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What makes a great travel photo? Many things, of course, but we’ve found the best images always tell some sort of story. For this assignment, we weren’t simply looking for pretty pictures from a vacation. Beautiful photos are all well and good but they’re a dime a dozen these days. Instead, we were seeking unique travel photos that included some interesting elements in the frame to give a sense of place or context. We wanted to imagine we were standing right beside the photographer, whether they were taking a photo on a dusty street in Marrakesh, or turning their camera toward a vast plain in Montana. While neither of those locales are featured in our 10 favorite images from readers, the places that are presented here look pretty awesome.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Ok, maybe not tigers this month but the other two made the cut in some of the winning photos for this assignment. Wildlife and nature are favorite subjects for Shutterbug readers and, as expected, we reviewed a ton of amazing images from readers in these categories. The tough part was narrowing it down to just six favorites but we think we’ve picked some fabulous images to spotlight here.

Each of my Web Profiles columns will now include suggestions on how to increase the number of people who not only visit your Web site or blog but want to come back for more. To provide real world examples, I’ll pick sites that put these tips into practice.

Every month, Shutterbug columnist Joe Farace chooses his favorite photography websites and online photo portfolios from readers. Here are four photo sites he thinks are a cut above.

Each month in this column I gather a collection of websites, sometimes with a loosely related theme. This month’s sites have little in common except an excellence of vision, proving they are not only most uncommon but the result of hard work.

SanDisk’s Ultra Fit USB 3.0 Flash Drive: Small but mighty, this low profile drive stays put for extra storage or quickly moves media between devices. It offers performance speeds up to ten times faster than standard USB 2.0 drives (fast enough to easily transfer a full-length move in less than 40 seconds). The high performance USB 3.0 offers speeds up to 130MB/s read, capacities up to 128GB. It is available in 128GB, 64GB, 32GB, and 16GB.

The SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 flash drive comes with SanDisk SecureAccess, which creates a password-protected private folder on your flash drive. With your private files protected with 128-bit AES encryption, you'll be able to share your USB drive without compromising your privacy. With a year’s free subscription to RescuePRO software, you’ll be able to get back that file you didn’t mean to delete or the one that went missing when your computer crashed. The SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 is safe and secure.

Mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras have become increasingly popular among enthusiasts and pros because they provide a DSLR-like shooting experience in a lighter, more compact form factor, along with robust feature sets and significant technical advantages. The top models deliver pro-caliber performance and hi-res/high-magnification EVFs with incredibly rapid refresh rates that display the image captured by the sensor in real time.