A few weeks ago, we put the call out for photographs of your favorite places. Through the pictures you submitted, you took us around the world and showed us the beautiful and sublime. You also continue to prove that smartphones offer a unique window into your own personal universe. I was quite moved by many of the descriptions you crafted. Thanks for participating in this month’s photo challenge. Check out the winners below (click for full-size images).
We’ll be back with another themed photo challenge soon. In the meantime, feel free to tag your Windows Phone photos on Twitter with the hashtag #WPphoto. We’ll highlight our favorites on our official handle.
Katrina Ferland: Pigeon Point Lighthouse just south of San Francisco. I love the ocean on the California coast and was with a tour group and stopped to take this just before walking down to the beach. It was late April just before Noon. The tour guide had his professional camera with him and when I showed him this shot, his reaction was a “real” camera can’t get the same “color saturation”. (with a displeased look on his face.) Love my HTC Titan I Windows phone! This shot is like a postcard!
Mayur Patil: This photo was taken near a waterfall near Koyna Dam, Maharashtra, India. It’s been taken by my Lumia 800 and edited by “pictomaphone” app. I’ve adjusted the levels, added a slight dreamy glow and cropped the top of the pic. The person in the pic is my girl friend and she loves it when I take her pics with my lumia 800 and upload it on Facebook because it daily gets 100 likes.
Geoffrey Gelb: I used a Samsung Focus running Windows Phone 7.5. This photo is a natural/un-edited photograph. Scotland is one of my favorite locations in the world. This picture of Eilean Donan Castle is a beautiful representation of the magical colors and textures I enjoy in this stunning country. The sky changes on a minute-by-minute basis – from a gloomy gray to bright blue. The grounds of the castle show the water, ancient stones and the greens and browns of the fall colors consistent with this magnificent place.
Wilson Wei: This beautiful photo was captured in Jiuzhai Valley, which is one of my favorite places in China, using my Samsung Focus. After a sprinkle of rain, every scene becomes clean, fresh and pure.
Kaushal Mehta: I clicked this photo while strolling along Aki Beach, Seattle, WA. This was clicked using Samsung Focus.The composition is amazing, yacht in the midst of Puget Sound, with sunset in the backdrop.
Ben Castellani: This photograph was taken by me using a Samsung Omnia 7 and was enhanced with the “HDR filter” in the Photogram App (exclusive to Samsung phones). This photo was taken in a remote aspen forest (near Aspen, Colorado) during a colorful late September morning. Nothing is more magical than strolling through the woods with leaves falling all around you, the sun shining, and the smell of Winter in the air!
Hanna Palo: Picture was taken with Lumia 900 and sharpened and color boosted with Creative Studio. I sometimes tell my kids I would go to the end of the world with them. Once when I took them to this cliff close to our home one of them told me that we are at The End of the World. We go here almost every week, but always on Finlands Independence day December 6th to drink a hot Christmas drink called Glögi. we go here when the first snow arrives and the first morning of the summer vacation we have breakfast here. Today we went there just to get this picture taken, to enjoy the last glimpse of sunshine before we enter the dark and depressing autumn with barely no daylight here in northern Europe, Finland, Porvoo.
Timothy Stewart: This picture was taken in Minneapolis, my new home and favorite place to be – especially in the fall. I love Minneapolis because the neighborhoods are full of lakes and trees, and it is a treat to see it in the fall. <3 Uptown
Prodromos Tarasis: This picture was taken with my HTC Trophy 7, in Greece at the island of Skyros this summer and edited with the Fhotoroom app just fixing contrast and brightness. This place is my favorite because one can admire the perfect combination of sun, sea, and sky.
Alex Parsons: This photo was taken in April of this year at Battery Park in Burlington, Vermont during sunset. The phone used to take this picture was the Samsung Focus and it was taken with the default settings. This photo hasn’t been edited to my knowledge (the picture was taken 6 months ago), if it has been, it was most likely cropped in Samsung’s Photogram app. This photo represents my favorite place because the sunsets in Burlington are amazing. This is what Burlington looks like almost every single day at sunset, and there is nothing better than going to the park to see it.
Todd Foust: This photo was taken with my “Carolina Panthers Blue” Nokia 900 phone. It is a photo of Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC, during pregame of the Carolina Panthers versus New York Giants game. This stadium is my weekly escape from it all. My favorite part about this photo is that my mother tried to capture the same scene with her brand new Google Android device, which couldn’t get anywhere near the wide angle, so she couldn’t get the sky and stadium in the same shot. My neighbor, who I gave a ticket to, tried to capture it with his iPhone 4 device which couldn’t capture the same colors. My neighbor asked me to text him a copy of the photo I took with my Windows Phone device
Rob Mader: Original photo (unedited) taken from my home in the Clare Valley, South Australia overlooking the Blyth Plains capturing sunset with my HTC HD7. The quiet of the bush and the beauty of the sunset should have been enjoyed with a glass of the Clare Valley’s finest wines, but I was probably just on my way home this time and stopped for the sunset. Even though I’ve travelled the world and seen many great places, my favourite is where I’m bringing up my children with my wife and building a house. My favourite place is home.
Yash Tolia: This photo was taken by me with my HTC Mozart Windows Phone, without any editing. It is the scenic view of the University of Colorado, Boulder with the Rocky Mountains in the background. The picture aptly reiterates the crown of being the “most picturesque university in the world” that UC Boulder holds. The serenity of the location is the reason why it is my favorite place.
Raphael Velasquez: This picture was taken by my HTC Arrive with no editing or apps. It was taken on Richmond Beach here in Washington. Coming from California, I would have to call it my second home. You always have the best views at a beach and the ability to just be lost in it’s peace and tranquility. That day was perfect, the Sun just sliding down the mountains, the gold lining on the clouds above and choo’s of the train roaring by on the far right. Bliss.
(click through to see the full-size image)
Patrick Tam: I took this picture of Half Dome at Yosemite National Park in California just before sunset from Glacier Point. The scenery was perfect for the HTC Titan Windows Phone’s native panorama feature. Just snap the first shot and move the camera from left to right. Windows Phone did a great job stitching the photos together. The quality is excellent and no f/x is needed. Looking forward to upgrade to WP8.
Matteo Lugli: This picture was took with a HTC 7 Mozart in a foggy morning on Pilatus, a mountain near Lucerne, Switzerland. I really love the mountains, especially how they can challenge you and the satisfaction they give back when you manage to do it. The photo was renamed using Fantasia Painter Free, without adding any effects.
Chunsiong Tan: The place taken is Pulau Dayang, a great scuba diving spot off the coast of peninsular Malaysia. At the break of dawn, while walking along the great sandy beach, I captured native children with my Samsung Omnia 7 using default camera application. The settings were to underexpose, increase contrast and saturation of the picture.
Ben Philpot: I took this photo on my Samsung Omnia 7 using the standard camera app and settings. The sun shafting through the early morning mist promised a beautiful day to come; the English country churchyard adds to the atmosphere. It is one of my favourite places because it is a peaceful interlude between bustling towns on my cycle route to work.
(click through to see the full-size image)
Lawrence Lam: Attached is a stitched panoramic photo taken by my Samsung Focus using the included Photo Studio app from Samsung. This was taken while vacationing in Singapore last year. While walking along the renewed part of the Marina Bay, the impending storm was becoming more evident. I got this panorama taken before the dark clouds got any closer.
Bernard Wallace: This is a photo I took with my Samsung Focus S and has not been edited. I took this at the from the vantage point of the pillboxes at Lanikai and the photo shows the gorgeous water of Lanikai beach and the very nice looking Nā Mokulua islands. Lanikai beach is one of my favorite places because I love going there to nap or relax after a long day of hiking or to snorkel in that beautiful water and look at all the sea creatures.
Jayaram Krishnaswamy: The sound of the ocean; the whispering winds; the backdrop of the coconut grove; and the morning sun not yet strong enough to mask the moon makes this picturesque location unforgettable. Yoga and sun worship on this beach for two whole months was a dream that came true.
Dhivaagar Coomaravel: Taken on my HTC 7 Mozart. Just on an evening out with my friends.. The shades of sunset always amaze me with a different color every day…
Thanks to all who entered. See you next time! And in the meantime, keep tagging your Windows Phone photos on Twitter with the hashtag #WPphoto.