Beautiful Perthshire landscapes have featured strongly among the winning entries to an annual photography competition.
Kinclaven woods near Murthly, the Birnam Oak and Kenmore are just some of the picturesque places seen at their very best in the 2021 Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year Competition.
The Pitlochry-based John Muir Trust has been a loyal sponsor of the competition along with Permajet. This year Bonnie and Wild, the Edinburgh food hall opening next year also became a sponsor and the winning photographs will be displayed there on permanent exhibition.
The contest had landscape, seascape and urban categories and this year it added a new one, treescapes.
Of over 3000 entries from across the globe, the top prize went to Hamilton-based photographer Dylan Nardin but among the commended winners were five which took Perthshire as their muse for their digital photography.
Neil Milne captured the early- morning mist rising over the weird rock formation in Glenlyon. His picture ‘The Praying Hands of Mary’ was commended in the landscape section.
Neil from Arbroath is an associate of the Royal Photographic Society (ARPS). Remembering how he got his commended shot he said: “I’ve wanted to photograph the Praying Hands of Mary for some time.
“I watched the forecast and on the day I took the picture, the likelihood of fog was 100 per cent. I camped out overnight the night before which was a beautiful night. I woke up just before sunrise to be greeted with the scene you see in the picture.”
Scott Masterton was commended for his crisp green image of mature trees in Kinclaven Bluebell Woods near Murthly just opening their new green leaves.
Scott told the PA these were not just any trees, but significant landmarks: "These two trees in particular are seen in an episode of the popular TV series Outlander where they play the part of marking the edge of Claire and Jamie’s land known as Fraser’s Ridge and were therefore named as the ‘Witness Trees’."
His website is https://www.fascinatinglight.com
Emma Marnoch got took her commended image ‘Darkest Woods’ in a patch of woodland close to Perth.
Emma told the PA: “This image was taken during a late afternoon walk through a small patch of woodland near the Roman Road, a ten minute drive out of Perth.
“The green and silver tones on this old tree stood out against the otherwise wintry colours in the wood.”
Another treescape to standout and be commended was The Birnam Oak by Sandra Angers-Blondin.
Sandra explained: “A survivor of the Birnam Wood referenced in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and thought to be over 600 years old, the Birnam Oak is an iconic tree with a big personality.
"Instead of trying to capture the whole tree in the frame, I went for an intimate portrait of a section of the trunk, showing the gnarled but noble character of the old oak.”
Her work is at Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/sandra.angers.b/
The deep chill of an early morning in Perthshire was masterfully captured by Phil Cooke with his picture ‘Kenmore in the grip of winter’.
As well as being commended in the landscape category, Phil's image won best winter image in the four seasons category.
"I took my image on a freezing cold January morning," said Phil who's been a landscape photographer for 15 years.
"After heavy overnight snowfall I left my home in Windygates, Fife at 4am and travelled to Kenmore, Perthshire.
“The temperature was reading -15 as I followed a snow plough along the icy roads. Winter woollies adorned and spare camera batteries tucked into my thermals to keep them from the cold I headed out into a winter wonderland."
More of his work is at www.philcookeimages.comor Insta- phil_cooke_images
The competition, now in its seventh year, was almost at the point of closing down when the pandemic took hold.
Competition founder Stuart Low said he went ahead because "without the competition, there was little for photographers to look forward to.”
A book costing £27 containing the winning images is on sale at www.slpoty.com
