I've never had this much difficulty judging a contest. There were so many entries that appealed to what I was looking for... several entries could have been #1 with a minor tweak in criteria. Having said that, I need to pull the trigger so Show and Tell can move on.
Honorable mentions:
Jarek
luxun54
Markus
Ken
Third place: Arnie
Second place: Jola
First place: Walter
There's almost something about this photo that directly contradicts my vision of this contest - the stark architectural symmetry versus a more fluid organic image. I find it especially pleasing that the sun is not perfectly lined up with the trough... illustrating that nature is not bound by the rigid design. Over to you, Walter.