Our friends at Smithsonian Magazine have emerged from under the massive pile of entries for their fifth annual photo contest clutching 50 finalists divided among five categories (people, the natural world, travel, altered images, and our favorite -- because it's dominated by cowboys and Edward Hopper riffs -- Americana). The winners will be announced in the July issue of Smithsonian, but take a minute and cast your vote for the contest's new people's choice category. The impressive bunch of finalists includes Joydeep Mukherjee's above shot of a tech-saavy Lord Krishna taking a break in Kolkata, India, Russ Martin's Westonian tableau of wilted hosta, and a stunner of an asymmetrically-topped birthday cake snapped by Jacy Grannis of Gilchrist, Texas -- are we overanalyzing or is that shaky white picket fence of frosting a commentary on the subprime mortgage crisis?