Landscape Photo Competition 2015 No 4 : Results

Judges Comment
An off season windswept beach which nature is gradually taking back from the tourists. The disappearing tyre tracks, sinking barrel and birds all add to that story and create the lines and anchor points to hold the viewer’s eye. It is a beautiful airy composition, everything in the right place with plenty space, peaceful and interesting with strong graphic lead lines. The gulls are back and the sea lies in wait. The tones are beautiful with their dominant dark, the monochrome works so well. This is a superb photograph and worthy winner of this competition. Congratulations!
Photographers Comment
First of all, thank you! Such an honor! My name is Ioana Popescu and I live in Santa Monica, California. The beach during off-season is my favored subject. I love the empty space, and how nature takes over what was until recently full of gregarious human warmth. Order is apparently restored. This photo was taken in Santa Monica, with a Canon Rebel T3i and a Canon EF-S lens 10-22 mm.

Judges Comment
This is stunning, and you have once again created a strong image, your style is remarkable. The woman looking out over the lake to the distant hills makes us look out aswell. She is strikingly placed within your composition, her red dress contrasting with the pastel scene and the misty long exposed lake. Her siren like presence intriguing and curiously enchanting, her gaze towards the landscape gives all this space so much force. Well done, it was a close call, and as i said last round, your work takes us one step beyond. These photos together as a series would be magnificent... true gems.
Photographers Comment
I would like to thank you all the judges for selecting my photo as Mark of Excellence. It's a part of big project on which I'm still working. I'm very happy you like these photos. Thank you very much. Serena Viola

Judges Comment
Another beautiful, peaceful composition of soft, low light where man’s intervention is being erased by time. The misty weather is lovely and gives all the force to the foreground telegraph pole, drawing us gradually into the distance. It is a clever minimal composition where you have really respected the rule of thirds.
Photographers Comment
I would like to thank the judges for their feedback and congratulate the winner. This photo was taken in the Snowy Mountains, New South Wales, Australia. On this morning the fog was as thick as pea soup. Photo taken on a Leica M Monochrom camera using a Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (III) lens. Post processing in Lightroom 5. Regards, Andrew.
www.andrewlance.com/

Judges Comment
This is fun, i like the very short depth of field which brings my eye back from the building to the grassy foreground, then back again to the distance. Your frame is nicely balanced, the tones beautifully soft. Nice original work, well done.
Photographers Comment
Thank you very much, Duncan! I enjoyed the Mark Of Excellence and your feedback. My name is Denis Malciu and I'm from Romania. This shot was taken in a mountain village (Şirnea, Brașov county, Romania), situated at the foot of the Piatra Craiului Massif from Carpathian Mountains. It is an area of the shepherds. I created the image as a symbol of a world close to its end...so different from the modern world. I used my Sony A7, with Carl Zeiss 55mm f1.8. I edited the picture with Acrobat Camera Raw, using a film-like filter (VSCO).
www.flickr.com/photos/75495350@N07/

Judges Comment
Striking light and dark sky, a strong horizon, saturated colours, bold horizontal lines and a contrasting soft-top and hard-bottom divide make this photo so lovely. It is very difficult to manage a minimal view like this one, you have done well.

Judges Comment
Nice atmospheric shot with a well balanced composition. The stream of water makes interesting lines leading us out to the horizon and sky. You had fantastic light, nice saturated reflections and amazing detailed patterns in the wet sand… i feel you could have got something even better here with the same recipe.

Judges Comment
Nice monochrome shot where you have made good use of the old wall and the drifting snow. Your composition is sound, the line of snow leading to the distance from the bottom corner, the wall creating a wonderful line to infinity, the hilltop balancing it all so well. It is a shame that all the stone detail is lost in a rather heavy black when you have managed the white of the snow so very well.
Photographers Comment
Hi, my name is Simon Prunty and I'm an artist based in Dublin, Ireland. This shot was taken in between heavy snow showers near the summit of Slieve Donard, Country Down in Northern Ireland. My camera is an old refurbished Nikon EM 35mm, and on the day I used Ilford Delta Pro 100 film. The lens was a wide angle Nikkor 20mm lens. The final image is scanned from a darkroom print that was created using split-grade printing.
simonprunty.com