Landscapes win acclaim in contest
Beautiful Perthshire landscapes have featured strongly among the winning entries to an annual photography competition.
Kinclaven woods, the Birnam Oak and Kenmore are just some of the picturesque places seen at their very best in the 2021 Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year Competition.
The Pitlochry-based John Muir Trust has been a loyal sponsor of the competition along with Permajet. This year Bonnie and Wild, the Edinburgh food hall opening next year also became a sponsor and the winning photographs will be displayed there on permanent exhibition.
The contest had landscape, seascape and urban categories and this year it added a new one, treescapes.
Of over 3000 entries from across the globe, the top prize went to Hamiltonbased photographer Dylan Nardin but among the commended winners were five which took Perthshire as their muse for their digital photography.
Neil Milne captured the early- morning mist rising over the weird rock formation in Glenlyon. His picture ‘The Praying Hands of Mary’ was commended in the landscape section.
Neil from Arbroath is an associate of the Royal Photographic Society (ARPS). Remembering how he got his commended shot he said: “I’ve wanted to photograph the Praying Hands of Mary for some time.
“I watched the forecast and on the day I took the picture, the likelihood of fog was 100 per cent. I camped out overnight the night before which was a beautiful night. I woke up just before sunrise to be greeted with the scene you see in the picture.”
Scott Masterton was commended for his crisp green image of mature trees in Kinclaven Woods just opening their new green leaves.
Emma Marnoch got took her commended image ‘Darkest Woods’ in a patch of woodland close to Perth.
Another treescape to standout and be commended was The Birnam Oak by
The Praying Hands, Glen Lyon by Neil Milne was a commended winner in the Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year Award 2021
Sandra Angers-Blondin.
The deep chill of an early morning in Perthshire was masterfully captured by Phil Cooke with his picture ‘Kenmore in the grip of winter’.
The competition, now in its seventh year, was almost at the point of closing down when the pandemic took hold.
Competition founder Stuart Low said: “I was about to wind things up but so many photographers urged me to keep going, and told me without the competition there was little for them to look forward to.” A book costing £27 is produced every year containing the winning images, it is on sale at www.slpoty.com/