Images: DuPage County winners of our photo contest in 2017

I took the train to Chicago to attend the Mexican folkloric at Millennium Park, Wednesday, Aug. 30. It was a beautiful night of lively music, enthusiasm, glorious costumes, and dance. And although I did not understand Spanish, and it was entirely in Spanish, I did got goosebumps when the thousands of people there joined in signing traditional songs with the performers. Also the rendition of our National Anthem was perhaps the best I have ever heard. I made this photograph with a Nikon D-90 and a Tamron 16-300 millimeter lens. I had a good seat on the aisle in the first section behind reserved seats, and before I left I was allowed to shoot photos from the west side of the stage. It was a wonderful night. I had fun. Nina Pulliam of Itasca

A little over two weeks ago I was able to attend and shoot the Illumination Show at the Morton Arboretum for my first time. That evening it was snowing fairly hard and even though I brought 3 lenses with me, I only was able to shoot with the previously mounted Tamron 24-70. The weather prevented any lens change while out on the 1 mile show path and my Opteka Rain/Elements cover came in handy. Even though the snow presented a challenge it also provided some beautiful scenes and overall I was pleased with the outcome. Larry Lato of Lisle

The Photo was taken on a colorful Morning in Cabo San Lucas, in an unique setting of an infinity swimming pool over looking the Sea of Cortez.. There is double reflection. The golden colors of the sun and the distant sky reflected in the Sea of Cortez and distant part of the infinity pool.The palm trees and light golden clouds against a bluish sky reflected mainly in the infinity pool, making for a nice composition. Pat ( Dushyant ) Patel of Glen Ellyn

We traveled to Florida to visit friends after the holidays. We visited Honeymoon Island State Park, and I caught this Osprey creating a splash as he fished. I like the spray coming up as the bird hit the surface of the water. Robin Green of Warrenville

I'm a freshman at College of Dupage majoring in photography. I took this photo this summer in Michigan at a beach we stumbled upon. My mother was my hand model and we were playing around with silhouettes. I wanted to included motion, so I asked her to grab sand and let it run between her fingers. I really love how this photograph turned out. Photographs like this is why I wanted to be a photographer the rest of my life Sarah Kratz of Warrenville

I took this picture on a boy's road trip with my son and two grandsons to the Badlands and the Black Hills of South Dakota on March 31, 2017. After hiking up the Notch Trail to a Badlands overlook, we saw this Mountain Bluebird warning us of rattlesnakes. Tom Knutson of West Chicago

Dolphin in Sanibel, FL putting on a show for our boat tour! Maggie Newlin of Naperville

This photo is from my trip to Alaska. I like this photo a lot because it captures the bear in its natural wilderness where it has a big piece of salmon in the background and his eyes are speaking as to say "This is my kingdom, I am the boss here". This is how the wildlife should be left, hoping we could preserve what we got. Saral Gupta of Aurora

This was taken at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. I love this picture because it brings out the vibrancy and the colors of the State Fair. It speaks of the happy mood people have when they visit the fair. Saral Gupta of Aurora

Golden leaves cascaded down from above like rain as we enjoyed the last few days of warmer weather. Anna-Catherine McGraw of Wheaton

I have made thousands of images of everything imaginable. Unique, action, buildings, landscape or people but nothing struck me like the scene of these hidden boats. It was a cold morning in Ireland. We had been on a buggy ride though a huge estate and stopped to look at Ross Castle. I managed a beautiful shot of the castle and asked someone in our group to photograph my wife and me, with another couple with whom we vacationed, on a bridge with the castle in the background. While standing on the bridge and smiling for the camera I spotted these boats against the shore in the stream along side the bridge. The peacefulness and absolute solitude of the secluded little stream with the boats pushed to shore immediately called me to try to try to capture the feeling. Of all the beautiful landscapes and castles we saw in Ireland non struck my imagination and respect for beauty, nature and solitude as this image. I was happy to be able to capture the reflection of the trees as a border and thankfully had sufficient light to show the colors of the boats. John Roscich of Naperville

This photo was taken on a beautiful early fall day at Lake Katherine in DuPage County. You can see this butterflies straw sucking nectar! How cool! Maggie Newlin of Naperville