45+ Bright City Lights Photos: View The Contest Finalists

Thank you to all the photographers that shared their best shots showing lights in the city in this photo contest with chances to win an Apple TV, iPods and more! A special thanks to friend and professional photographer Olav Folland for his collaboration as a guest judge. Olav Folland was born a nomad, and graduated from 110 film to an SLR at age nine, while living in the Philippines.

"First off, I have to congratulate all of you. When the ViewBug team approached me about judging the first contest here, they made it sound so easy. They told me that "I'd just have to pick a winner and runner-ups from a small list." Well, again you've proven them wrong. Each and every photo is absolutely top notch, so choosing winners sometimes just comes down to splitting hairs - that one tiny thing that makes a photo different. So, major kudos for making my 'job' so difficult. This is one of those times where I could say what I liked about every photo. At the end of the day, I think a lot of this contest comes down to "does this photo somehow capture the soul of the city?" As the sun goes down, every city elicits an emotion that both resident and visitor alike feel." - Olav Folland

Congratulations Grand Jury Winner "Seattle" by tomgessner

"It's probably safe to say than whenever anyone (that hasn't been there) thinks of the Space Needle any time someone mentions the city - and they're right to a large extent, of course. The Needle is the single most defining piece of architecture there. But this photo isn't just about the icon. tomgessner takes us on a journey from the heights that are the core of the city through to the heights that will be. It's warm and inviting, and makes us feel like this is a city worth worth visiting. At the same time, he makes the starkness of the Needle even more definitive as a symbol without losing the rest of the city. The residential district in the foreground just adds to a "hominess". So, the composition is just superb. Seattle wraps itself around it's icon like a warm blanket and invites us. The photo is soft where it needs to be, and crisp where it should be, and I really can't find anything wrong with it." - Olav Folland

Congratulations Amateur Winner "A busy night" by silviali

Congratulations Runner Up "Millennium view - London" by Bronco

"London is 2,000 years of almost constant renewal, yet holding onto the past. bronco's photo manages to capture that. Here, we have the 21st century leading us into City Centre, with the next generation in the background. The cool whites and exceptional sharpness might make for a harsh view in other places, but here it speaks "modern" and "old" at the same time. Add to that some perfect leading lines and just a lot of *pow* makes for a really great photo." - Olav Folland

Congratulations Runner Up "Vathorst Houses" by albertdros

"I admittedly had to look up Vathorst, and it's a relatively new community in Amersfoort, NL. Not that history matters to a contest like this, but even though it's "new", it's just so very "Dutch", especially with the combination of traditional and modern architecture. But this is simply a beautiful photograph, inside and out. The clean lines, the tones, the way the reflections mirror the buildings - sometimes abstract works well, but in this case it would be fussy, all add together into something just spectacular. I also appreciate that he completely disregarded that stupid "rule of thirds", because that would have ruined this." - Olav Folland

Congratulations Runner Up "Hong Kong from Victoria Peak" by davidyack

"There's something about that 90-degree "V" that draws me in. At first, I see the water to which Hong Kong is wed, and then some scale of the city, but my eyes are drawn to the foreground, and realize the city is lit from below. So, it's not about the great heights of the skyscrapers, but the streets - the every day people - that make the city shine. This photo captures not only the breadth, but the depth, of what is arguably one of the world's most important cities. And, it does it in such a way that gives it a feeling of scale. The composition just opens up the city before you." - Olav Folland

Congratulations People's Choice "Jubilee Bridge" by richardvandewalle