A bit out of focus, what a pity... but nice.

Nice, but a bit too centered

Love the look on his face.

Great emotion to the photo

Struggling with fear may not count (per the contest guidelines it has to be a PHYSICAL struggle) but the child also seems to be struggling to keep his balance. Good shot, author.

He was struggling to pull the rope to release him. It was a large slingshot swing. The would pull you up 40 feet in the air. You then had to pull the tail to make you fall.

OOOOOH my goodness.

this is fabulous. i really think you could have pulled out a bit on your crop to include the arms fully, as its a tiny bit close on the sides.
but...this is definitely great. i love the contrast, the shadowing, the fact you did it in black and white...and oh lord...well...the subject. *drool*

nicely done author. thanks for the eye candy.

Very nice work with the lighting here Author...you have surprised me (in a good way of course), nearly spot-on for this type of shot! Well done!

Just a little nit-picking thought here to give a try though...although the shadowing and contrast here is very good (don't get me wrong, love it!)...try taking your light center and high at about a 20 degree down-angle to really get the muscles to ripple and "pop"...

Just a thought and something I've had great success with

All-in-all, a simply wonderful entry...GL

I had a body like this once...but now he's buried in the basement with the other "studs" that were chasing my daughters!

Thanks for the help itsmymoment and jadedink...I am always looking for ways to improve my work.

LOL....you are so funny itsmymoment (at the bottom of your comment)

HaHa....Caught you! (FINALLY Read the whole comment)....

Great shot! Another thanks for the eye candy!

Like the grayscale here, great high res..

Let me have a better look at this shot... two better looks... three better looks...

That does it! I am going to suggest we have a" HUNKS " theme! Great shot author, (and model!"

I never got why chicks dig back muscles, my gf is the same - mystery...

Very, very nice. I agree with the above advice, but might also add just a tiny bit of a lower perspective. That way, the arms would block the horozontal bars, which kind of blend in with the grey scale. But, a very nice shot

CONGRATS!!!!!!! YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even if the quality of the image isn't the best possible i must say that this is an "out of the box" thinking.
Very good eye author!!!

Thanks for the encouragement...I did change the photo to one that might be slightly better quality I hope.

well done... very nice..

www.imagenomic.com
If you go to this site you can download a free program and minimize and sometimes eliminate the noise that the background shows. You can do one picture at a time for free or pay like $30 to do many at once. That will greatly increase your picture I promise
I'll hold my vote for now

bear in mind author, that reducing noise in an image can also change it's sharpness! I don't know what camera you use, or what settings, perhaps you might need to address this first.

I agree with you adenicyprus and I didn't think about that. BUT. in this shot I see that the noise can be done and then maybe down a bit on the midtones and up a bit on the contrast. Not a lot on both but just a bit will make it look sharp. A bit darker but I think it would be awesome! IMO of course

Thanks for the help you guys...I will work at my settings and look into www.imagenomic.com in the future! your constructive advice is much appreciated!!

Congrats for your first place!

CONGRATS!

Congrats!!!

Belated, but congrats!