Theme:

This one was a particular challenge as I used Cycles for the first time for a competition. Over the last few months it has gone major changes and has grown into quite a useful piece itself. While volume isn't available yet in the official build, I do see strands going for gold in 2013, for which I am very excited.

This entry is about the first Christmas after moving into the first sea colony. A very big step and quite a leap in general, but the occupation of the person is not revealed in this work. From a worldly view, the viewer may think that this person is simply the pastor there that has also taken some weird vow of poverty, but from a Biblical view, you'll also notice that no photos are up, no big possessions and even no gadgets. That should lead you to believe that either the people were not allowed to take much and/or this person has not finished moving in yet. As someone in such a colony, everyone will have something to do and a computer will be mandatory as well as a strong set of personal items for psychological reasons.

Technically I felt the chair could be better and may have been better to add the sharks manually, rather than through a particle system, but I am happy with the overall look of the image. The star remains the dominant focus and everything leads the eye back to the center of the image, which is the star (the birth of CHRIST) followed by the Bible (HIS life on earth as well as teachings and how to live) and finally the cross (moving onto Easter, which celebrates HIM dying for our sins and being resurrected on the third day and living today). The glass is just a functional item and can lead the eye back up the window.

Here you can find the reference image I used for the sharks - NOAA

Here you can find the other entries and the winner.