Congratulations to John Batdorff of Chicago, Illinois, for winning Shutterstock’s 2010 Photo Safari Contest, sponsored by B&H Photo and Zozi! Batdorff wins a safari for two in South Africa, including three nights on safari at the Lions Sands River Lodge and three nights exploring Cape Town courtesy of Roar Africa, plus $2,000 which can be used towards airfare.
We got so many excellent entries that picking a single winner was supremely difficult, and we are grateful to judges Chase Jarvis, David duChemin and Zack Arias for lending their expert eyes to the challenge.
You can browse the other entries on the official contest page until May 31, 2010.
We asked photographer John Batdorff to say a few words on his winning photo:
“I’m thrilled with being selected by the judges as the winner. The Taj Mahal is simply one of the most majestic buildings I’ve ever photographed. As a photographer, it’s really hard to do the ‘Taj Mahal’ love story justice. Grief-stricken emperor Shah Jahan built it in memory of his third wife. Frankly, what’s even more difficult is to add anything different then what’s already been done. I had decided prior to my trip to India that I would photograph the Taj Mahal using a digital medium format – if for no other reason than to just mix it up a bit. I think for me this image represents one of those rare times when the tools and the surroundings melted perfectly to create the vision I had in mind. On the geek side of things, I photographed this image with a Phase One 645DF, 35mm Mamiya lens with a P21+ digital back. A special thanks to Shutterstock, B&H and Zozi for sponsoring the contest.”
