This photo is of some very excited members of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club's during ther annual New Year's Day swim. The are running into and toward the near-frozen waters off the coast of Coney Island.
This photo has nothing and everything to do with America and patriotism and/or how most of us are feeling right now. And it is a good shot. And so it is a contender, in the Second Edition of Hey, Hot Shot! for 2008.
Look at some more of entrant Shizuka Minami's work on her website.