The March Photo Challenge let us get up close and personal with some stunning flowers, bugs, textures, and rain drops. It was a great collection, and we definitely had a tough time narrowing down our winners. Many of our top picks stood out not only for their composition and selective focus, but also for the interesting story or intimate feelings they suggested to us.

Mike Raymond manages to capture a lot of personality in this close-up portrait of a  bird. The sharpness in the bird’s face keeps our attention locked right there, daring us to blink first.

 Are these the tears of a clown? We like that while the sad clown in visible in each of the drops in Douglas Conrad’s photo, he’s perfectly captured in just one.

The title adds just the right amount of whimsy to this sweet shot by Anne Fatooh without distracting from the bud’s interesting shape.

We love the texture in this beautifully lit shot by Doris Pacheco. The scene calls to mind many fun summer days gone by.

The shallow depth of field in Dick van Swieten‘s charming shot brings us right into the world of the model train. We can’t help but wonder what the men off to the side are chatting about.

There’s something a bit alien and mysterious about these frost-covered needles set against an icy blue background in this photo by Brian Phillips.

Anton Prestele sets up a lovely still life in this homage to passing time. The contrast between the sharp watch hands, the soft flower petals, and the textured background holds our attention.

Dan DellaChiesa does a wonderful job of capturing the simple time-worn beauty of everyday objects in this photo. We love the texture and off-center focus.

The very selective focus in Tammy McChesney’s photo effectively draws our attention to the beauty of the pencil’s woodgrain.

Winner: The visual tension between the in-focus barb in the foreground and the hazy path and mountain in the distance creates a wonderful sense of longing in this well-composed shot by Lori Ziegenhagen.

Congratulations to all our winners! And stay tuned. We’ll be announcing the winners for our April Animals Photo Challenge soon.