Popular Vote Or Electoral College

Here's your chance to participate in the great democracy that is Ernie (Not Bert). Sort of. I've got the opportunity to get my pictures on a spiffy new calendar this year, and we've narrowed it down to a photo of the statue of Liberty Enlightening The World. But which shot should it be? I've picked out four of the best from my trip to NYC last month, and here they are. Which one do you like the best? My first choice was the one above, and it's the one I've done the most work on. I had to play with the sky a little to get it to the shade of blue that I like, but I wouldn't admit to that in court.

Shot two is another good one, you can see her left hand holding the tablet that's engraved with the date July 4, 1776. (Some people think that's where Emma Lazarus' poem is, but it's not.)

Picture number three is probably the odds-on favorite here in the little contest. That's probably because it squeezes in all of the important elements of the statue. You get the face, the crown, the tablet and the torch. I've also done some touch-up work on the sky in this one. I don't think it came out as blue as I wanted, but it's sufficient.

Number four is a detail of the face, with a little tiny bit of fake blue sky to the right. I like this one, but those streaks across her face (from water leaching some rust out of the joint to the left of her eye) detract from it too much. I like it, but I don't think it's the best.

While I was playing with the sky in the picture up top, I threw this one together in a hurry just to see what it looked like. There's a little tiny sliver of sky still edging the sculpture, and it shows when you look close, so this one won't fly, but I just wanted to see how it would look.

There you have it. Four choices. Which one is your favorite? And would you be interested in buying one of the calendars this picture will appear on? The calendars are about 2' x 3', with the picture printed at about 9" high and 27" wide. It's got the whole year on the face of it, and is printed on glossy paper that allows you to use it as a dry erase board. They'll sell for about $20. I figured I'd ask and see if there's any interest. I'll have to piggy-back my order onto the company's order, so I need to know about how many to get. If you're interested, leave a comment or drop me a line.

PS-Your votes don't really count. It's like the electoral college around here. You can vote all you want, but they tell you who wins. :)