Photo Contest: Hot Pics for April

James writes: "A friend and I were on a scooter trip through Laos when we fell short of our destination. A hill-tribe put us up for the night and this chicken gave us a visit in the morning." He took the photo with a Nikon D70 using natural light.

Bob writes: "I took this photo on a trip to Negril, Jamaica--it's a great way to get away from the New England winter. I used my Konica Minolta Dimage A2."

Trey writes: "I took this photo on the southern coast of Oregon. I was taking pictures of the setting sun, when I looked at the rock on my left side and saw the beautiful warm glow it had. I turned my camera, composed the shot, waited for the tide to roll up the shore, and shot it. The picture is named after a song from my favorite band, Mothers Anthem."

Nick writes: "This infant's vibrant blue eyes, juxtaposed with his bright red hair, captured my attention. I took the photo with a Sony A100."

Betty writes: "I went out shooting and stumbled upon a scenic area that I never seen before. Overall, my photo outing was a bust, but finding this one spot made the whole trip worthwhile." Betty took this picture with a Canon EOS 40D.

Richard writes: "I saw this butterfly from my kitchen window and hurried outdoors to to capture an image with my Canon Powershot S3. I did some editing with Photoshop Elements, including the Out of Bounds procedure."

John says: "I took this photo in Puerto Vallarta with a Nikon DX40 and a 300mm lens. We came upon a pod of six whales, and this male was showing off for one of the females in the pod. I had the camera set to shoot at three frames per second, and I shot the whale's tail as it flipped up and then descended back into the water."