Today I won a photo contest called the "Intelligent Eye" organized by the photographic magazine Stark (www.stark-magazine.com). Some of my images have been published and were awarded but it is the first time I win a contest.  I would love to hear the judge's reasoning why he picked my image as until a few hours before the deadline I was not even planning on uploading. One of the reasons for my hesitation was the wonderful image  "Meeting" of Radosveta Georgieva which was used to announce the contest ( http://www.stark-magazine.com/ie13) which I find such a brilliant photo and definitely "intelligent eye" that I did not think any of my images would have a chance of being selected.
 

The judge was Michael Freeman a photographer I much admire. I own three of Michael's books (the photographer's eye, the photographer's mind and perfect exposure). They were among the first books on photography I purchased. I have not looked at them for some time but with the long weekend coming up and the weather forecast for Belgium not looking so promising I may do so shortly.

In need of a pair of new glasses?

My image  "In need of a pair of new glasses" was taken in Botswana. We had just seen his elephant crossing the Chobe river onto a small island, when this boat arrived. That group was looking at some elephants at the other side of the river and I thought it was funny with the man pointing his camera in that direction while this huge elephant was standing right behind them. 

The image became  the cover of a special edition of Stark-magazine