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Thanks to the staff for selecting one of my pics. I am proud to be among those wonderful pics. Congratulation to all the others who have been selected. This selection is fine, but there are so many other pics that would have been worth it.

It again a wonderful GOTW. Congratultions to all who were selected. Many thanks to Danny for this beautiful collage.

When you're interested in more pics from Kempen, please visit my gallery.

Quote - All great photos Georg, but that middle one is out of this world!!!

You're right Kort. There was a band in St. Hubert some years ago, and the singer said on that evening that he could never before imagine to play a concert in the middle of nowhere.

This is a brilliant challenge, really, but it's hard to pick 3 pics to describe the area where I live. So I will describe a bit from the history and landscape. The village I live in is called St. Hubert and belongs to the small city Kempen. It's located on the Lower Rhine, which is in the western part of Germany, near to the Dutch border. You can find it in Google Earth. If you want to have the kmf file, please contact me. St. Hubert is very old, first mentioned for a wooden chapel on the Kendel, which is a (nowadays) very very small creek. St. Hubert was a village on the border between the country ruled by the archbishop of Cologne and the duke of Geldern. This was very important, because that was the border between Catholizism and Protestantism. In 1790 it got its promotion as an independent parish. St. Hubert was independent from any other city till 1970, when it was assigned to Kempen in a Communal Restructuring Reform and lost it's independence. Today it's still a very rural village with a strong community. There are fields all over, woods all around. The Lower Rhine is plain, but near to St. Hubert there are some hills, which are end moraines fron the last glacial period. I really love living here. Kempen: The first confirmation of Kempen as a town in official documentation was in 1294. Kempen itself was centre of the Reformation for the Lower Rhine. It's famous son is Thomas Hemerken, called Thomas a Kempis. He became well-known throughout the world for his four-volume work "The Imitation of Christ", in which he preaches a life defined by charity, humbleness and piety, without worldly possessions and claim to worldly approval. But now here are some pics: The first is a view from top of a firemens turntable ladder. You can see our church, St. Hubertus, and the fields and acres towards the north. I live directly at these fields.

I just read the message from Bruce and I still words fail me. I have never never thought of becomming winner in a photo manipulation contest. Thanks to all the voters. There were a great many of other worthy images in this contest, so my congratulations go to all the other contestants and the placed, who also could have been no. 1 Thanks to the moderators who did a great job also. The time you put into moderating this forum is not in vain, shown by the great number of images. Thanks again. Georg

1st: 3 2nd: 22 3rd: 32

It's again a collection of wonderful photos. I am really proud that one of mine was chosen to be among them. This surely is only a selection, there were so many more beautiful photos in the Gallery. Thanks to the team (and of course to Danny for his work) and congratulation to all the other artists.