday, October 29, at noon Mountain Daylight Time. We will formally announce the winners on Sunday, November 4.

1000 apologies for taking so long, but here are the finalists of the 2012 photography contest. We received approximately 30 photographs from 14 photographers. Most of the pictures were excellent. We divided the entries into 2 categories, Lab Rats and General, though we had to fudge a little bit to populate both categories.

Choosing finalists was difficult. We considered what we thought were the scientific and pictorial qualities of the photographs, and also attempted to represent as many photographers and present as much variety as possible. The text was written by the photographers and lightly edited for consistency.

Here are the finalists in the General category. Please look through them before voting for your favorite. You will have to be logged in to vote on the poll. We know it is possible to game these polls. Please be responsible and vote only once. If we think that the results are invalid, we will cancel the contest. The poll may be found below the fold.

The winner in each category will receive an autographed copy of Among the Creationists, by Jason Rosenhouse, which received a very favorable review here. We are indebted to the author for his generosity in providing the books.

Acknowledgement. Reed Cartwright wrote all the HTML code.

  • Moolack Beach, by Gerry L.—Oregon coast rock formation. Ms. L. writes that she "was surprised and mesmerized by this strange formation. (This might actually be just north of Moolack Beach. There are no street signs on the sand.)"
  • Volcan Tungurahua, Ecuador, by Lou Jost. Mr. Jost writes, "The pictures were taken from my kitchen window. I was inspired to enter today because this volcano was shaking my house again after several months of quiet. It is under close observation by a team of vulcanologists, and you can see the seismography in real time. Click on the first item (RETU) for the signal."
  • Comet Hyakutake, by James Kocher—Cuivre River State Park, Troy, Missouri, March 26, 1996. Ektachrome 800.
  • Agapornis roseicollis, by Pete Moulton—rosy-faced lovebird, Gilbert, Arizona. Mr. Moulton writes, "These little parrots have established a thriving population in the Phoenix metro area. ... Although [they] have been observed in the Phoenix metro area since the 1980s, the first actual census of this population wasn't taken until 2010."
  • Tyria jacobaeae, by Marilyn Susek—cinnabar moth.
  • Papilio glaucus, by Dragoness—dark morph of the eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly.