Photo

The Great Canadian Photo Contest: July’s winners

See July’s finalists from Maclean’s photography contest, and check out your August assignment: ‘The Canadian sky’

Fisheye HDR view looking directly up in dense Canadian pine forest with sun glaring in clear blue sky as trees reach for the sky. (shakzu/iStock)

Fisheye HDR view looking directly up in dense Canadian pine forest with sun glaring in clear blue sky as trees reach for the sky. (shakzu/iStock)

At 150, Canada merits the best possible photo album, and Maclean’s wants to capture the country in all its cultural and geographic glory. For each month of 2017, we’ll ask readers to submit photos based on a particular theme. We’ll publish the winning photos in our weekly tablet edition, and online every month. At the end of the year, a gallery show will exhibit all the winning work, and we will announce the single best photo of the year. You take the photos, and we’ll provide a national frame!

For our July photo contest, we asked photographers to capture the best of Canadian colours. Here are the top 10 submissions, including the readers’ choice photo, which was voted the most popular on Facebook, and the editor’s choice photo, which we at Maclean’s were most excited about.

READERS’ CHOICE: Photograph by Chantal Marsolais

This picture was taken on July 18th 2017 near the Hamlet of Mennon, Saskatchewan (about 45km from Saskatoon) on my trusty ol' Nikon D3200. Just as the sun was setting, two massive fronts converged right at the back of my family's acreage, this picture is of the one front shortly before it met the other. Saskatchewan skies are often remarkable, but this evening was unforgettable. The mixture of golden hour light, sudden wind, and the twisting clouds was riveting, I am so glad I had my camera near me.

This picture was taken on July 18th 2017 near the Hamlet of Mennon, Saskatchewan (about 45km from Saskatoon) on my trusty ol’ Nikon D3200. Just as the sun was setting, two massive fronts converged right at the back of my family’s acreage, this picture is of the one front shortly before it met the other. Saskatchewan skies are often remarkable, but this evening was unforgettable. The mixture of golden hour light, sudden wind, and the twisting clouds was riveting, I am so glad I had my camera near me.

EDITOR’S CHOICE: PHOTOGRAPH BY Bri Hamlyn

This photo is of Louise Falls in Twin Gorge Territorial Park, Northwest Territories. Because it was June when it was taken, I made everyone in our group wait until 10 pm before starting the trek down the 138 step spiral staircase to the falls. All in the hopes of capturing the falls during sunset.

This photo is of Louise Falls in Twin Gorge Territorial Park, Northwest Territories. Because it was June when it was taken, I made everyone in our group wait until 10 pm before starting the trek down the 138 step spiral staircase to the falls. All in the hopes of capturing the falls during sunset.

Your August assignment: The Canadian sky
Keep your head up. Clouds might bubble like thoughts, or peel back from each other like the opening credits of The Simpsons. Planets or planes, or a golf spectator ducking from an unidentified flying object–you don’t necessarily need to photograph the sky itself. You might shoot towers that scrape it, a trampolinist tumbling through it, or a person with an arm stretched above head, reaching for it.

The next assignments will appear on macleans.ca on the first of each month. Readers can also find the assignments by following Maclean’s on Instagram or Twitter, or liking our Facebook page. The assignment will appear in the first tablet edition of the month, as well as in the monthly print issue.

Judging

The Maclean’s photo department will narrow down the submissions to 10 finalists each month. From there, one photographer will win the editor’s choice award. Another photographer will win the readers’ choice award. Readers will vote online by liking a photo on Facebook.

Prizes

Each month, cash prizes will be awarded to the editor’s choice and readers’ choice winners. The winning photos will be published in the tablet edition of Maclean’s. At the end of the year, Maclean’s will exhibit all the winning photos in a gallery show and invite the photographers to attend.

How to submit
Click here for more on how to submit your photos.

Photographers, good luck—and Canada, smile!

Contest closes December 31, 2017 at 11:59 pm ET. Open to Canadian residents (excluding Quebec), over age of majority. Contest consists of 12 individual monthly entry periods. Two winners will be determined per monthly entry period, based on the application of judging criteria and a public voting process. Each prize consists of $250. Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received per monthly entry period, on the application of judging criteria, and on the number of eligible votes received by each entry that is short-listed by the judges. Math question must be correctly answered to win. Details and full contest rules available at macleans.ca/photo-contest-rules

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