Photographer in the frame for big award
A Buchlyvie photographer’s atmospheric picture, captured on a mountain north of Killin, has been shortlisted in a national competition.
Richard Fox took the photograph of three optical phenomena – a fogbow, Brocken Spectre, and glory – on Meall Garbh (rough hill) on January 22 this year.
Entitled Ridgeline Optics, it has been shortlisted in the Royal Meteorological Society’s Weather Photographer of the Year competition 2020 along with Richard’s photograph of rainbows at the Mangersta sea stacks on the Isle of Lewis (‘Pinnacles of Light’) which he took last October.
Fogbows, similar in shape to rainbows, form when the sun is behind an observer’s back and water droplets in the form of fog are in front. A glory is a delicate corona of colours also formed when the observer has the sun at their back, and a Brocken Spectre appears when the observer is loooking down from an elevated position and their magnified shadow is cast on mist or fog.
Before taking the picture Richard had previously reached the summit of Meall nan Tarmachan (Hill of the Ptarmigan) in foggy and snowy conditions and had walked along the ridge to the neighbouring peak of Meall Garbh.
He recalled: “The climb was quite taxing in the snow and cold, but I had to wait for some time to get the phenomena together.
“However, I was greeted as I ate my lunch on Meall Garbh to a break in the weather. The sun broke through and behind me a full fog bow, Brocken Spectre and glory appeared. At one point there were multiple glories too.”
There are 26 finalists in this year’s ‘Weather Photographer of the Year 2020’ which will now be put to a public vote.
To see the shortlisted images and vote for your favourite, visit photocrowd.com/wpotyvote
The vote closes September 25 at midnight (BST).
Winners will be announced on October 17 at a Weatherlive event.