Less Than 8 Hours Left to Vote in the Photo of the Year Final

 Nailed it. That's exactly what I was thinking. Just about everything about the first photo is perfect, photowise. Photo 2 is still awesome though.

 Either way every one wins because they are both shot in Canada.

 Don't care... lost interest last round... lolz!

 Voted for 1 also. Toby's pic reminds me of the of the nicest rides I had this summer. No matter if you're alone in the woods or in a contest with tens of thousands spectators, mountain biking always comes down what happens between you and the bike. I think anybody can relate to that one.

#2 is like the 129334829209848394858383th whip picture I've seen. Cool photo for sure but there were much more deserving entries as far as I'm concerned.

 Totally right.....so job done Toby is the winner!

 The winner should have been one of the pics that went out in previous rounds.

 @bighucker - What is wrong with composition on the pic with Brendan? I'd rather say that

Other duscussion below is very touching but IMHO I sense a bit of underdog behaviour. The fact of writing which pic and why means there's some insecurity in there. Choose as your heart tells you, imagine for a moment that you are perfectly alone in this wirld and NO ONE will judge you for your choice. Mind and reasoning f*cks it all up just choose with heart. If its the first pic because if because, fine but make sure there is no because of what SHOULD I do

 Taking a stance and explaining the reasoning behind it is hardly justifying insecurities.

 The best photos were in the quarter final. This is another whip photo at crankworx. Sweet no doubt, but nothing special.

 Or maybe I was just going through a bout of insomnia and I was just looking for a way to kill time before work as I'm clearly not going to fall asleep again while being too tired to do anything productive. I get your point but I assure you that the amount of care given about what my fellow keyboard warriors think on this particular issue is equal to none.

 Things always get interesting when WAKI throws his 2 cents out there, haha, or maybe it's more like 4. Sicks pics, Im goin' with the first one.

 WAKIdesigns strikes again!

 @Waki... It is hard for me to understand everything you are trying to say due to your broken english. Correct me if I am wrong, you think photo #2 has a better composition than photo #1 and there is no way photo #2 would have gotten this far if it didn't have a good composition. You then go on to say that commenting on photos is only for self affirmation and admit to your own hypocrisy.

Anyway I think that photo #2 has made it this far largely due to the fact its: in whistler, during crankworx, of fairclough, at the whip contest. What about its composition is good? It has a very cluttered and distracting background, framing is tilted, no symmetry, patterns, lines, etc. Its content however is awesome, its a sick whip, you can "feel" the energy of what it was like to be there.

I personally wouldn't have chosen either of these, my picks got eliminated in earlier rounds.

 second pic looks like an ad for scott and sram. too commercial.

 This is kind of like the POY contest from last year. Toby Cowley's is nice and gloomy/foggy which I love and is like the 2nd place lift pic from last year.
Then we have some insane shit. Bearclaw in the Gobi was sick, and so is this Whipoff pic. dooo doodoo do dodo doodoo

 so hard to choose both Canadian pics and sic pics... Its gonna be really close.

 sorry but photo #2 is too over-processed. I can't stand it when you see a glow around objects (look at the front wheel and the treeline- it is really strong there). It would make me feel like I was there if it was not so processed- too many people get in to tonemapping their photos and go overboard with it. #1 is processed but with a cause- it evokes a feeling of what it is like to be in that type of forest.

 no matter witch pic wins, tom's is better. the only reason #2 is in the last round is because all the 8-13 year olds who know nothing about photography just say, thats such a sick whip! and just vote without looking at the actual picture.

 We should support amateur photographers like Toby! Well done.

 Why do you should people? Why do you make people to feel good about choosing the first picture, and bad for choosing the other one, by using such argument? What if Toby never gets to be a photographer, if he finds another way of life. What if the other guy can use the opportunity better? People in this western culture spend so much time for being prepared for accidents, for bad things, this security obsession, but we are never taught to be prepared for good things, for opportunities. However, opportunities come to those who are prepared to catch them. If you were suddenly given a million dollars as on some website some people voted you to be the very man, because you (hipoteticaly) have 300k and the other guy has 2mln. Do you think that you would make a good use of it? Are you truly prepared to be given such gifts?

See what you mean is that he deserves it more - and simply, without knowing them both VERY well, you just can't make a truly righteous decision and what you guys are after is to make some justice here - you might also not be a good judge at all. There is no justice, there is no everybody is a winner, someone must win for other to loose. The otherwise mentality creates a see of loosers, not winners. Just live with it, just choose what you feel, what your intuition is, because this is no best choice contest but best photo contest.

I enjoy being a clown freak making uncomfortable remarks...

 ill have you know that 13 year olds now about compostions, ive voted for pic 1 since the beginning

 i realize that is true because i am only twelve but my brother is fifteen and really into photography and has tought me about all that kinda stuff, what i should have said was most 8-13 year olds don't know about photography.

 llamaman110 it was you having something against teenagers and their liking of whip picture, so decide whether your age is cool, appropriate or not. I could not care less what is your age, I never ever thought that age makes any difference whether something is wrong or right. Im 31 and I like it and can find tons of arguments for it just as i like the second and can find tons of arguments for it. I just mean that sharing those arguments is pointless because each one of us have different ones just as different likes and different fragility for art... so just vote and unless you are not trying to check if you made the right choice (which is stupid anyways - it's yours and nobody SHOULD care), don't share with anyone why you voted this way because as soon as you do it, you put your judgement under judgement... and nobody SHOULD care

 iamamodel - I read "the forest, the moose" first time and actually scrolled up to find this hidden moose haha

 I chose photo two because I feel as though it is a great symbol of what mountain biking stands for. Despite the whip, it expresses unity! Here are 1000's of riders, ranging from first timers to top pros, people who race for different sponsors, compete against one another, yet once across the finish can hang out and have a beer and a good time. I feel as though this photo captures the essence in the love we have for this sport. If someone doesn't win, we don't riot, or fight. Every race I have ever gone to I have always met amazing people. And that is why I chose photo 2, it shows how the small community that participates in our sport all ride together!

Lastly it captures the freedom of expression one can have while riding, the style one wishes to combine with the sport. It has the scenery that never fails to impress me whenever I go riding, Everything from the dust on this trail to the rider (Regardless of who it is) this picture expresses every aspect of the sport that I love so much!

 I chose photo number one for similar reasons NittyGritty states - love of the sport, style and scenery but minus sponsors and competition. I guess thats why mountain biking is so rad, It means so many different things to so many different people. To me, it is not competition or sponsors, its the rush I get from my whole personal experience. I suppose we need the competition and sponsors to help grow the sport and I sure do like watching but for me its all about where the tires hit the dirt. Photo one, aside from being a sweet photo, captures it all for me.

 Well spoken bmar, I agree completely. There is a difference in the way we can all view the sport of mountain biking, we can each take away something amazing and unique; that is a beautiful thing.I also agree that the excitement is present in the second picture, the feeling of flying through the air on the Crabapple Hits is unreal, I got to experience that last summer, and the second photo brings me back to lovely memories in Whistler. And although that feeling is undoubtedly amazing, I feel as if it captures less of what mountain biking usually is to me. Biking is getting into the flow, and that seems awkward to do when there are cameras flashing; I would much rather pin it down a misty mountain trail. But I do love the feeling of being airborne Essentially, both are great pictures as they both capture different but unique superb aspects of mountain biking, and that is something worth praising. I think, in this contest, neither choice for photo of the year is wrong, as both photos are winning shots.

 Very well said xwason... The passion of the sport lies in the eyes of the beholder!

 Yep, #1 perfectly illustrates the reason I ride and why I like it so much. #2 is galaxies away from me but I understand why people seem to like it so much.

 You have it nailed on Worm-Burner...

 Exactly.
it reminds me of an ad for SRAM or SCOTT. Lots of HDR effect/photoshop it would seem.
Still an excellent photo but it doesn't represent biking as it should. At least for us small folk.
I feel like I've seen too many of the big name pro super whip Get stoked sponser sponser sponser competition photos/PODS lately.
#1 for me as well.

 Look at how many fans, the helicopter, the whip, feel the energy. Its like you are there! Yahhhhhhhh! Can you hear the bangin sound of the SRAM tubes and all the riot from the crowd? Jens rules!

I love the Toby shot too. Damp hazy Shore day, rippin.... you can feel the chil and hear the wet roots...shhluppp.

Dont know, but leaning toward a good whippet!

 I was there, it was sick (in fact I can see me in the photo) I'm just saying there are a LOT of very similar photos (including my own), and even of Brendan doing that very whip. Not taking anything away, the photo is awesome, just I think individuality is gonna take it for me.

 www.pinkbike.com/photo/8316561 this one by steve lloyd

 Its not always about prep and perfect composition, a lot of the time my favourite shots are the ones that aren't perfect, just taken in the heat of the moment. Jen's photo captures the action and the fun whereas Tobys just looks a bit too artificial and a tad generic (sorry Toby). The best shots were voted out much earlier in my opinion.

 Jens probably has another 400 generic shots of that Comp from the same composition.

If you want to look at it fro a biking perspective, what comes first, the jump or the trail?
The trail.

Leave comps for video.

 ? are you kidding me, you could repeated it several times, the several riders who ran that run, all day snapping hundreds of photos in the same spot, in the same settings, same composition.

That first shot is the most technically challenging photo I can imagine shooting for biking. He had to set up his speedlight, he had to work with fog, with a dim lighting, with composing a photo in a forest of many vertical patterns.

I don't mean to be rude but anyone who shoots would agree, the second is not a photo as much as a picture, it was a snap of a button in a situation where everything was set up for him, the lighting isn't that good, it's over saturated and blown out. Is it a good picture? Yes, I would be proud of it, but is it the best photo? No contest, I bet he had hundreds of photos from that day, Toby would have likely only a few runs, maybe less to get that right.

 People don't give a shit about that in here... they see B-dog whipping and are like... whoa, cool. Click... I saw at least 6 nicer '' Photos'' in this contest no doubt...

 that's why teenagers aren't good judges. however, photo of the year for pinkbike teens is still photo of the year for pinkbike teens.

 True that...

 No offense but it was a dam bright sunny day for Jens to be shooting the Whip Off's. It was middle of summer in August at Crankworx and it was hot. Not too much effort involved at all. All that needed to be done was to be in a reasonable position to shoot the pic with a nice wide angle lens. Probably shot at 100 iso with a filter on as well. Maybe 200. Post production with heavy vignette and also bringing the blue out to highlight the rider and bike.

Toby's has also seen a lot of post with the darks brightened up,the use of a remote flash (see the ground under the rider). The backlight has also been brought up to highlight the trees more.

I think Toby's is the better shot as more effort has been put in by the photographer (as I see it) to get out and come up with a shot on a trail with a rider rather than just a walk or ride to a pre planned event.

Yes I am being critical but this is a best PHOTO competition not best trick/whip.

 chainsawnz, the picture of the whip has definitely not just been lit by the sun behind the rider. I'd say at least one remote flash giving fill in light.
While it's not my favourite (that was the trials guy on his front wheel on the building) I won't be suprised at all if the pic of Brendan wins - it looks amazing and makes me wish I could be there.

 bikenmiken you just proved yourself to be in the wrong here, it's a photo contest, not a spontaneous snapshot contest, people are judging the second one based on how cool the content is not how the photo looks, it's nothing more special then any other photo of that contest.

 #2 isn't even the only picture of that whip.standing in a pre-determined, prime location, snapping hundreds of pictures of every rider who passes is the antithesis of spontaneity.

 what is the story? all i see is a whip at crankworx.

 ps: i vote for pic one. capture the riding, looks kind of magical moment

 Photo 1 really does deserve the win.It captures what we all thought this contest was about.Brendogs would have been more appealing to me if it wasnt for all the Advertising in your face.

 completely agree. These two are too generic

 This competition is based on majority vote, obviously these two photos are the best in most people eyes. It's in your opinion that there have been better, clearly not many agree...

 yes, there were many many great pictures that didnt make it, and yes, many of them didnt get a fair chance, but i think for the most part this represents the majority of what people are looking for for POD/POY. its downhill/freeride bikes doing actual mountain biking. not wanna be bmx on 26". keep mtb in the mountain

 huh? i think the "wanna be" comment is a bit harsh, wouldn't you think?

 Same here! ..I haven't had a very difficult life.

 #firstworldproblems

 I voted for that pic all the way through! That was a sick shot!

 just amazing! this dude is killing it!