Jon Brook

Could you be the next Landscape Photographer of the Year?

by Northern Life

Entry for the twelfth annual Take a view Landscape Photographer of the Year Award is now open and entrants have until 7th July to submit their photographs of the British landscape. Landscape Photographer of the Year is one of the world’s most exciting photography awards, founded by renowned landscape photographer, Charlie Waite. The competition is open to everyone, with a special class for those younger than 17, and each entrant can submit 25 photographs across four categories. There is a prize fund worth £20,000, including £10,000 for the overall winner and additional special awards.

As in previous years, an exhibition of shortlisted and winning entries will premiere in the late autumn. Previous locations for the annual showcase have included the National Theatre and London Waterloo Station. Shortlisted entrants will also be published in stunning coffee-table book Landscape Photographer of the Year: Collection 12, published by The AA, and described by The Times as a ‘coffee-table staple’.

Last year’s winner was Benjamin Graham, who captured the constantly shifting sand patterns and tidal pools on the extensive beach at East Head that sits at the mouth of Chichester Channel. He especially like “the indeterminate scale of the image. The double S-curve could be 2m long or 2,000 . . . It was actually about 20.”

The Landscape Photographer of the Year is unique in that it celebrates the United Kingdom only, offering photographers worldwide an opportunity to showcase their images of Britain. From stark moorland to angular cityscapes, and from rocky coastlines to  lush woodland, Britain’s remarkable landscape and volatile weather provides generous material to fire the imagination.

Key supporter, Network Rail is offering the ‘Lines in the Landscape’ Award for the best image of the contemporary rail network shown within its landscape setting. Awards founder, Charlie Waite comments: “Every year, I am overwhelmed by the positive response that the Awards receive; both from entrants and those who visit our exhibitions. Everybody is photographing and I am convinced that these individual moments of creativity help us in our everyday lives. The arrival of spring this year was particularly welcome and has added fresh colour to our landscape. It is a wonderful time to escape with a camera and seek that winning image.”

There is both an Adult and Junior title for the award and entries are split into four categories

  1. Classic View is the category for landscape photography in its purist form: sweeping images that capture the beauty and variety of the UK in one image.
  2. Living The View is the category for images of people interacting with the outdoors – working or playing in the landscape
  3. Your View allows participants to express with an image what the landscape means to them. It is a way to comment on the way we treat our landscapes and a chance to provide a new way of looking at our environment.
  4. Urban View is the category that especially highlights the surroundings that many of us live in every day: towns and cities. With more than 80% of the UK population living in built up areas, many of the landscapes that we interact with are inevitably of an urban nature.

All entries to the awards must be uploaded via the competition website, take-a-view.co.uk and the closing date is 7th July 2018. Entry fees apply. Full terms and condition can be found on the site.

An exhibition of winning entries will premiere in November 2018 and around 150 of the best photographs from the competition will appear in the Awards book – Landscape Photographer of the Year: Collection 12 – by AA Publishing.