Number 9 is my favorite, hands down. Love those stormy clouds!

6 and 7 are my favourites. I love the black and white harshness. The beauty speaks for itself. The red and white in #7 is a gorgeous contrast. They're so vivid.

Best of luck!!! Your photography always has me in awe. I use your shots, and many of the fellow KTers' pets as my wallpaper.

9 is my favorite too.. love the clouds.

5 and 7 for me - love them all but these 2 are my favorite. I love the crooked little red door on the house in 7 and 5 just makes me want to go mucking around and exploring.

Casey, I love number 9. The different colors of blue are just amazing. Second for me is number 6. Notice how that piece of ice is balancing on the rock? Unbelievable!

Of course I do love them all, you are so talented!!

Susan

I would pick #9 and #4. They are all beautiful!

Favorite is #6, followed closely by #7. You take wonderful pictures.

Please, that's like asking me to choose between cake or ice cream! Wonderful shots all.

That said, I do prefer 5, 6 or 7 because the centers of interest are more to the side.

But the shots I really love are the ones of the colorful buildings, looks like in the town. I remember one in particular which invited the viewer to peek around the corner.

Good luck.

I love them all but am drawn to #4. Good luck in the contest. All of your pictures are beautiful.

I like number 6 myself. I like the textures, contrast and the way it leads your eye.

My least favorite is number 7. It looks like a snapshot to me, no offense intended.
Ellen

I'm new here. Do you have a blog or flickr site?

Without a doubt, #5 is my favorite.

Looking at the picture it is obvious that there is a story there, and my mind starts to imagine what that story is. Actually, the "garbage" in the picture is part of the story.

Good luck!

Sue

Thanks everyone!!! Lots of diffeent opinions, I knew it wouldn't be easy to pick just one.

Azzalea, yes, I can only enter one photo. This is for an online photo competition, a site I compete at regularly. Thanks for your constructive criticism. I am not a professional either and I've never taken a class. With regards to the first photo, I do have many of just the iceberg alone with pretty well the composition you suggested. I just don't think it's that interesting, there's nothing to give it scale, you have no idea how big the iceberg is. I thought the people gave it some scale.

The photo doesn't have to say "April", just the best photo you have taken during the month. There is a "free study" contest every month as well as themed challenges throughout the month.

Susan, I'll admit I saturated the colours in the last 2 photos but #7 is pretty well straight from the camera, no saturation at all. We do get deep blue skies and seas here.

I took over 1800 photos in April, narrowing them down to these 9 was a chore! LOL

I don't expect to win the contest but I'd like to submit my best photo.

Ellen, I do have a website and photo-a-day blog, here are the links:

My blog

My website

The link for my blog doesn't work, here it is.

Here is a link that might be useful: My blog

I like #2 and #7, can't decided between the two.

I was getting ready to post my "favorites" when it dawned on me that of the two I chose, the composition was the same but the subject matter was vastly different. My favorites are #5 and #6. And let me say that I disagree with someone who said that the garbage needs to be cropped out. There has been some flooding and/or high water there and trash would be expected in that case. Good luck in the contest. I admire your talent.

I've viewed all of your contributions, Karen, to the daily photo thread since I became a member here...several years worth. I couldn't find the iceberg photo that impressed me during your April submissions above so I went on a hunt through your blog. On 4-14-09 you posted a photo of what appears to be a fishing shack in the foreground and the huge iceberg in the water. Personally...I think you should enter it. The composition and color are wonderful. The most extraordinary part of the photo is the realistic size of the berg compared to the rest of land/life around it.

You may not consider yourself a "professional"...but as a life long artist, myself, I can tell you that your have a gifted "eye" and you're extremely talented. It's always a joy to view the world through your photos.

I hope you'll give my "selection" a shot at winning that contest. I think it's a winner!

Anne

#6 is best with the clouds in making #9 a close second.

I like 2 and 3. 3 is especially good with the composition of all the texture.

I like all of them but #9 pic of the clouds is awesome.

#6 or #7. It's a hard choice.

I like 7, but all the rest are my second choice.

#6 for content. It held my interest the longest.

Then 7, 9 and 3. #3 I admired for the photography. It was like a painting.

#6 is definitely a winner

Wow, Casey you have a hard decision. I think #4. Everyone thinks differently. I am presuming because they are all so good. You are an amazing protographer and I hope you win no matter which one you enter.

I like #6, #7, and #9....I think you have the best chance of winning with #7 though.

I like #'s 2 and 7.

#9 and #4 and #1

I think what "makes" the #1 photograph is the child looking up at the adult. It's like she's waiting for the adult's reaction in order to know how to react, herself.

Of all, i prefer # 5. It is a color/scene that most of us in the states are not familiar with. So therefore it must reflect your area. It is similiar to some scenes I have seen in Canada, or around Martha's Vinyard. I would "move the house a little down and little over to show more scenery.
Most of the others seem to have an object in the "middle" and I tried to put some of the objects to one side or the other.

#4 is my very very favorite.

Best of luck wishes!

Definitely #6....

I like lighthouses but #7 says something to me.

I love # 2 and # 6. If I had to choose only one, it would be the black and white one. Great contrast and composition.

They are all beautiful but I like #8 and #9 best.

Linda

My votes are for #5 & # 7. Let us know which you choose....and GOOD LUCK!

My husband and I both agree #2 is gorgeous! The composition is so pleasing and the alternating shades of blue are so lovely. Just a wonderful shot!

#2 then #6... Your work is beautiful.

I love them all so it was a hard choice.

8, then 4, then 2

Good Luck!

# 4 gets my vote.

9 looks like a photo contest winner to me.

Have you posted this question on the photography forum? They'll be very helpful.

I'm coming in late to the game but I'm going to give my opinion because your photos move me so much. I haven't read any of the other replies so I don't know if I'm anywhere in the ballpark with others.

My vote would be for #2 or #4. They speak to me, plain and simple.

Jodi-

I liked No. 4 the most. I love the ocean and I love looking at clouds, and these two together in 4 are beautiful to me.

#3 Makes me keep coming back to it and it is the one I lingered on longest when I first viewed it. It rather reminds me of an impressionistic painting from the 1800s. It looks like a historical setting and the fog puts action into the serene setting. You can just feel the fog moving in.

All of your photos remind me of Edward Hopper scenic paintings - the rich colors, the mood evoked, and the subject matter. He had an affinity for lighthouses and Cape Cods too.

You show some nice work. The photos that I did not care for had too much symmetry and no focal point.

They are all beautiful pictures, Casey so it's hard to pick ONE. But I think my most favorite is #3.

#7

It caught my eye right away.

I just love all the photo's. You are very talented! Newfoundland is the only province I have yet to visit. One day!

BJ

They are all beautiful pictures but I like 2 and 6. I would hang #2 in my living room and #6 I just like the texture of the snow and ice in black and white.

Anne

I like them all, but #5 is my favorite. :o)

I have 2 picks:

4. & 7.

Both have good composition and subjects that hold attention. The colors are saturated, but not too much so, and this adds a visual impact packed with a bit of emotion.

Wow, some nice stuff. Photography is art and art is subjective ("eye of the beholder")so what's "best" is dependant upon the judge. Top ones photographically in my mind are, in numerical order, #2, 3, 6, 8 & 9 and I have some comments on them if you don't mind. I should say I was attracted to these since I have a thing for lighthouses and for farm scenes so it impacted a bit but those are good shots. Are you allowed to crop or manipulate?

Mind if I make some comments? If I were judging these I'd feel this way:
(Photo #)
1) This is a cute vacation snapshot of someone taking a picture of someone taking a picture. However photographically, you have about 4-5 different major subjects jumping at you so the eye jumps around and doesn't give the overall impact until you stop and concentrate. I'd crop the top half and drop a ship in there! :)

2) This one GRABBED me! Look at the clarity of the lens in the lighthouse! Again, as a lighthouse fan it had increased impact to me but the lens really made a statement. The problem photographically is the water cutting the picture in half. I'd crop this to about the top of the bottom window and it'll move the waterline down and still have the impact I mentioned. Then I'd hang it on my wall!

3) Probably the best of the bunch as they sit. The fence leads your eye to the water which brings you back in. Photographically, this is textbook. The fogline essentially ends on the rule of thirds, the major set of "bushes" is pretty much on thirds, the fog gives mystery and a peacefulness. I'd put this on my wall as it is.

4) Nice, but again, the water cuts the shot in half. Photographically that's bad. If you crop about the bottom third off you set the berg at thirds, it's slightly framed on the bottom right and it seems like the clouds lend more impact. With the cropping, I'd hang this on my wall too.

5) I loved the potential of this, but went ARGH when I first looked at it. So many great elements but the killer (in a bad way) is cutting off the building. It's like a portrait where the top of a person's head or an arm is cut off. What felt like a knife in my guts was the building "spoke" of a history, but it's only part. Look at the weathering of the paint, how those hinges on the door stand out and talk about history! No offense but this one is not your best work. BTW, what this a lean-to on a barn or a free-standing building? Just curious

6) When I first looked at this I literally said to myself this is STRANGE....ly interesting. It has almost a shock value and this is a fantastic use of black and white for impact. Rule of thirds vertically and horizontally and a leading line too. This would go on my wall or in a gallery. It really probably ties with #3 for me as your best... at least so far!

7) First off, I like this but it's difficult on which to comment. It grabs you a bit and it stands out in several ways. The table is a nice addition. Problems for me: A) The waterline merging with the roofline. B) A little too "flat" a shot. The building is only two dimentional. Shooting from a bit more of an angle and maybe a little lower down - from ground level maybe, and show two sides of the building might have added impact and eliminated the cut. Again, this is difficult because I like it. I like the colors and it does say something (I mean something good) but in a way it almost looks like a real estate listing photo too. And I also like the cloud pattern. Leads your eye in nicely. This has eye-appeal, but it also violates standards so it would depend on how it's being judged.

8) When I saw the thumbnail I went HERE WE GO!!! Sigh. But there's been good and it almost minimizes it! LOL I like this a lot and I'd put it on my wall. This shows how shooting from different levels adds dramatically. You're shooting upward, the foreground leads to it, it almost has a halo around the top. If only the lens were so clear in this shot. (See what an impact that had on me? LOL) Also this shows one of the exceptions to the rule on centering or non-centering. But it's still off just enough to add. Not sure if that was intentional or not but it's great.

9) OK I like lighthouses but I'm a bit of a snob. I like "traditional" looking lighthouses. But this is truly spectacular. I'd hang this on the wall definitely. To me the clouds give almost a stormy look and that goes with the function of a lighthouse.

So out of them, if *I* judged these 9 pictures, uncropped or manipulated and by judging photographically, 1st prize would go, to #6, a close 2nd is #3 and 3rd place would be #9 (by a sliver of a whisker over #8, and in an hour it might be reversed!). But as you see from other posters, people judge things differently.

That said, one caution, some will judge with bias on whether they like B&W or don't like B&W so it could be a risk. You might know your judges better.

These are comments from me and hope there's no offense taken. I did say more than requested! Just thought you could take it or skip over. Good luck to you. Let us know which you submit and how things turn out. Again, GOOD LUCK!

#6

#7

#9

are my personal favorites, but it was such an extremely hard choice to make! Like all the others above me commented, every pictures is spectacular!

Best of luck to you with the contest! Let us know how you made out,

Carol

We're supposed to choose? Oh my, that is HARD...but if I have to it'd be 2, 4 or 8...NICE SHOTS!

You are a fantastic photographer (I bet you can answer my question I posted just now? Hee, hee!)

nola_anne