2023 Winners

Overall Winner of 2023

Congratulations Mark Heatherington

Fairy Glen

Thank you to Robert Harvey ARPS for kindly agreeing to judge the overall winner of the 2023 monthly competition. He has picked a great winner and runner-up. Many of you will know Robert from his talks and workshops for the RPS and the Landscape group. You can see Robert's photography at www.naturalworldphotography.net.

I was delighted to be asked to judge the Landscape Group competition. It is a pleasure to view 12 outstanding images chosen by Group members for each month of last year.

In critiquing landscape photographs, I consider technical aspects, composition and artistry. In this case, there is little to choose between the entries on technical grounds as they are all excellent.

I have chosen Mark Hetherington’s portrayal of Fairy Glen as the winner. It stands out as a really good composition thanks to its tight framing, well-defined subject matter and use of sinuous leading lines to draw the eye into the picture. Together these aspects create a strong sense of depth. Mark’s angle and perspective have successfully framed the image left, right and bottom with rocks. Artistically, the autumn colours are really pleasing and convey a moment in time. I particularly enjoyed the choice of shutter speed, which has made the best use of texture and foam in the water to create a sense of movement. Although Fairy Glen is a well-photographed location, Mark has captured an original take on it with a strong sense of place.

My runner-up is Perthshire Snowday by Morag Forb. This came a close second for its originality, strong pattern and the use of (what Morag understandably describes as) adverse weather to create a compelling image. Conditions like this, with snow loaded on every branch and twig, do not last long. We can see falling snow, indicating a good choice of shutter speed. No doubt it seemed an unappealing day to walk the dog but it was a fabulous day for landscape photography!

Robert Harvey ARPS