An exceptional photo goes beyond the basic elements of action, composition, lighting and color and tells a story. That was our criteria—that the photo tell a story beyond the obvious “object in the image”—for each Image of the Week we selected in 2015. And thanks to photographers Pete Boden, Jay Nichols, Tim Sharkey, Yvonne Aleman and others, we had plenty of wonderful choices this year.

As Tim Sharkey’s Image of the Week from the 2015 OPA season-opener proved, sometimes things aren’t as close to one another as they look. Photo courtesy/copyright Tim Sharkey/Sharkey Images (click image to enlarge).

In fact, those choices were so wonderful and bountiful that narrowing down the field from more than 52 amazing images (sometimes we found more than one in a given week so we published a second) to our four favorites was difficult. But for better or worse, we made our picks and will publish one per day this week, with our No. 1 Image of the Week for 2015 appearing on New Year’s Eve.

Snagging the No. 4 slot is “Too Close For Comfort—Or Not?” by photographer Tim Sharkey. Sharkey captured this image of Ultimate Ride, a 24-foot Pantera V-bottom, during the Offshore Powerboat Association season opener on New Jersey’s Barnegat Bay. Not only does the image present a great look at a raceboat in low-level flight on a blustery day, it tells the story of how lens focal length can make objects appear deceptively close to one another—to dramatic effect.

Related story: Image of the Week: Too Close For Comfort—Or Not?