BTW, airfrogusmc - I loved that poster you posted a bit back in this thread. Great lead image, it looks like a fun show and I wish I could take it in.
I'm not going to trash talk the winner - I hope what I post here is not any different than what I'd say verbally, even with the person in question in the room. I think the 1st place photos were a bit, err...artier than what I expected. They'd be perfectly in place, IMHO, in an exhibition, fine-art setting...for something as exciting, reasonably well-defined and evolving a category as 'street', well -- I don't think it's as much of a fit.
There was one entry, that didn't make it into the runner ups, but I believe it was a finalist -- I'd have to go back and check on the name, so forgive me for speaking off the top of my head -- but it was startlingly original and super eye-catching. They were colour images taken (seemingly) with a fisheye from the vantage point of a cab in chaotic India.
They were, well, weird frankly but not like any other entry I'd seen. I was really blown away by them, and yet it never cracked the top 3. So, as I said -- shows you how much **I** know.