WINNERS OF SURPRISE US!

First Place

Bolsover Castle by Brian Crossover

Second Place

Bartholdi spray by Terry Atkins Rowe

Third Place

The Power of Friendship by Sheryl Rosendoff Bergman

Best of Theme

Stars by Jonathan Swift

Best of Theme this event was chosen by the admins for Picture Picks, Brian Crossland, Catherine Sweetpotatoe, and myself. To be entirely fair we eliminated our three entries. The the of Surprise Us! was meant to spur members to explore outside of their comfort zone and to expand their normal focal interest. We all do get in ruts and summer vacations are a great time to break those patterns.

A lot of great photographs this event but not that many that surprised us, however. Stars by Jonathan Swift did fit the bill. We are all still wondering how he managed to get this inspiring pictures of stars.

Jacqui Binford-Bell

Winners of Double Up

First Place

Sentry Duty by Brian Crossland

Second Place

Two in the sky by Monica Griffey

Third Place

Riding Double by Eagle Finegan

The Best of Theme 

Chosen by Scott Michael Anna and Rick Cannon

Sisters by Sheryl Rosedoff Bergman

From Scott Michael Anna: With a collaboration, and mutual agreement with Rick and myself, we proudly choose Sheryl Rosedoff Bergman's photo : "Sisters - My two girls love each other and I think it shows" as Best of Theme for this week in "Double Up".

In the comments, members defined the photo as:

"Beautiful!"
"Lovely!!!"
"It is a perfect photo for any theme."
"Wonderful!"
"It exudes peace and love..."
"Such a tender capture.!"

"It certainly captures the theme and stirs up emotion."-Rick Cannon

"When Rick and I came to agreement on what the theme would be for this week, I knew what kind of photograph I would like to see to define the theme. At the first moment I saw Sheryl's photo, I knew that it was EXACTLY what we had envisioned."-Scott Michael Anna