which would you submit?

my company has an employee-only photo contest every year for their sales and promotions calendar. the theme this year is "greetings from the road." i had a few random shots of some touristy type stuff that i was sending in, but then i thought about something...the first place shot is put on the cover. so, i was thinking that they are probably going to require a shot that is really clear in defining the theme. anyways, i went out on the road and snapped some photos. i would love to just get some opinions on which 1 or 2..or none of these you would think i should send in. thanks everyone for looking.

I like the compositions of the first and last best and probably the last one over those two.
I think it would be better if there was a vehicle.

I would pick number one if you could get a vehicle coming towards you in the shot. Knowing why the company chose this theme would help. You did mention this is a sales promotion calendar. What products do they sell? Why is the theme "Greetings From The Road"? If this is the theme I would think that someone needs to be in the picture to portray GREETINGS from the road, Jeff

#1 seems to be missing something in the foreground like you have in #5

#2 & 3 are just ehhh nothing exciting

#4 - MOTORCYCLE !!! GREAT !!! power lines BLAH along with signs and other distractions

#5 - I think is about the best here - kind of lacking on the right side and sky is a bit hot on the right side ...

I suggest going back to where you shot #1 - get something in the forground like you did in the last shot and get a motorcycle to travel towards you (shoot the shot from the same side of the road in the same area just get that foreground to give it more depth .... plus something in the foreground on the right side will cover up the ugly shoulder ...

I like the last one best. Very nicely done. You may want to try cloning out the power lines though.

thanks for the input guys.

the theme really doesnt have any tie-in with the company. they just do a clander every year with random themes. also, none of the photo's can be altered so i cant do any type of cloning work on them. i sort of felt the same way about needing some human element in the scene to get the "greetings" part of the theme across. i can deffinitly try to do what you've suggested.

thanks again

I like the first and last one. I wish something was going on in the road of the first one though.

I think #1 and #4. If it's "greetings from the road", then I think just having a beautiful stretch of road with great background scenery as in #1 would be enough. The scene itself and road is welcoming and "greeting" and would put the fire in anyone to get out there and travel it.
Then, you have #4 which does not have the same beauty of scenery as the first, but the rider on the road looks like such a stock photo that i could see used in that way especially for that theme. The two compliment eachother as well by one have the beautiful road and scene and the other showing the rider who may be riding into that wonderful scene in #1.

in case anyone was interested...i won 2nd place out of over 1600 entries. i ended up sending in #1,2 and 5. #5 was the winner for me. i was pretty excited to hear the news. ill be in the company marketing calendar and i will also get a nice $650 prize. =)
time for a nice new flash and/or lens.

Either the second or the last. The clouds in the second one are interesting, but I really like the framing device of the cactus on the left in that last one.

CONGRATULATIONS

Thanks for the update

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: Way to go! It is rewarding when your efforts are rewarded, Jeff

Nice! I didn't even see your response when I posted mine. Excellent!

Last is my favorite as well!

good job and thanks for the update.