Glasgow teen wins top photography prize

A TEENAGER from Glasgow has won the Royal Horticultural Society’s Young Photographer of the Year award for her striking image of a crow in flight.

A crow in flight by Catherine Sim which was the winning entry in the Young Photographer category. Picture: PA

Catherine Sim, 17, was among thousands of entries from around the world for the RHS’s Photographer of the Year competition.

A winning picture was chosen for each of five adult categories – plants, abstracts and details, celebrating gardens, season and wildlife – and two for under-18s.

Miss Sim, who wins £500 to spend on the Wex Photographic website, said: “I am so passionate about photography, and getting recognition for something that I love doing is so rewarding and makes all those hours trying to get the perfect shot so worthwhile.

The Parc Botanique de Haute Bretagne, Brittany by Alain Jouno. Picture: PA

“It is definitely the highlight of my year.”

The overall winning photograph, an “evocative” image of gardens in the mist at sunset, was taken by French photographer Alain Jouno at the Parc Botanique de Haute Bretagne, Brittany.

Of the overall winner, judge Chris Young, editor of The Garden magazine, said: “Alain’s brilliant image is more than the sum of its parts.

“The serendipity of the sunset, the abstract sculptural forms, the dogs drinking the water and the mist beyond create an incredibly evocative image.”

He added: “This is a well-composed photograph that truly reflects a moment in a garden’s time.”

Mr Jouno, who won £2,000 and a year’s gift RHS membership for his image, said: “It’s hard to believe I have won, because I am only a modest amateur photographer.

“I entered the competition to share the beauty of the Botanical Park of Haute Bretagne. I took the image one evening as the mist was rising and the sky was lit by the setting sun.”

The judges said the quality of pictures in the under-18 categories were extraordinary, making it hard to pick a winner.

Of the winning image, Mr Young said: “Some images are evocative, some are artistic and some stop you stop you in your tracks. This image does all three. It is beautifully captured moment.”