A hand to *****The Winners of the February Contest ***** NATIONAL and STATE PARKS

[Mira]

There were those who said this was our most beautiful array of photographs ever, and I must say I just might agree
I thank all of you who participated either by submitting, voting, commenting, or kicking the threads - or all of that.

Here are the end results, and note, that except for first and second place every single place has a twin vote getter


WINNER FIRST PLACE
rdking647
Big Bend National Park



WINNER SECOND PLACE
birdographer
Steam Rising From the Spring - Ichetucknee Springs SP in FL


2 WINNERS THIRD PLACE
flamin lib
Petroglyph National Monument, New Mexico

William Seger
Morning on Yellowstone Lake


Fourth Place 2 winners
Keth
Rocky Mountain Reflects
Sedona
Old and Faithful Friend


Fifth Place 2 winners
urbanhermit
Spring in the Tetons
Callalily
Death Valley

and finally even the 6th place has 2 winners
MN2theMax
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Las Vegas
HAB911
Sunset, Honeymoon Island State Park, Dunedin Florida
==============================================

Hostess choice is the glorious photograph of

Soph0571
In 1066 they sat beneath a [now English Heritage] Tree



Start thinking, rdking647, you have won the right to name the theme for the next contest.

[blm]

1. Wow. I need to drop into this group more often. Truly great

photos. So many talented photographers.

[speak easy]

2. Magnificent. Congratulations to all.

[elleng]

3. BRAVO!!!

[SheltieLover]

4. Congrats to winners!

All are stunningly gorgeous & winners imo.

Ty to all entrants for sharing your amazing work & to Mira for hosting!

[hermetic]

5. Good job, everyone

Fantastic photos, all.

[Trueblue1968]

6. wonderful pictures

[IcyPeas]

7. wonderful photos. we also have gorgeous national parks!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. Congrats to all the winners!

This was a magnificently themed contest!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. Lovely photographs, all of them.

[steventh]

10. Great photos. Great hosting by Mira.

Thanks all for bringing so much beauty to DU.

[FakeNoose]

11. Stunning!

Thank you Mira and all the contestants.
It was very hard to pick a favorite because they're all so nice.

[CurtEastPoint]

12. Splendid offerings and well run contest, Mira! Ya dun good!

[Moostache]

13. Fantastic work...one and all!

When a photo captures the moment so perfectly that you feel like you're there, its a special kind of magic. Kudos to all!

[ancianita]

14. Congratulations to these winners! Such amazing photographic art!

All of them were beautiful.

Thank you all in this great group!

[MustLoveBeagles]

15. Congratulations to all the participants

It always hard to choose because all the photos are great.

[Blue 808]

16. Congratulations to all...

Those are some awesome photographs..!!

[burrowowl]

17. I love this contest!

It's really hard to chose at times at times.

[sarge43]

18. Stunning. Simply stunning.

Our national treasures.

[a kennedy]

19. Congratulations to all who entered and to those artists that won.

All of the finalists were perfection.

[Soph0571]

20. Absolutely fabulous winner!!!!

Huzzah

And Mira I honoured. Thank you

[mnhtnbb]

21. Congratulations to the winners!

Fabulous entries.



Our March contest is the Winter Seasonal Contest, so rdking647 has some time to come up with a theme for the April contest.

Thanks, Mira, for hosting!

[Mira]

33. I sent rdking647 a pm

he will be revealing the theme for April to Soph0571 by the end of March. She is up as a volunteer for the April contest.

[Xolodno]

22. Congrats to the winners..

...all very inspirational.

[Owl]

23. They are all gorgeous!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

24. I literally looked at this quickly and thought it was a National Geographic contest

Shots that great.

Bravo

[tishaLA]

25. The entries this month were all outstanding

I had a hard time choosing which photo to vote for in the four sub-groups

[UpInArms]

26. A huge round of applause to everyone!

[JohnnyRingo]

27. K&R

Amazing. Really stunning images.

rdking's astrophotography always impresses. I don't know how he does it.

[rdking647]

34. thanks

that shot was with a wide angle camera lens on a tripod,nothing special.

was out shooting tonight before the clouds rolled in, going to try again tomorrow and combine the 2 days shots,something i know can be done but ive never done it.

[JohnnyRingo]

35. Are you stacking to get that?

I only barely understand it, but I know it gathers more light from shorter exposures.

[rdking647]

37. the big bend one isnt stacked

the deep space ones are. stacking reduces the noise in the photo by improving teh signal to noise ration since after shooting the photo has to have the histogram stretched out heavily to bring out details

[Ferrets are Cool]

28. Congrats to ALL the winners!!!

[AZ8theist]

29. Way, way, WAY WAY TOO COOL!!!!

1st prize winner is now my desktop image.

Great job to all.

[Talitha]

30. Wonderful photos, everyone!

[HAB911]

31. good job everyone!

[Solly Mack]

32. Congratulations rdking647!!! birdographer !! flamin lib ! / William Seger !

Great job, Mira!

[KY_EnviroGuy]

36. Thank you for running this contest, Mira.....

and thanks to all the highly skilled photographers for their submittals.

On several days, you guys lifted my spirits with these posts.

KY......... ....... .......

[Tommy Carcetti]

38. Phenomenal photos. Never get tired of nature pictures.

Picture Number 2, Ichetucknee Springs, is one of my favorite places on earth.

[planetc]

39. Hurray for the photographers! And hurray for us!

[lark]

40. What great talent we have on this site!

The pictures are amazing, beautiful and much appreciated!

[denvine]

41. Congratulations to the winners!

I loved seeing all of the photographs!

[Richard D]

42. While it's a cliche, I can only say . . .

. . . breath-taking. Wow! Amazing photos.

[BobTheSubgenius]

43. All, and I do mean ALL are very worthy winners, and deserve the compliments they receive!!!

Not a single mediocre picture in the bunch, which is also a testament to the taste of the voting public, so to speak.

All that being said, there were many, many other photos that I would have been happy with on this list.

Bravo and brava to all involved!