Landscape Photo Competition 2015 No 5 : Results
- Competition Winner : First Prize
- $384.00 and a Leica C camera worth $700
- Judges Comment
- Every round the photography in this competition improves. Making it through to the last 10 gets ever harder, beautiful images need to be discarded and reasons found for each one, the slightest error leading to elimination. This round has been no exception. I think you will all agree that these top 10 landscape photographs are all outstanding images. Winning this theme is no small feat, you can be sure the competition will be steep, it takes sound techniques and sensitive composing, beautiful light and tones, crispy scenes and loads of imagination to master imagery like we see here. But it takes a little magic on top of all that mastery to stand alone, a step further up the ladder than anyone else. Well this photograph does just that, and there may well even be two steps. This is a brilliant, soulful, pure and spellbinding beauty. Congratulations.
- Photographers Comment
- Thank you for your thoughtful words, I appreciate it very much. The image was shot in a remote area on a high mountain plateau in Norway's west in the winter of 2015. After having scouted in the blue hours for a interesting foreground I was happy to find this particular curvy snow drift leading straight into where the sun would rise. I then waited until the moment just before the sun rose. At this moment in time the golden sky pretty much perfectly complimented the cool blues of the brittle snow surface. The tracks to the right are left behind by an arctic fox. I found them interesting on their own but I also was happy with how they helped balance out the otherwise a tad left-heavy scene. The image is made up of 9 vertical 16mm shots, although with a very big overlap in order for the closest foreground to stitch correctly (the camera was barely high enough off the ground to have everything in focus at the desired aperture). Thanks!
- www.stian.photo
- Mark Of Excellence
- Judges Comment
- A lovely minimal misty scene where strong colour and no colour set each other off wonderfully. Well done.
- Photographers Comment
- Many thanks for giving my image the Mark of Excellence. My name is Oliver Preuss, and I live in Guatemala. Being in the top ten amongst so many beautiful images is an honor. I shot this image in NH with Leica M (typ 240) and a Leica 135mm f/3.4 APO Telyt.
- Mark Of Excellence
- Judges Comment
- Well don’t miss those misty mornings ! Here is another lovely scene made possible and minimal by the morning mist. The gentle, low contrast in this photograph comes from the near dark, very low light of daybreak. A magical soft time of day which you have portrayed so well. This is not just a view, it is a view at a very particular moment, and you have caught it perfectly.
- Photographers Comment
- Thank you very much for the Mark Of Excellence. I'm very pleased with it. My name is Henk Geusebroek, from The Hague in The Netherlands. The photo was taken near The Hague with a Nikon D610 and Nikon 70-300 lens (iso 1250, f 4.5, 1/640 s.). I did not do any post processing on this photo. Thanks again.
- Mark Of Excellence
- Judges Comment
- Well here is a beautiful landscape, as we love them, nature at its best, clear and full of hope for the day to come. Your composition is so peaceful and balanced and easy to get lost in, well done, that is really hard to achieve. Beautiful scenery doesn’t mean beautiful photo, you have managed this really well.
- Mark Of Excellence
- Judges Comment
- Here are amazing and unusual shapes of usual things seen from an unusual angle (and in snowy flat light). It is interesting, and consoling, to look and realise that everything in this view has been man-managed and that even the lines on the road have become the strokes of artistry. Well done for creating that very welcome heart warming view of things.
- Mark Of Excellence
- Judges Comment
- So simple and beautiful, yet so hard to manage. Great photography.
- Photographers Comment
- Thank you for the Mark of Excellence! Being included in the top photographs of this competition is an honor. My name is Sarah Imus and I live in Kalamazoo, MI, USA. This photograph is part of a larger series of long exposure photographs. While the shutter is open I utilize movement to create abstract images. In this case a soft landscape emerged. Thank you again for selecting my image and congratulations to the winner.
- simusphotography.weebly.com
- Mark Of Excellence
- Judges Comment
- You have caught a lovely aurora and they are always amazing to look at. And you have done well finding an interesting foreground in the dark; it is difficult to compose when you can’t see where the rock’s edge is, or whether the wave has come up into the corner or not… There are lots of stunning photos of the northern lights around these days, hoards of photographers are heading north, so auroras have lost points on the originality scoreboard and it would take an outstanding shot to be a winner. It looks like you had trouble getting correct exposure, particularly on the larger rocks. Maybe find a lighter foreground next time, or one with lights in it, or perhaps use less intrusive rocks and favour more water, a lighter, emptier foreground would have better set off the shape of this amazing light show, giving it more space. I just feel you could have got something even better, cleaner here.
- Mark Of Excellence
- Judges Comment
- Here is another stunning shot of that black sand beach in Iceland with ice on it. This time beautifully taken in dramatic low light, but like the aurora, a winner from here would need something really very special.
- Photographers Comment
- hi my name is Laily Hassan from Malaysia. I've been into photography for past few years but only just for hobby in between my busy schedule as a medical doctor. I went to Iceland early this year and managed to take hundreds of photos there. Ice beach is one of my favourite places there. To take this picture i had to stay and hold my tripod firmly to avoid being carried away by the current but i did really enjoy my time there. The camera that i used was Nikon D610, f16, 1s , 10 mm using tokina lens 11-16mm then i converted the picture to black and white via lightroom. Thanks again for selecting my photo and congratulation to the winner and all the others superb photos here. regards.
- lailyhassan.zenfolio.com