Outdoor Photographer of the Year 2011

Since knowing I was shortlisted in the Outdoor Photographer of the Year Competition a few people have enquired how I got on.  Well it appears that I will have to settle for shortlisting only this year.

The strange thing about the system is they tell you that "one or more" of the images you entered has been shortlisted which means that between 4 and 12 of my shots were shortlisted.  Here they are in all their glory - I'll let you decide which ones were shortlisted as your guess is as good as mine:

Category - At The Waters Edge

Isle in the Storm

Leigh Creek

Snaking Ashore

Category - British Landscapes

Curbar Gap

Start Point Light

Ashness Landing

Category - Dawn To Dusk

Gull Rock Blues

Coniston Sunset

Morning Mist

Category - On the Streets

Lunchtime

Looking at Legs

River Pheonix

Black and White Photographer of the Year 2011 Comp

Quite a few people who knew that I had 3 pictures that were shortlisted for "Black and White Photographer of the Year" have asked how I got on in the competition.

Well I didn't win,  you can see the winners here.  Congratulations to Binh Trinh and the other winners.

I was pleased however to get one shot recognized in the "Shots we liked but didn't quite make it" section featured in this months magazine and was chosen to go on the welcome page of the magazine.

I'm taking that as pretty much a second place in one of the categories - which is nice. I am also really proud that the shot in question is of my beloved Smudge,  a dog with more personality than a little dog should have, who unfortunately passed away exactly a year ago.

Below are the three shots that were shortlisted:

Gormley Towers

Smudge

Lunchtime

Black and White Photographer of the Year Competition 2011

I recently had 3 photos short-listed for the Black and White Photographer of the year competition 2011.  Unfortunately I didn't come anywhere in the final judging, but I am just happy enough to be short-listed.

For those that asked here are the three shots that were shortlisted.

Gormley Towers

Lunch Time

Smudge

Crabgate!

So the winners have been announced for Landscape Photographer of the Year and there are some extremely competent and stunning images in the book and exhibition.

On a personal note I was very happy to be shortlisted for this and this - but they didn't make the final cut.

Looking at the winners I was surprised to see this image as one of the finalists:

Hermit Crab by Brian Griifiths

My initial reaction was that it owed more to Photoshop than nature. it seems that I wasn't alone in this assumption as photography forums exploded in a series of discussions about it. My favourite is the dissection by Tim Parkin on Flckr.

I am naive enough to feel that a landscape photograph should be a representation of the scene at the time and not just be the basis for freestyling in photoshop. My opinions don't really matter, but how this got to a final in a competition where one of the rules is:

The integrity of the image must be maintained and the making of physical changes to the landscape is not permitted (removing fences, moving trees, stripping in sky from another image etc). The organisers reserve the right to disqualify any image that they feel lacks authenticity due to over-manipulation.

,is beyond me!

There are an awful lot of great shots in the competition, so I hope this doesn't detract from the award and exhibition. I would love to hear your opinion, should this shot have been a winner ?

Well done Cheryl

A big congratulations from us here at ShepherdPics to Cheryl Surry (Squirrell photographer to the stars) on winning The BBC Countryfile photography competiton. Getting first place out 30,000 entries is very impressive indeed.

Mr December
(Cheryl Surry)

Regular readers will remember Cheryl was our Photographer of the Month for October 2007. I bet winning the country file competition feels nearly as good!

Take A View - Award Presentation

I was fortunate enough to be asked to cover The Landscape Photographer of the Year award presentation on monday for Ephotozine. You can read my journalistic efforts here.

Competition

I am rather chuffed to have won the Ephotozine Christmas Card Competition and with it free membership to Ephotozine's paid membership option "E2". The only thing is I already get E2 membership due to being a moderator & section editor. So I have decided to give it away to the needy.

To win this fabulous prize simply create an image on the (new years) theme of LOOKING FORWARD. Then upload it as a modification to this picture.

Judging will take place on the 1st of January (2nd if the hangover is really bad).

Good luck everyone.