The life of trees

This image ran the eventual winner so, so close.

I LOVE everything about this image. The location, the open window, the gorgeous colour palette, the desolation and abandonment of the building and the image is incredibly sharp too.

A wonderful photo the captures the fragility of man-made structures and the longevity and durability of trees. Well done to the photographer of this image.

WOW. I knew that this would be an incredibly difficult competition to judge for trees are a passion of mine and I love photographing them dearly. So firstly a HUGE thank you to all those who took part although a smaller thank you to those who made my job in judging the winner and top ten all the more difficult.

However, I decided that this gorgeous image of a forest should win form the 3646 entries submitted. HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to the winner.

Why did I pick it? Having just returned from running a week long workshop in Iceland last week and having endured the worst winter that that the locals have experienced in recent times, this image places me there right in the scene.

My jacket zipped up fully, two pairs of socks and my wool hat on and my hands suffering with frostbite as soon as I remove my gloves to take the shot. Dirk has perfectly caught the environment in full winter mode with the tinge of blue merely adding to the feeling of the bitter coldness.

I like the composition with minimal floor space acting as a foundation for the main subject, the trees themselves. I like the inclusion of the small diagonal tree log bottom right hand corner as well as the lovely shallow depth of field used (f5.6).

The image is sharp where it needs to be and it has been beautifully post processed. Overall it depicts trees perfectly as per the competition rules but more than that, it conveys an atmosphere that only us landscapers truly understand if we have been in the same situation with our cameras.

Well done to the winner once again.

Best wishes Melvin

As a photographer who visits Hodge Close and Holme Fell in the Lake District often during the autumn and winter months, this image of the gorgeous silver birches in the mist resonate with me on so many levels.

It's a wonderfully soft image that conveys delicacy and elegance by the bucket loads. The lovely colours captured between the red foliage and the almost monochromatic feel of the trees works a treat and complement each other so well.

It is a beautiful image that I would be more than happy taking myself. Well done to the photographer.

What an absolutely beautiful image that I know from personal experience is a nightmare to photograph.

There is so much to love about this image that it is difficult to know where to start.

Shooting the scene in twelve segments before stitching it together while trying to balance out the light accurately is no easy feat and the wonderful image that we see has been created by a very experienced photographer and hats off to them for producing a genuinely beautiful image.

I saw elements of Peter Lik's 'Tree of Life' Japanese maple image in this shot and that's to be commended. The light rays that spilt this image in half are exquisite and most definitely make the image what it is.

It is a really beautiful image and once again, thank you to the photographer for sharing it with us.

As per the competition guidelines for judges to comment on an image that was not commended, I have decided to select this photo to talk about.

Who does not love a bit of colour in an image? I most certainly do from time to time although as I grow older (faster than I'd like admittedly), subtlety is playing a more important role in my photography.

This image screams colour but a little too much in my opinion and sunsets tend not to look quite this vivid. I suspect the photographer sought to create a highly visible image deliberately which is their prerogative although when competing against over 3600 over images, it's success will inevitably be somewhat limited.

Shooting directly into the sun is such a difficult thing to do well and the final image normally involves some serious time behind a computer to blend several exposures together but all told, this image certainly got my attention which was perhaps the photographer's original intention.

In any case, many thanks for entering and the same goes to everyone involved. I really enjoy looking through all of the entries and seeing how everyone views the world that we live in. That's just one of the joys of being a judge.

Have a great day.

Best wishes Melvin