How I got the New Forest Photo that won the feature competition in Outdoor Photography Magazine
January can often be an unrewarding and frustrating time for landscape photographers, with dull days and blanket cloud offering little hope of capturing anything noteworthy. Add to that the general lack of colour in the landscape and you have a combination of factors that can drain the photography mojo no end.
Having got the winter ‘stuck in the house’ jitters I dragged my long-suffering chap out early one morning to drive to the New Forest to undertake a recce for Autumn – yes, I am aware that it was rather early, however, I was desperate. As we drove along the M27 he hunkered down with his arms folded and dramatically hit the heated seat switch to emphasise his displeasure at being roused from his bed on such an unfavourable morning.
Heading to the New Forest
As we drove into the New Forest there was mist all around us but none with a favourable setting. So, I resumed plan A and made my way towards the top of Bolderwood Arboretum Ornamental Drive and followed a pal’s sketchy instructions regarding how to find a pond that ‘might just offer a cool reflection’.
The pond edge was boggy and I dared not move too much for fear of getting stuck. Grumpy ponies made it clear that my presence was unwelcome at this time of the morning. I wanted to focus on the detail of the main tree and its reflection and did not need to consider taking account of any detail in the sky as there was none. I knew I wanted to go for a punchy black and white version of this shot as the colour version lacked va-va-voom.
The cream on the top
I took a few shots; really there were only a couple of variables to play with so there was no point in prolonging my time there. As I was packing up a man rode up, propped his bicycle against a bush and disappeared behind it. He saw me and knew I was shooting… and I have checked that I haven’t caught him in the act!
The abandoned bike added an incidental point of interest to counterpoint the detail in the tree and it makes me smile when I see it.
Outdoor Photography Magazine
Outdoor photography was asking for submissions to their feature on Lakes and Rivers. I put in my favoured offerings and a couple of wild cards. 8 weeks after submitting the image I received an email saying that I had won the feature competition and that I was to be featured in a double page spread. After I stopped shaking, I told the chap who congratulated me and asked me which image it was… I hadn’t even looked! It was my outsider, my wild card, an image I would never have thought would get a second look.
That’s the lesson I learned: you can never anticipate the images that will be appreciated by editors or in competitions. Sometimes the wildcards are different enough to be noticed.
