The Weather

A classic location, captured underneath some beautiful light, as the sun illuminates the castle before the storm clouds engulf the landscape completely. I like the contrast in colours between the golden warm hues of the stone and vegetation on the water, and the cold bluey greys of the clouds. Well composed, with the castle being a strong focal point, but with plenty of surrounding landscape included to give a sense of the location, as well as capturing more of the effects of the changing light. Well done on your top ten placing.

For me this image sums up cold. It looks the type of scene from which even the most enthusiastic photographer eventually needs to retreat to the warmth to thaw out the nose and fingertips! There is no doubting the extreme chill of the weather, the branches look almost at snapping point. Presumably a result of the re-freezing of melting snow, the ice-covered trees make for an interesting subject. No harsh processing or contrasts, everything looks natural as the eye would see. Great work, well done on your top ten placing.

A beautifully tranquil scene, capturing the early morning sunlight as it breaks the mist on the lake. There is sufficient break in the low mist to enable tbe trees on the far shore to be visible and create a strong focal point, before the eye wanders to explore the fells beyond and the lovely gentle, but contrasting, peach and purple hues of the sky and its reflections in the calm water. A rewarding image for what was no doubt an early start to the day. Congratulations on your second place finish.

I love the atmosphere this image creates, and although the air looks cold and damp, I can almost smell the earthy freshness of the woodland and bracken. The image has been sensitively processed to retain the gentleness and slightly muted colours generated by the mist, but there are some lovely shapes and patterns in the trees and vegetation to hold the interest. A lovely natural image capturing a damp and chilly winter scene. Well done on your top ten placing.

There is no camera data attached, but this looks to have been captured with a fairly wide angle lens, which coupled with the low viewpoint gives a great perspective to the landscape. The rounded snowy bumps in the front of the scene give plenty of foreground interest, and the interest continues right to the back of the frame, with good detail and textures throughout. The conversion to black and white has been done very well, with a full range of tones from black through to white, and good control of the highlights and shadows, neither of which are lost, and the highlights especially can be a challenge when photographing a snowy scene. Great image, well done on your top ten placing.

A fabulous capture which sums up the mood of a wet and rainy day. The figure has been caught at just the right, as the point in the stride, the slight forwarx lean and the slightly elevated viewpoint all give a sense of the dreary trudge through the rain -there is certainly no hint of a spring in the step. Focusing of the image is great, with sharp focus being on the raindrops on ghe windowm with the rest of the scene nicely out of ficus, but still obvious. The conversion to black and white has been well done and suits the subject, with the dark figure and umbrelka standing out well against the lighter paving. Great image, well done on your top ten placing.

A strangely beautiful image, capturing some winter woodland heavy with fog. For me one of the reasons for the success of the image is the pale colour and slender trunks of the trees, which bring a lightness and life to the shot as they reveal themselves through the mist. I love the contrasting colours, with the golden browns of the ground cover and few remaining leaves, and the cold purply-grey of the fog. Atmospheric and beautiful, although undoubtedly cold and damp in reality for the photographer. Great image, well done on your top ten placing.

I really like this rather different take on beach huts. So often they are seen lining a gloriously sunny summer beachfront with their bold and contrasting colours. Here however we see a different face of the seaside, when it is cold and wet and less inviting for an evening promenade along the seafront. The balance of light is great, whith a good amount of colour and light in the blue-hour sky, and the illumination of the artificial lights along the promenade, reflecting on the wet ground. A simple scene but an effective image, well done on your top ten placing.

A lovely sense of fresh calmness fills the frame, as the trees break cover from the low morning mist. This is just the sort of scene I imagine would be unrecognisable as the same one in just a short time, once the mist has burnt off and the landscape is bathed in sunlight. I generally love images where the landscape fills the frame, with no sky visible in the shot, and this is no exception, and I feel the impact of the image is far greater because of the lack of sky. There is plenty to hold the interest as the eye can swirl gently around the image in a similar fashion to the mist, picking out the different shapes and colours of the trees extending from the front to the back of the frame. Lovely colour contrasts between the warmer colours of the trees and the colder bluey tones of the misty ground. Congratulations on your third place finish.