The competition aims to encourage work of the highest quality that best represents and symbolises modern Britain.
It was started in 2007 by Charlie Waite, one of Britain’s leading contemporary landscape photographers. It is restricted to images of the UK but is open to all nationalities. The 2008 edition invited entries in four categories each for adults and young people aged 16 and under. The categories are defined in interesting and not necessarily exclusive ways that in themselves challenge the imagination.
Classic Landscapes
The first category is the “classic landscape,” which the organisers explain as a “big view” that captures the seasonal beauty of mountains, valleys, moorlands, the coastline or any other evocative component of the Great British outdoors. In practice shots in this category are often natural landscapes, including Simon Butterworth’s winning shot “Diamonds are forever” taken at Loch Dochard in Scotland, but they may also include buildings, fences, roads, bridges or other human artefacts that blend into their surroundings.
The “living the view” category on the other hand is intended for images that show people living, working, playing or engaged in any activity within the context of the landscape.
The “your view” category invites contestants to present very personal interpretations of places and uses, or even abuses, of the landscape that have special meaning for them.
Almost as a subcategory of “your view,” the “phone view” category is for shots taken with mobile phone cameras. Thus while the organisers want to encourage technically excellent photographs, the competition is not limited to those who use specialised and relatively costly equipment.
Criteria for Judging Photographs
Aside from technical quality, the key criteria for judging the entries include the composition and the quality of the light as captured in the picture. But more subtly the judges have looked for an emotional content of or connection to each picture, perhaps the difference between what it shows and what it means, perhaps a certain quirkiness or a sense of standing at the photographer’s shoulder.
Emotional content is surely the most difficult of the criteria to analyse or define, but it is probably the one that separates the winners, including the overall winner Gary Eastwood’s “Barney on a jetty in December” taken on the beach at Hove, Sussex, from the many other entries that are merely outstanding.
Results from 2008 were announced on November 16th, and more than 100 of the best entries are on show at the National Theatre, London, till 17th January 2009. A selection from both 2007 and 2008 are presented on the Take a View website.
Landscape Photographer of the Year Exhibition
The exhibition itself, the on-line galleries and the publications spawned by the competitions are well worth a careful look. The standard of entries is very high. The winning and commended photographs serve as a reminder that the real value of photography competitions, whether at a national level like this one or at a local camera club, is to encourage creativity and excellence, and to provide challenges that can add a sense of purpose to the photographic year.
The organisers expect the contest to be continued in 2009 and if the previous year is a guide details will be announced in April. Meanwhile keep an eye on the Take a View website for details and for an occasional reminder of what is possible. It is never too early to start working on an entry.
Paul Lightfoot - I lived and worked in Asia for many years, managing and monitoring rural development projects for a living and using that experience to ...
