Spear Through The Heart Of My Ego

A few bits of news... First if your passing a newsagents this week and you have a spare few minutes you might be interested to see an interview I did for Amateur Photographer Magazine...I’ve been told its very good, but sadly as I don’t subscribe to the mag I can’t see it till Wednesday....Anyway I want to thank Jeff for contacting me and being so patient whilst listening to my ramblings on the phone last month... (I should have warned you I talk for a living).

Secondly , let me congratulate everybody who has made it to the Landscape photographer of the year book this year, it’s a fantastic achievement and something I’m sure your all very proud of.
I have to be honest, I’m troubled slightly by this year’s competition. I’m not sure if it’s my own misguided expectations, or if there is anything in my feeling a tad let down. Please don’t get me wrong, I am very happy that I have made the book. But last year I was overjoyed, I was ecstatic to be part of it, but not this year.

Early Sunday morning I rushed down to the newsagents eager to see the winning image, (I got an email telling me that I’d made the book a couple of days ago and was sworn to silence till today, so sorry for the cryptic messages guys) and when I saw the selection of images they had chosen to appear in the Sunday times this year, I have to say I was not that impressed with the originality or quality of them. And the winning image!!! Man I couldn’t believe it! Was this the very best landscape photography image of the year? Did it represent our very best, fresh, original, technical, creative photograph? Was I deluding myself?

Now it’s very hard not to sound like I should have eaten my grapes earlier here, my defence mechanisms are rather complex and very well honed, (as a result of the troubled artist in me). I also must consider the feelings of people reading this, (be it other photographers that are chuffed to bits, or the organisers of the competition that may take offence at my criticism), before I begin my reflections here.
BUT, from the images in the Sunday Times, I’m gobsmacked at a few of the choices...I don’t want to pick out individual images, that would be grossly unfair but if you take a look I’m sure you will see what I mean. link

Now I respect that this is a commercial competition and the images that are chosen are representative of the people with vested interests, (sponsors, judges, marketing potential) but, come on why have a second round, why choose a few hundred images then let those people down?

I personally got seven images through to the second round this year (this,this,this,this,this,thisand this) and I was very excited, as they had chosen a few of my creative (non commercial) images. So I wonder if I got my hopes up that the “your view” category had some potential. (I purposely entered a few categories this year to try and get more in the book, as last year I lumped them all in the “classic view”) anyway my achievement is to be the same as last year.

I’m also wondering if my unease it’s because I haven’t seen the book yet, and I may be surprised that the standard is so much higher and it’s a real achievement to be included. But judging by the Sunday time’s images, I think not. To conclude my thoughts here, I would normally say, “there's always next year”, but I’m not sure that the competition is the place for me to gain what I’m looking for...

Anyway, this shot has been sitting on my hard drive for some time. It’s from a stormy day this summer in Cornwall where the sun broke through the clouds to reveal a fantastic shaft of light near the horizon. The normal shot was too busy so I did a pan and used a medium slow shutter to blur the water. What I like about it, other than the abstract qualities is that the edge of the light is present, like a.... “Spear through the heart of my ego”.
(o: