Photos We Loved: Connected

Here’s a selection of outstanding images you recently shared in response to our Weekly Photo Challenge.

By Ben Huberman

There were nearly 800 entries in our recent “Connected” Photo Challenge, and I was constantly blown away by their technical brilliance and original take on the topic. Here are some of my favorites.

The photo I chose to introduce the topic was one of a suspended bridge, and many of you focused on similar physical objects that connect one space to another. For instance, I loved this shot of three bridges crossing Singapore’s Marina Bay, by Debbie Smyth at Travel with Intent — especially how the curved and straight lines seem to engage in a playful dance:

Mitch Zeissler shared a very different take on the theme of bridges, with a moody, black-and-white shot of a fallen tree over a river:

Still on the same topic (I confess being a bridge geek, in case that wasn’t obvious by now), Jane Lurie took a stunning shot of one of the most iconic of the bunch, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, without actually showing the bridge in question. She pulled this off by showing us the lattice of shadows the bridge casts over Fort Point:

A connection can be more than just physical, of course: it can also be emotional and spiritual. In Abu Dhabi, Kevin (aka agent909) explored these aspects of the theme by capturing members of one family just as they’re about to enter the imposingly beautiful Sheikh Zayed Mosque, one of the world’s largest.

In Ireland, we catch a glimpse of another ritual: cricket. The blogger behind North Kildare Cricket snaps a dynamic shot of a batsman an instant after he connects with the ball.

There was something oddly moving in the image of a new screw connected to an old rusty latch, taken by desleyjane over at Musings of a Frequent Flying Scientist. Maybe it’s the visual foreshadowing, hinting at the screw’s inevitable fate?

My final pick this week was the one that took me the longest to decipher: I knew I loved it but wasn’t sure why. It’s a shot that Bob Ramsak took on the streets of Bogotá, Colombia, depicting an eerie but unexpectedly peaceful communion of a man sleeping on the sidewalk and the street art next to him.