To the hundreds and hundreds of people who submitted their travel photos—pat yourselves on the back. You really made it difficult for us.

Our sixth annual travel photo contest got a slew of shots of people, places and adventures from all over the WestJet universe. Here are the three winners, as chosen by up! staff and Bruce Kirkby, our photo columnist, including the stories behind the prize-winning shots and insight from Kirkby on why these photos made the cut.

Grand Prize Winner

Megan Lorenz is a self-taught freelance photographer based in Toronto, ON. She loves all sorts of photography, but her favourite subject is wildlife. She captured this photo of two puffins in Bonavista, NL, with a Canon ID4 camera and a Canon 500mm lens.

“This is one of the best moments I captured on my last trip to Newfoundland. Many people don’t realize how tiny puffins are, or how clumsy they can be. They’re often called ‘Clowns of the Sea,’ but in this photo, I finally managed to capture a graceful landing.”

What Megan won Olympus E-PL1 ($550): a super-simple camera that gives you lots of technology normally found in bigger, bulkier versions

1st Runner-up

Whitney Bragagnolo is an actress and writer based in Vancouver, BC, who loves the great outdoors, going to concerts and taking photos. She snapped this photo of firefighters in New York City with a Nikon D90.

“My family and I were searching for a place to eat in Little Italy when, all of a sudden, the wails of a siren sent the crowds of people rushing to the narrow sidewalks. Three fire trucks pulled up; the firemen hoisted their ladders and scaled the side of a heritage pasta restaurant. It turns out they were saving a mischievous black cat that had gotten stuck trying to sneak into a window for lunch.”

What Whitney won Olympus SP-800UZ ($300): think 30x wide-angle zoom in a slim little body.

2nd Runner-up

Christopher Fry is a semi-retired avid traveller who left a 20-plus year career as a production manager in the magazine industry to explore the world. This year, he started in Ecuador and headed south. He snagged this shot with a Canon Powershot S3 1S.

“I was staying on a farm called Casa Bramasole in Barbados. The owner of the plantation had called a neighbour to chop down coconuts from the trees on his property. It was early in the morning, and I went outside to check it out, but didn’t have my glasses on. I started shooting blind at the boy chopping coconuts 30 feet above, not really knowing what was actually in focus.”

What Christopher won Olympus TOUGH 6020 ($280): a rugged little waterproof camera that lets you take photos as deep as five metres underwater.

Behind the Award Winners

Bruce Kirkby, up!’s photo guru and one of this year’s judges, shares some insight into selecting the picture-perfect entries

What makes an award-winning photo?

Frankly, there is no simple answer.

Some photo clubs employ strict guidelines when judging their members’ work, rating things like exposure, focal accuracy, depth of field control and framing elements to arrive at a definitive “score” or “mark.” I feel such an approach rewards good—but not great—photography. To me, the foundation of any winning image has to be emotion; the ability to evoke a feeling, ask a question, tell a story or simply sweep the viewer away to another world. 

How does one judge a photo contest?

Judging requires balancing technical merits with artistic vision. With a competition as large as the annual up! Photo Contest, the varied spectrum of entries makes it impossible to measure one against the other in any numeric way. So, after inspecting each of the finalists for solid fundamentals (sharp focus, accurate exposure, etc.) I closed my eyes, cleared my head and then took a sudden peek. Ultimately, a viewer’s gut reaction is what matters. 

Can one break photography rules?

Breaking photographic rules is perfectly acceptable, even encouraged, but only if it has been done purposefully and thoughtfully. Soft focus or blown-out exposure can produce compelling results, if employed at just the right time (for instance, to pull attention away from background clutter and onto the subject).

Images that offer a new perspective are very powerful. You might think new angles and new ideas would be rare, but not so. The material submitted to amateur contests regularly astounds me. For example, the gritty black and white shot in this year’s contest of New York City firefighters makes me feel as if I am on my tippy toes, peering over their shoulders as they prepare for action.

Great photography is in the eye of the beholder.

No two “experts” will judge a contest the same way, and often there are significant differences within an award committee. Years ago, I sat on a panel that judged a national photo contest. After viewing the images independently, we all agreed upon the grand prize winner, which stood head and shoulders above the rest.

But the image that eventually took second place—netting its shooter a new DSLR camera—was not even on my top 10 list! The photograph of a dragonfly resting on a book appeared, at first glance, cliché. But one astute judge noticed you could read the text through its transparent wing, which added a gorgeous layer of subtlety.

Judging art is always subjective. The failure to place in a photo contest is not a sign your work is weak. Look at the winners, consider which ones you like and ask yourself why. I’ll bet they made you feel something. If you take that emotion and seek novel ways of creating it within your own work, you’ll win, no matter what the result.