Landscape Photographer of the Year 2023 winning images: haunting aftermath of a heath fire takes prestigious top spot
The Landscape Photographer of the Year 2023 finalists include a shot of the New Forest after a fire, lightening striking the Hampshire coast and a bird’s-eye view of a Scottish castle shrouded in autumn trees.
By countryfile
Published: Friday, 27 October 2023 at 10:01 AM
The Landscape Photographer of the Year awards are a celebration of the beauty and diversity of the British countryside, captured through the eyes of amateur and professional photographers. The 2023 winners have been revealed – here is a selection of some of this year’s most spectacular and thought-provoking images.
“After a large heath fire near Beaulieu in the New Forest National Park, I’d recognized that to get a worthwhile picture, I would need a misty morning to hide the large oil refinery complex that sits on the edge of Southampton Water and which would be very visible above the tree line in the background, as it is from many parts of the New Forest (much like the cement works in the Peak District). Eventually that morning came and to add to the morning was a great sunrise. Some months later and most of these burnt remnants of gorse bushes and the lone tree have now gone (mostly devoured by the New Forest Ponies and cattle) so this picture no longer exists and will not be repeated, but the regeneration has begun.”/Credit: Mik Dogherty
Loch an Eilein Castle
Iain Masterton (Bird’s-Eye View, winner)
“Aerial view looking straight down on ruined castle on Loch an Eilein in October 2022 in Cairngorms National Park in Scotland. I wanted to capture autumn colours and shape of the little island and ruin, and a drone was the perfect method. A bonus was seeing the reflection of clouds in the still water of the loch.”/Credit: Iain Masterton
Winter content
Daniel Ruffles (Coast, winner)
“At the beginning of 2021, we were greeted with some rather dramatic snow flurries. Rarely do we see snow on the coast, so I decided to head out with my camera and face the elements. This is a bit of a classic composition of the lone boat ‘content’ in Aldeburgh. The snow just adds something painterly to the image and softens the colours in the coastal properties.”/Credit: Daniel Ruffles
Gulls in the shore break
David Eberlin (Expressions, highly commended)
“I was in Salcombe early in March and went to North Sands early in the morning to find breaking waves. As I watched I noticed gulls taking off in groups, but only when the wave broke, their timing was perfectly in tune with the waves, so I thought I would try and capture it. I used a long lens on to isolate the gulls and waves, stopped down and took quite a few photos of the birds on a slow shutter, this was my favourite, capturing the movement of the gulls and waves.”/Credit: David Eberlin
A bright storm
Ben Lateu-Smith (Change, highly commended)
“Assynt in North-West Scotland experiences all kinds of weather throughout the year. This particular rain storm appeared as quickly as it vanished, saturating the mountains along the way. This image was taken in winter on a very cold and wet camping trip, fortunately the rain was a few hundred meters away so I was able to get the shot in the dry using my zoom. I was fascinated by the way the sunlight illuminated the rain clouds and I knew this was an image worth taking.”/Credit: Ben Lateu-Smith
Sea creature
Daniel Ward (Bird’s-Eye View, commended)
“Having driven many times past Kentra Bay salt marsh, I’d never even thought about photographing it, as it’s pretty flat and inaccessible on foot. That is until I got my first drone. Using Google earth to look for interesting forms in the landscape, I could see there was lots of potential at the salt marsh. As soon as I put the drone in the air, I could see all sorts of shapes, patterns and textures, but this river inlet really caught my eye. It seemed to look like some sort of sea creature, A seahorse perhaps? With the ripples in the water acting like its wrinkled up skin and the little Island being its eye.”/Credit: Daniel Ward
Autumn on the woodland floor
Jay Birmingham (Intimate, highly commended)
“I spotted these honey fungi on the floor of a local woodland just after sunrise. I was excited looking at the image of this small world on the screen, as the bokeh of the sun shining through the bracken behind was beautiful – creating wonderful warm autumnal tones.”/Credit: Jay Birmingham
Lilac evening
Thomas Harper (Coast, highly commended)
“Taken at Newlyn in Cornwall. A lot of jellyfish around at this time, I wanted to capture one in its element with a the Newlyn light tower. This blue jelly would only return to the surface occasionally making it very challenging to line everything up. My diving light illuminated the subject at the perfect moment of sunset.”/Credit: Thomas Harper
Lepe lightning
Stuart Bennett (Coast, commended)
“Lightning strikes the Solent – the old boathouse at Lepe looks out towards the Isle of Wight with a storm overhead. A brief lull in the torrential rain allowed me to capture a shot that I’d been thinking about for a few years. I had been tracking the storm from Brittany over the channel and rushed to Lepe when it looked like it might hit the area I needed for the composition I had in mind. Unfortunately most of the lightning was behind me over Cowes and Portsmouth, but luckily this one strike landed near the Needles. Fighting the wind and the rain was probably the hardest bit of this shot, having to constantly try and keep the rain off the lens. Shot at 16mm, ISO 400, f/8 and a 10 second exposure, I used a remote trigger and set the camera to continuously take shots hoping I’d capture something.”/Credit: Stuart Bennett
Pinpoint
Adam Burton (Coast, commended)
“As sea stacks go, North Gaulton Castle on the west coast of Orkney’s mainland is hard to beat. At 170 feet high this incredible stack is a monster, and yet to look at it from this angle you could be forgiven for thinking it is incredibly delicate and about to crumble into the sea. However, the angle is deceptive. As you walk further along the coast the stack’s appearance dramatically changes and you can immediately appreciate the reason for its longevity; its depth is around 4 times greater than it’s width. For such an incredibly strong subject the obvious arrangement was to place it centrally within the frame. Next I waited for some sunlight to add some saturation to those beautiful sandstone ledges. And finally, a long exposure to soften the background water and help the stack stand further.”/Credit: Adam Burton
Grasmere
Jason Hudson (Classic, commended)
“A lovely mist enveloped Grasmere and Rydal Water on the morning of this shot. I was able to get above the mist and wait for the sun to illuminate the trees.”/Credit: Jason Hudson
Veins
Stuart McGlennon (Bird’s-Eye View, runner up)
“A top down view of the stunning patterns and shapes at Seilebost on the Isle Of Harris. I’d studied OS Maps in detail before visiting here so had a good idea of what I wanted to shoot, it was then a case of finding the best ‘flow’ of water to balance the shot.”/Credit: Stuart McGlennon
Founded by landscape photographer Charlie Waite, the Landscape Photographer of the Year competition is now in its 16th year and is one of the UK’s most prestigious photography contests.
