by Marc Fiorito

There are always unexpected challenges when starting something new, and so it was with the first Aether Photo Contest. However, after clearing up some issues in the final voting round, we are extremely happy to award the grand prize to Marc Fiorito for his stunning picture of a lone biker making the slow trek across the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. During the winter months, this 7000ft high pass is buried under many feet of snow, shutting down the main access point from east to west.

Marc also provided us with an interesting insight as to what summer means to him:

“To me summer equates to new frontiers and lost lands. Frozen earth thaws releasing pathways to family, exploration, and an ever-changing landscape. Our perfect summer trip includes an interesting means of transport; whether that be a bamboo raft, a Ural motorcycle, a Unimog, or a Cessna 2-seater; naturally a camera and a beautiful final destination away from our urban jungle, where the galaxy glows bright as the lights of San Francisco. ”

Congratulations once again Marc for this truly inspirational photograph. We would also like to send out our sincerest thanks to everyone who participated and all the supportive fans who helped to make this contest possible. We couldn’t have done it without you.

For those who missed out this time around do not despair, we definitely plan to hold another photo contest again very soon!  We learned a lot this time out and plan to make a few tweaks to the process for next time. Stay tuned.