Just the "right" amount of contrast. Glad to see this in the top ten and I'd love to know the location.
Thanks! I worked pretty carefully at trying to reach a point of total black, and a point of total white. The afternoon sun gave really strong contrast to the scene. This is in southern Chile near the city of Coyhaique.
Not sold on the caption. Would like to see more context in this image... ie a wider view. Like the textures and the light/shadow interplay. Can't vote but would have voted 6.5