During 2014 I took part in a weekly photography competition run by WEX Photographic (formerly Warehouse Express). I managed to win a couple of times and in doing so I earned a place in the final exhibition. The overall winner in 2014 was Lee Acaster, closely followed by Matthew Dartford, both of which I chat regularly to online and were both very worthy choices indeed based on their efforts.
I’ve been asked for quite a few images from Amateur Photographer to date, most notably with my Wild Wood Feature last October (watch out for another coming up again soon) so I was pleased to be asked to supply an image which would be used to demonstrate how to “avoid the cliches” as part of their “12 New Year Projects” feature…
Following on from my success in Landscape Photographer Of The Year, I received news today that I’ve also been short listed for Outdoor Photographer Of The Year 2014, in association with Outdoor Photography Magazine. Unlike Landscape Photographer Of The Year which is restricted to UK based photography, this is a global competition and attracts some of the best amateur and professional photographers (and scenery!) from all over the world. As such, being even considered for such an award is some nice recognition.
December started like a winter month really should with a few sharp frosts and low temperatures, though as always the British weather usually has other ideas up its sleeve and this soon turned into a cloudy, wet, dull and windy spell bringing an end to the sort of conditions most landscape photographers revel in. A single and very short-lived small amount of snow in the latter part of the month wasn’t enough to re-create those magical conditions for me either. I’ve since been enjoying the low light/high ISO capability of the Nikon Df and this signals new possibilities for me as we turn towards 2015 but in truth I’d much rather be out in an icy dawn landscape with the Warwickshire countryside for company.