In today's Washington Post

[Bob Salomon]

Winners of the Nature’s Best Photography competition

Winners from the Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Awards will be on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History from March 30 to Jan. 6. See more award-winning photography at www.naturesbestphotography.com .

Winner: Plant life

A Japanese maple in Oregon. Swedish doctor-botanist Carl Thunberg traveled to Japan in the 18th century and named this maple "palmatum" after the hand-like shape of its leaf. Gardeners all over the world grow the Japanese maple for its leaves' shapes, colors and fine texture.
Peter Lik / NBP Awards

http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation....html?hpid=z10

[Mark Sawyer]

If you google-image search "japanese maple oregon" you'll see lots of very similar images of the same tree...

[Bob Salomon]

Guess they should have entered the contest then.

[David Luttmann]

Roman Johnston who posts a number of photos on DPReview has a photo of the same tree....that many agreed was far better than Lik's version.

[Wally]

I agree. Mr. Johnston has nailed that tree (pardon the pun).