Landscape Photographer of the Year 2013 Exhibition

I am a big fan of the Landscape Photographer of the Year competition; it's always a great exhibition and it feels almost as if it might one day be achievable!  I did in fact enter this year, but no luck... but looking at the images taken, there are pictures that I feel are within my reach one day.  The actual display of the exhibits is not great - the Veolia Wildlife at the NHM is a much better display; at the National Theatre, the images are mounted on board which reflect the overhead spotlights.  It's also hard to get a decent distance in some cases for better viewing.  But when you are looking round you have to get over that and just enjoy the work.

I could forever about all the dreamy ethereal long exposure landscapes - and it was great to see some from Cumbria - but I particularly liked Sweeping - Sea defences, Felixstowe, by Justin Minns which was commended in the Your View category and also formed the cover for this year's exhibition book.  I spent many childhood holidays in Felixstowe, where my grandparents lived, so this was an interesting perspective that I hadn't seen before.  This is also relevant to the style of photography that I would like to achieve in terms of finding my own voice - although I'm starting to realise that there is a lot of this about.

Another long exposure landscape I liked was Iconic, London, England, by Charlotte Gilliatt, category runner up in the Urban View category:

Iconic (c) Charlotte Gilliatt

as it reminded me of one I had taken AND STUPIDLY NOT ENTERED!

Gilliatt's image has a lot more clarity and detail than mine (HDR?) and the water is smoother.  But I wish I'd entered this now....who knows....

Another image I'd like to mention is "Ferry leaving Newhaven harbour in storm, East Sussex, England" by David Lyon (see Daily Mail article) - an astonishing picture with unusual composition (single point slap bang in the centre sitting above a triangle formed bu the waves, and an amazing abstract of black and white tones.  I would love to take something like this, but would I have ventured out in those conditions??

Finally, and by no means least, I think the most stunning image and in my mind the one that should have one, is Bill & Ben, Fort William, Scotland by Robert Birkby, runner up in the Classic View category and Judge's choice by Damien Demolder.  I was excited to see this as I am due to climb Ben Nevis in July 2014.  I think the title is great, the composition with the lower third being the town of Fort William, the upper third a fantastic stormy sky and the middle the big mountain itself, very interesting.  I wonder how long he stood in a storm waiting for that shaft of light to hit Fort William!  I also wonder about the exposure - how did he balance the dark sky with the light and the mist?  Did he use an N-Grad so as to be able to over-expose the bottom third?

Looking forward to 2014!