Dallas Skyline at Dusk with Sunset. Photo: Stephen Masker

Congratulations to Stephen Masker of Flower Mound, the winner of the Flickr Photo of the Week contest. This is the first time Stephen has won our little contest. He follows last week’s winner, Robert Moore of Dallas.

If you would like to participate in the Flickr Photo of the Week contest, all you need to do is upload your photo to our Flickr group page. It’s fine to submit a photo you took earlier than the current week, but we are hoping that the contest will inspire you to go out and shoot something fantastic this week to share with Art&Seek users. If the picture you take involves a facet of the arts, even better. The contest week will run from Tuesday to Monday, and the Art&Seek staff will pick a winner on Friday afternoon. We’ll notify the winner through FlickrMail (so be sure to check those inboxes) and ask you to fill out a short survey to tell us a little more about yourself and the photo you took. We’ll post the winners’ photo on Tuesday.

Flickr Photo of the Week winner, Stephen Masker

Now here’s more from Stephen.

Title of photo: “Dallas Skyline at Dusk with Sunset”

Equipment: Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM, Manfrotto Tripod, Lightroom and PS CC for Mac

Tell us more about your photo: I created this image from the top floor of CityPlace Tower, shooting through the window. To eliminate glare, I removed the UV filter from the lens and pressed the lens against the glass of the window, using my jacket to block the ambient artificial light coming from inside the space I was shooting in. I have shot at this location before, so I had a good idea of what to look for with composition. In my initial attempts to showcase the scale of the skyline, I showcased too much of the surrounding area, which ended up having the opposite effect and dwarfing the skyline. On this approach, I wanted just enough of the surrounding area to showcase the immensity of Dallas without focusing too much or too little on just the architecture of the city. As with most of my skyline photography, I aim to communicate a sense of energy and motion in my images. The slower shutter speed with the streaking car lights really helps to communicate this, and that near perfect blend of ambient and artificial light really helps to communicate the life of the city.