I was truly honored and humbled to learn this month that I received THREE Honorable Mention Awards for the 2017 International Photographer of the Year competition. Also known as IPOTY for short, these awards are determined annually by the IPOTY organization based in London, England. I had been fortunate to receive two Honorable Mention Awards in the 2016 competition.

According to IPOTY they received over 4,000 entries worldwide for the 2017 awards. They do a nice job of allowing you to submit into a specific category so that there is a better grouping of images and awards.

I received awards for two images in the Fine Art: Landscape category. One image is called Eternity (below):

This was taken last November at a very small cemetery I literally stumbled upon in the San Luis Valley in Colorado. A storm had just passed and the clouds added to the already stark mood of the cemetery.

Another award winner in the Fine Art: Landscape category is the image Road to Nowhere (below):

I took this image last September while traveling in rural northeast Oregon. I had driven miles without seeing any hint of population. This abandoned structure leaning to the side of the road seemed to just perfectly add to the road heading off to the horizon. When I was on this road I truly felt I was on the road to nowhere - thus the title.

The third image awarded is called Fluorescent Fractals (below) which received Honorable Mention in the Fine Art: Abstract category.

I took this image last October of a field of crosses near Louisville, Colorado. The crosses were placed by a church there to represent abortion deaths. I was struck by the pattern that was used. It had elements of symmetry and randomness that I found incredibly unique and almost perfectly abstract.

If you would like to see the entire collection of winning entries on the IPOTY website, click here.