Glencoe stream image wins top photography award

AN IMAGE of a small stream created by heavy rain among vast Glencoe mountains has won the Landscape Photographer of the Year award.

Mark Littlejohn's image - which judges said captured a fleeting moment of beauty in the Scottish Highlands. Picture: PA

Mark Littlejohn, from Penrith, Cumbria, beat thousands of photographs of UK landscapes to scoop the top £10,000 prize for his image which judges said captured “a fleeting moment of beauty” in the Scottish Highlands.

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Images ranging from sunset over the North York Moors and a misty early morning in the Peak District to cityscapes dominated by striking buildings and a close-up of a lichen-covered rowan tree were among the winning shots in a series of categories.

Mr Littlejohn said he had got up at 1.30am to drive to Glencoe but the rain had been torrential at dawn. As he wandered about waiting for gaps in the weather he saw the stream form high up on Gearr Aonach.

“It tumbled steeply down the slopes before vanishing again near the base of the mountain. With more squalls coming through I decided to take this image as the light became slightly more diffuse. It had to be a quick handheld shot due to the sideways rain.”

He added that he struggled to take in the news he had won the competition. “I suppose all I can say is that I just felt pure joy. I haven’t stopped smiling since.”

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Charlie Waite, landscape photographer and founder of the Take a view Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards, said: “Mark discovered and isolated a fleeting moment of beauty within a vast and slightly threatening arena.

“The composition compels us to visually explore the image and its delicacy and understatement are enormously satisfying.”

Sam Rielly, 17, from London, won the the Young Photographer of the Year award for a black and white image of his mother walking through the landscape of Anglesey, Wales.

Of his picture, he said: “This image was taken on a particularly wet and windy day on Parys Mountain, the site of a former copper mine. The subject of the image is my mother, who was unaware that I was taking the picture.”

The awards are being held in association with VisitBritain, and a category for overseas entrants was won by Sven Mueller from Germany for his dramatic shot of the Peak District, while the award for an image that would encourage people to visit Britain was won by John Robinson, from Peterlee, Co Durham, for his sunset over the heather-strewn Yorkshire Moors.

The Network Rail Lines in the Landscape award went to Stephen Bright, from Hook, Hampshire, for his shot of London Bridge train station from the viewing platform at the top of the Shard.

The winning entries will be exhibited on the recently-built mezzanine level at Britain’s busiest station, London Waterloo, from December 1 and in the Landscape Photographer of the Year awards book.

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