European Photo Contest - Rules and First Round Voting!

I've opened the 2008 European Photo Contest! I'm v. curious to see what will win out -- will Walter dominate the competition as he did in the last photo contest? Or will a landscape pull it off? Or will something ridiculous take the prize? It's up to you - the fate of the free world (or at least these 32 pictures) rests in your hands.

For the setup, I picked 32 photos that I felt were either well-composed, illustrative of how I spent my vacation, or just too entertaining to pass up. I divided them into 8 groups at random, using random.org's random list creator. The winner of each group will advance to the second group (elite eight); the winners of the elite eight will advance to the final four, and two pictures will ultimately battle it out for the win.

These are the rules:

1) To vote, pick which of the pictures in each group you prefer, and vote for that photo in the comments section for each group.
2) Anyone can vote; however, you're encouraged to make yourself known to me (either by signing in or using nicknames). In the event of a tie, I will count only registered voters to break the tie; if that isn't sufficient, I will break it myself.
3) Voting will close approximately two days after the opening of each round, at 10pm CDT.

So what are you waiting for? Vote now by stating your preference in the comments section for each group. First round voting closes Friday, 5/23, at 10:00pm!