First, I want to give a special thanks to everyone who participated in the Sony Twilight Football Photo Contest.  If you haven’t seen all the great photos, check out the 20 Sony Twilight Photo Contest Finalists.  Additionally, a big thanks to Sony for making Photography Bay a part of the contest and sending a Photography Bay reader on this cool photographic journey.

And the winner is . . .

Not all who wander are lost by _Massimo_

I asked Massimo to share a little about the winning photograph.  In his words:

In the early afternoon of the day I took this photo, a spring storm blew over Raleigh. When I noticed that the sky was opening up, I decided to go and try my luck with the rain at Lake Crabtree County Park.

It’s a location where I go often because the Lake is pretty shallow and the sun sets directly over it. It really yields to very nice sunsets.

I was lucky and the rain clouds finally moved away and I could capture a really nice sunset over the rental boats, ashore for the evening.

Massimo wins a trip for two adults to one country hosting a Twilight Football game that takes place on September 22, 2009, transportation to and from his hotel, and hotel accommodation for 3 consecutive nights including the night of the 23rd of September 2009.

A little more about Massimo . . .

My interest for photography started during my first or second year in school. My older brother began using a Yashica MG-1 to try to imitate some of lighting used in 1920s Germany photography (of course, only black and white film). I was really liking what he was doing so I was tagging along every time he was going to shoot downtown Genova (my home town in Italy).

I think I can say that my love for cityscapes, landscapes and travel photography has a start from these fun experiments. I inherited that camera and I shot throughout high school, until playing in band took precedence (as a student I couldn’t really afford both or have enough time for both).

For several years I was just taking pictures during my trips but nothing really serious…. until 8 years ago I got my hands on my first point-and-shoot digital camera. The creative freedom and the low cost offered by the digital medium really blew my mind.

Soon I got my first serious prosumer camera (a Nikon Coolpix 5700) and soon after that my first DSLR. 7 years after I am now shooting with a Nikon D3 and I love the possibilities that such a camera offers me.

With my tools, I can focus on the atmosphere, the moods and dynamics of everyday life of a city or a landscape.

Capturing them means to capture the essence of the scenery and continuously sparks my imagination and inspiration.

Massimo Strazzeri is an Italian photographer living in North Carolina.  If you spend any time on his flickr photostream, you’ll find many more great images.  Additionally, you can see his inspiring portfolio on his website – www.massimostrazzeri.com.