This year's Landscape Photographer of the Year winners have been announced, with the collection celebrating mist-covered windmills, lightning-sparked nightscapes, and a rainbow arcing over a dragon's back.
The Landscape Photographer of the Year contest was founded in 2006 with a specific focus on celebrating landscapes in the United Kingdom. Photographers from all over the world can enter but images must be captured in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.
The contest spans four main categories: Classic View (iconic landscape imagery), Urban Life, Black and White, and Your View (a more experimental and personal approach to landscapes). The Overall Winner receives an impressive £10,000 (US$11,500).
This year's top prize went to a magnificently composed shot from Will Davies. Looking out at the Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales, the extraordinary image manages to capture three different seasonal tones in the one photograph.
“Will has captured a wonderful relationship between the distant cold snow covered tones and warmer tones below," explained founder of the contest Charlie Waite. "The expertly balanced geometric shapes within the thrillingly vivid yellow provides the viewer with a superb visual experience, all culminating in this hugely well-deserved winning photograph.”
Another highlight in this year's crop was Demiray Oral's incredible Classic View winner featuring a rainbow crossing over a landscape in Wales known as the Dragon's Back. Knowing a storm front was coming Oral got into position and waited for the perfect moment to capture this surreal image.
"The apparition of the rainbow was wonderful, but the light sweeping across the Dragon’s Back was just sensational," said Oral. "It was a thrilling afternoon I’ll never forget."
All the winning and commended images will be soon available in a coffee table book. Take a look through our gallery at more highlights from this spectacular contest.
Source: LPOTY