14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has announced the four winners of the 2009 edition of its Future Pro Photographer Competition. According to the Redmond-based company, the contest is designed to attract students that are looking to share with the world their photography skills. This year, the Twilight Flight, an image captured by Neil Losin is the one that grabbed the Grand Prize for the 2009 Microsoft Future Pro Photographer Competition.
“I’m thrilled to be the winner of the Microsoft Future Pro Contest, as I’ve been submitting photos to the contest since its inception several years ago,” Losin revealed. “I’ll use the prize money to further my efforts to raise awareness about threatened and endangered species and pursue my passion for photography and wildlife.”
According to the software giant, Neil Losin is a graduate student in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). The winning picture dates back all the way to 2006. At that time, Losin was in California where he was studying the burling owl.
The 2009 Microsoft Future Pro Photographer Competition was opened to students worldwide, with over 3,000 entries submitted into the three categories of the contest: landscape; people and portraits; sports and photojournalism.
“Yeang Chng of Harvard Medical School won first place in the nature and landscape category for his photo titled, ‘Silvertip Scrub’. Chng’s photo captured a silvertip shark accompanied by rainbow runner fish. Alper Dutkin of Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University (Turkey) won first place in the people and portraits category for his portrait titled, ‘Blurry Lives’. Dutkin shot his photo in the impoverished Canakkale district in Turkey. Thomas Simonetti of Western Kentucky University was awarded first place in the sports and photojournalism category for his image titled, ‘Kentucky Rodeo’. Simonetti photo captures horses and cowboys at the Kentucky High School rodeo,” revealed Microsoft's Amy Sorokas.
