"Waiting for the Dawn," "Vanishing Point," and "Dunstanburgh by Moonlight" were chosen as our January winners. Congratulations to Martin Alejandro Bordagaray, Luka Knezevic - Strika, and Rainer Mirau!

Here's a look at January's winners, along with some comments from the judges:

The judges loved the perspective and moodiness of this shot. Long-exposure shots of the seashore are always intriguing (and we get a lot of them in the POTD submissions), but this one stands out for several reasons. The lighting is particularly dramatic, and the presence of the human figure in the scene adds scale and some additional intrigue to the shot. We also liked the juxtaposition of the linear, very regular man-made forms of the walkway and the jagged crags of the rocks. - Not to mention the contrast between the rocks and misty look of the water from the time exposure. Really quite an amazing shot, and a great job by the model, sitting that motionless for the 30 second exposure. A great shot, congratulations to Martin (and his model)!

The perspective of this shot draws your eye into it, and fading-out of the background by the snow in the air contributes to an air of mystery. The softness of the image caused by the snow also contrasts with the crisp outlines of the man-made structures. We're always intrigued by photos with a story behind them, even if the story isn't explicitly told. What's going on here? The people in the photo seem out of place, both because of the weather, and also because of the setting. (A rail yard isn't a setting where we expect to find people on foot.) Are the figures walking because the storm has shut down mechanized travel? Or, is this perhaps just a common shortcut taken by people coming home from work. The paths they're walking on don't seem sufficiently trodden down for them to be regular thoroughfares. We keep searching the photo for more clues or information. A beautiful, moody piece.

Wow, another extraordinary time-exposure! Absolutely beautiful composition, too. The "mist" from the waves lapping around the rocks gives an ethereal, other-worldly quality to the image, and the interplay of the two main light sources (the moon, and what's presumably sky-glow from a nearby city) adds significant interest to the shot. Color is hard to use to good effect compositionally. It's often the case that color is superfluous to the composition of an image, with little distinction between black and white or color versions of the same shot. In this case, though, the color of the lighting is absolutely integral to the final composition, and the result undeniably beautiful. (We only hope that Rainer's 1Ds Mark III didn't succumb to splashing by the waves: The shooting angle is so low, he must have had his camera almost at the waterline.) Congratulations on a really exceptional shot.

A Pose	Mount Snow	Uncooler
by Sirsendu Gayen	by Hans F. Daniel	by Andrey Armyagov

There you have it: 31 great Photos of the Day, with three exceptional ones capturing top honors - so what are you waiting for? That could be your photo up there this time next month! Dig through your digital shoe boxes, pick your best and join the fun!