Thank you so much Nigel, and all the other judges. It was the proudest moment of my photography journey so far coming runner up. Such a worthy cause as well. Congratulations to Neil too for an amazing image.
Nigel, congratulations on the fluent and easy to understand way you make the less simple message clear and understandable! Story, reasons, intentions, emotions, ease, charm, time: everything spot-on. What a great narrator you became!
Thank you for asking why so few women are participating. I can just respond for myself, but I feel that safety issues seriously limit women's ability to get out at predawn hours at awesome locations. It's hard to feel very confident that you have great images when you are so limited and restricted. It is a constant frustration for me! My husband is very concerned for my safety so I do not go if he feels it's not safe. Once in a while, he will go with me, but non-photographers just don't understand the need to get out there before dawn or staying out well past sunset. Out of sheer desperation, I started a photography club in my small town. Unfortunately, it didn't really yield anyone with my level of commitment so I only have company for easy little local outings. The serious limitations really stifle my creativity and vision. I guess the challenge for me it to figure out how to come up with something fabulous in my tiny, tiny universe. Thank you for creating the contest, the winning images are amazing!
An excellent competition for a worthy cause, with some stunning finalists. Well done and congratulations to all who entered and all who worked behind the scenes to make it happen.
Interesting to see the reality behind the process ! No system is without its flaws and at the end of the day as long as it's fair then that's as good as you can do. Congrats to the winners and those commended !
Incredible images. Congratulations to all the winners. I am exploring the variety of subjects available here in Devon. When it comes to motivation for women to get into landscape photography, I am held back by feeling vulnerable in remote areas. A solution perhaps would be to team up with another person which does not always work out.
What a difficult time you judges must have had. So many truly stunning photos just in the top fifty. Fantastic outcome all round. Well done to all involved. Thanks for sharing again Nigel
As a competitor who didn't come close to the stunning images that the judges selected, I want to say how meaningful participating in the competition was because it made me look at my images and consider those that I wanted to edit. I loved going over my old images with the focus that selecting for the competition provided. Nigel, you are a such an enthusiastic teacher who inspires so many of us to enjoy the photographs that we take. Many thanks to you and the other judges for your time and expertise.
Congratulations to all. Why there were very few from us ladies, because there are less of them doing landscape photography. Some of it probably comes down to physical capabilities. Maybe next year we will show you men how it is done.
Yeah Nicky show us men how it's done! I'd love to see women teach us men how we can be better photographers, because of course sex has everything to do with it.
Exactly my thoughts when Nigel asked why so few entries from ladies. It's not ability, it's simply that there are far fewer ladies shooting landscape (safety concerns?), proven by so few I meet when photographing landscapes or sport. Now if it were portraits, weddings, children, travel, urban etc. I'm sure there would be far more entries and far more ladies amongst the winners. Anyway I enjoyed watching this and hearing of the process used as well as the seeing the many quality entries. Fantastic winning shot.
Nigel, the 50 top and the winner are AMAZING photos. You should print a book and make an annual event out of this initiative , rasing money to charity every year. Great Initiative ! Congrats
Thanks for showing the background behind the judging, Nigel. The top 7 and how/why you chose them are a great inspiration in themselves to me and how I might elevate my own photography. Well done to Neil and everyone who made the top 50!
This was an absolutely fascinating video on how you all judged the competition Nigel, well done and I’m happy to have helped raise so much money for a good cause. I was fortunate enough to have one of my photos shortlisted (what a thrill!). Although completely unreasonable I would have loved to have been able to receive the criticism on my image, been a fly on the wall when the judge(s) viewed my photo. A chance to learn from someone much more experienced than myself. Again, completely unreasonable to expect that, I know, just a dream. Given your explanation on judging criteria I think I can see where I missed the mark. Thank you all again for the hard work and I’m certainly looking forward to the next competition!
I think that this is the first landscape photography competition that the judges got it 100% right! I completely agree with the placings of these fantastic images.Congrations to the winners but an even bigger congratulations to the judges because I see a lot of winning compositions that make me scratch my head. Well done guys!...😀👍👏🥰💯
Wow - Thanks so much to you and all the judges what a fantastic competition. Loved looking through the best images and hearing your talk about the process. Bring on the next one!
Beautiful images. It was a great idea to run the competition with the charity benefit as the icing on the cake. The judging process sounded fair, and intense for all the judges so a million thanks to them for their expertise, time and opinions. They have selected wonderful images that inspire we less skilled photographers.
Great idea to host this competition. Thank you, Nigel, and all the judges for committing so much of your time to a great cause. Congratulations on raising the funds. And congratulations to all the entrants, finalists, and Neil Burnell!
What an amazing collection of glorious images. I'm glad I entered as I thought it was important to make even a tiny donation to an important cause, but also because I'm one of the select group of 148 women who entered! I definitely don't specialize in landscape photography and my images reflect that, but it was fun to enter regardless. I really enjoyed you sharing the judging process with us, Nigel, very interesting.
Many thanks for running the competition and for the most transparent explanation of the judging process I have have seen. The images look amazing on the big screen, I guess they big prints are even better. Thanks for sharing and congratulations on raising so much money for charity.
I'm impressed you noticed the differences in numbers between men and women! This is quite common, unfortunately. I just looked at your page to enter for this year but the competition is already closed...Next time.
Great job with the contest Nigel. Love the concept of raising money for worthy causes. I look forward to next year's contest. I entered this year ... didn't win anything but then didn't expect to either. I'll enter again next year as well all for a good cause. Keep doing what you're doing!
Well done to all involved. As to ladies and photography, when I taught an adult education evening class it was always higher numbers compared to the men. I asked a few times and it seems the ladies liked the safety of the environment. They always turned out on the day we had a "field" trip, and one went on to win our local "in bloom" photography section. Not sure if this all adds up to anything, but one of your responses mentions feeling vulnerable in remote areas. Cheers Marshall
I totally agree on that. As a female photographer i am seriously limited on where and when I can go out to shoot. If my husband doesn't think a planned shoot is safe, I don't go. It's a challenge to find other photographers to go out shooting with. It really does limit what you can do as a landscape photographer. Sometimes my husband will go with me but he doesn't understand the need to get out before sunrise, so its almost impossible to catch the best light.
Great video, great competition. Very informative to see your judging process. Thanks. Fantastic shots and worthy winners. Roll on next year's competition
Thank you Nigel for putting this competition together, along with all of the judges taking the time out to analyse and judge each image, thank you! I am looking forward to the next one in 2021.
Wonderful winning images and great video explaining the judging process. Must admit I only entered at the last moment after having an image shortlisted in another competition and was feeling elated. Im really not a very competitive person and have always shied away from pitting my photographs against others. It's quite a daunting experience sharing the images I love and have an emotional connection with into the wider photographic world. That old saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder is very true in competitions. Shoot for yourself and enjoy the process and if others like your images, that's a wonderful added bonus! 😊
I completely understand and although I now share my images widely it was something I hated doing. I was scared from a camera club comp once and what was a fav image became a badly critiqued shot. It is why I tend to only say good thing about people’s images unless they asked me.
@@NigelDanson Love your pictures they are fabulous. Thanks so much for holding the competition and raising £10,000 for UNICEF for Covid-19. As someone who has lost a grandmother due to the illness it has been good to be proactive at this difficult time 🕊️
Diane, I agree with you completely! As a woman photographer with only about 3 years into serious photography, I am not into the competition aspect and shoot for the pure enjoyment. Judging and or receiving points is not for me. I like feedback on my photos and love learning from others competing and seeing their beautiful creative art. Next year, I plan to donate to the charity even if I don't compete.
@@sallyjberry805 What a lovely idea about donating next year and it's always good to see wonderful images from other photographers. In the 18 years I was a press photographer I only ever entered one comp and that was a Royal Rota contest. It was a bit of fun and I was shocked to be shortlisted and then be a runner up with a shot of Prince Charles! 😀👍
A wonderful contest to raise money for a good cause, Nigel! So glad you did this. I like the photos you showed and will look at website to see more. I am a woman and would have entered but I don't do Instagram. You chose some good judges, I am familiar with most of them. I liked the comedic input of James and his 838 photos to judge. so funny! Thanks again for doing this contest. It is such a joy to view other's photos and learn from them.
Fantastic Nigel, congratulation to the finalist, very interesting that the white boarder of the winning image gives the presentation a true 3D presentation.
Thank You for organising this competition, it is really fantastic to see so much money being raised by this competition and to see how that money will go on to help people, this was the first competition I've entered and just being able to catch a glimpse of my photos amongst everyone elses at the start of the video was enough. I'm also glad to hear that you are going to run the competition again next year, I look forward to entering again
I really enjoyed being part of this fundraiser and competition. While I didn’t place at all it is amazing to see the quality photography entered and inspiration to enter again next year. Congratulations to all.
Thanks very much for all your work. I thoroughly enjoyed this post, and walk away highly inspired and educated. I think I’ve become a better photographer today…
Great competition, magnificent winning picture, what atmosphere! The runner up pictures are great also especially no. 7. Looking forward to next year, so much inspiration here and so much to work on!
Well done Nigel - I just reviewed all the images posted on your site and it is evermore evident that no matter how good we and our images get that a) there are always others that that we can aspire to and b) there is always something we can learn from one another regardless of where in the ranking that we fit. And it is evermore evident that no matter how beautiful Mother Nature gets that she always has something more beautiful to come. As an additional fund raiser idea, perhaps your winners would allow you to auction off a print of their image.
Thanks Nigel, very interesting to see the process. As just an enthusiast I'd have picked the same No. 1 from those 7 but personally Nos. 7 & 6 were my nos 2 & 3 (or 6&7! lol). Special congrats to Neil as I suck at woodland photography so am in awe of those who take it to such a level.
I totally missed this competition, but even if not - I would probably not have taken part, cause I don't like competing with everyone. It's kinda stupid, because your explanation sounded completely fair, but I do have not the best experience from participating in photography competitions before. And I still have to judge my one pictures before sending them in - naaa, too stressful 😉 Congrats to the winners for taking and sharing these pictures. And thanks to the judges for their trouble.
Photography aside you can be very proud of what you have achieved for such a worthy cause .... well-done mate, fabulous .... and of course an incredible winning image from Neil .. hopefully, one day see it in person printed large ...
Thumbs up for this video. I really am impressed by the thoughts you put into this competition. And thank you very much for making it so transparent, so everyone can understand how the results were made. In other competitions they are like „that‘s the winner. K thx bye.“ and as you said, sometimes you don‘t understand why this picture wins. But your way of judging the pictures is very well thought through. Thank you very much for this video.
Congrats Nigel, $10K to UNICEF is no joke man! I think the male-to-female ratio question is certainly deserving of its own video. Of course it derives from their being far more men subscribing to photography Y/T channels, but I’ve often wondered why THAT is. When I was in college I feel like I knew so many great female photographers-pros, hobbyists, all levels-and yet the numbers, at least on Y/T, are highly skewed. Would be very interested in your take on that. Again, great work on this. I didn’t submit but I’ve loved watching the competition unfold.
I have to say that I am so inspired by the many winners and commended images. I was able to spend a lot of time looking them all over (again and again), hoping that some of that knowledge and magic would rub off on me. I felt very fortunate to have had one of my entries shortlisted. Looking forward to next year!
Nigel, My entries were nowhere near the quality of those Shortlisted & commended, but that's not to say I'm not happy with my entries, I see a few other are a bit disheartened. They shouldn't be. I'm happy that my entry fee may help those who need a helping hand!. I'll be back again next year and who knows🤞. Well Done Neil, Well done Nigel and the Judges. Keep safe to everyone!
I feel the same way about my entries. Most of them were shot on a very old Nikon D3100, then one on a phone and one on a Panasonic bridge camera. I feel like I did the best I could with them. It would be cool to perhaps see a critique video of a selection of images which missed the 150 shortlist and WHY they missed it, with Nigel giving tips on how the images could have been improved (either through different editing or better camera settings). My only disappointment (without taking anything away from it) in regards to the winning image is that it's the type of image that Nigel likes to take/usually takes. So I kind of would have liked a more unconventional/unpredictable choice.
@Soumendranath Baidya the foreground in your shot is out of focus, and the shutter speed has allowed grasses to move and blur in a way which doesn't fit with the rest of the image, these two technical failings would knock it out of contention immediately. In terms of composition, it feels a little unbalanced, with too much visual weight on the right compared to the left. If you want to include prominent foreground elements like the mossy rocks, you need to ensure sharp focus from foreground to infinity. You might have been better off using a smaller aperture and suffering a little diffraction, since diffraction wouldn't be as noticeable in such a soft misty scene. Nice woodland shot, you've done well to find a reasonably uncluttered composition amidst the chaos, but yeah that foreground soft focus kills it for me as a viewer.
Thank you so much for your support of women photographers! I personally was not aware of the contest. Glad to see a woman was one of the contest judges, not sure if that would’ve helped me out if I had entered the contest 😁 Thanks again for your inspirational videos, hello Pebbles!🐶
Amazing images and very worthy winners! I particularly enjoyed the images because they were not all of mountains and lakes! The winning image is truly memorable!
Hi Nigel, I am bursting with pride that how well you guys have executed this. It is fair, it is methodical, judged by really really talented artists... and for a good cause. The judging process you explained is fair and yeah there can be winners and runner ups but the choice of the winners and commendations are not far off of what we all may also think and that tells you how fair it is. I am sorry but one tends to do some comparisons and when I see how fairly and respectfully you address and refer to the participants, I feel why the heck I ever wasted my time in watching some 'Critique the community' type vlogs on some popular channels. This is the way people should be judged for their art, time, and effort. Well Done!! Bloody Brilliant!
Speaking of seeing people, in the waterfall I see the right side of a man's face, you can even see the eye and the ear, with one hand coming out of the waterfall and placing something over his mouth and nose. All beautiful images. Congratulations to the winners and everyone who participated. I was going to participate, but at the moment I don't have any images that I felt were good enough to send, so I hope next year.
Rolling Fog is my #1 and the chosen #1 Is my #2 out of the images shown here. I'm definitely more for the slow burner and I found a lot of the so-called 'wow shots to be a bit superficial and even fake. Rolling Fog is an image you can look at for years and still keep finding something new. Brilliant work. The composition is way ahead of any of the other images and you can get a real sense of being there which is crucial if you are to be able to relate.
Wow those top 7 images are frickin awesome. I’m a wildlife photographer and these make me want to switch to landscapes (oh and the cut to James - priceless)
Firstly thanks to Nigel and the team for all they contributed to this. Big congratulations to the top photos. My thoughts on females entering is two fold; firstly a reasonable assumption is there is probably an equally opposite proportion of females to males in the portraiture and wedding / baby photography worlds. Secondly there could be the issue of self doubt and are my photos good enough? Women are assumed to be more emotional so would be more nervous if entering perhaps. Ideas and thoughts for healthy debate and not meant to cause hurt but it is definitely something to look at - perhaps a female landscape photographer to boost support and interaction???
From myself, it's not due to nervousness about entering. As a small-framed woman, two reasons why I don't feel comfortable going out on my own into isolated nature areas for landscape photography, are: 1. safety factor (from men who harass or worse); and, 2. ability to lug around a heavy load of camera gear. The average man likely doesn't have to concern themselves with either of those, but for a lot of women, it's a reality (especially #1). Possibly why, at least in part, you might see more women than men doing portraiture & wedding/baby.
I think the quality of images is unbelievable and nowhere near anything I could take. I struggle a little with the idea that the winner is unique as I feel I have seen a LOT of gnarly trees in mist images from yourself, Nick Page etc. With James involved I would have expected something with a little more story, wonderful and exceptional as the image is. Anyway it’s a wonderful display of the beauty of photography just thought I’d share the initial thoughts I was struck with. Thanks for a great video 👍🏻
Interesting to understand how photo competitions are judged. Have always thought about entering competitions but never had the confidence, always see winning photos with such a wow factor.
Your winning photo would make an excellent writing prompt for a short story. How about a spinoff contest for writers of all ages? After watching you talk about how you could imagine creatures in the tree trunk shapes and paths through the woods, I thought to myself, he's got a woodland story just waiting to come out of him... I would love to see more emphasis on using photographs in education, especially during end of year testing as writing prompts. It is so much easier for children to generate ideas from a photo than from a group of words.
Thanks for being so open on how you came to these well-deserved winners! I myself am a women and was doubting to add some images to the competition. In the end I didn't and I think because I don't feel good enough as a photographer... so my insecurity on my work held me back for sure... maybe this is true for other women photographers out there too? Maybe next year.... :-)
Ansel Adams would be proud Nigel - well done to all. I'm of the more creative bent when it comes to this area of photography. I look at the top selections from the judged images and say, "what do they all have in common?" As well as what are the elements that made them differ from one another. I love contest for these reasons exclusively - they all make me a better photography - well done to all and to you Nigel.
Loved this explanation and loved the winners. I am one of the only two commended women ( wow, really?) and yet I only entered this for the good cause. I do not enter competitions anymore or entertain critiques unless they are from photographers whom I deeply respect. Your panel of judges are to me, the top photographers today. Too often a judge will be someone with little skills and/ or vision. Anyway, thanks Nigel; great charity and very well run competition.
The winning pictures are so beautiful! For me, the leaf picture would have been the absolute winner, I love that one, it's so special! But the other pictures are stunning too!
It's the same with women on IT conferences: they don't apply with talks as often as men do. One way is to invite them directly, don't wait for them to send photos. And make sure you have good diversity among the judges: right now it's one to six, which isn't very inviting for women.
I consider such ratios to be a challenge. Sort of like Annie Oakley. Who did a different kind of shooting. For those who don't know who Annie Oakley was, she excelled at marksmanship. A male-dominated field in the 1800s as it is now. She didn't let that stop her.
My wife has pretty much zero interest in photography...is it one of those 'Men are from Mars and Women from Venus'/ 'Left brain, Right brain' things???
Thanks Nigel - great to get an insight into the thinking of the judges. My only minor complaint would be that it would have been nice to get an email to let those of us that didn’t make the shortlist know that our entries had been unsuccessful after the first round of judging had taken place.
@@NigelDanson Thanks for the reply Nigel - I appreciate it must have been a busy time and it would be quite a bit of extra work to do. Hope you are able to run the comp again next year though.
Congratulations to all the winner!!! I love the 3rd place image, it's similar to the ice photo from Ben Horne he took last winter!! Will be entering the competition again next year!
Fabulous photography by all , it was good to hear about the process, it would be good to hear more about women in landscape photography , I think they are under represented , not entirely sure why that is, I think there are many reasons for it. It would be interesting to explore it. :)
I know I'm late, but thought I'd chip in. First thing is that the top seven were all great photos. I do like the winner, it reminds me of Fangorn from LotR (the imagery from the book, not the films), but it's not the one I'd pick. It's just too busy for me. My choice would have been the "Monet". The colours, and composition are gorgeous, and it's technically excellent. Perhaps it lost out precisely because it looked like a Monet? I.e. it didn't have that originality you were after. If so, I think that's harsh. I also liked the windmill - as you say, it's the light that makes it. The composition, with the intersecting lines of the hills broken up by the beautifully lit trees, is just lovely. My only criticism would be that the tree to the front right looks odd and once seen, it is a bit distracting. That may be just how it comes across in the video though. What was the black blob in the top right (what you usually call "left") on the infrared image? Was that in the RAW file? If so, did nobody spot it? I thought the Yosemite picture, while striking, looked like the colours were artificially enhanced. It looked like the saturation had been boosted too much in Lightroom (I'm not saying it was boosted, just that it looks unnaturally saturated). For the rolling fog picture , I think rather than your suggestion of zooming closer, it would have benefitted from cropping off a bit of the foreground. Not enough to completely remove the view of pebbles on the lake bed, which I think is an important part of the shot, but enough to make it more of a panoramic shot, and drawing more attention to the line of trees on the far shore. The leaf on ice was also a cracking shot. If anything, I think its downfall is that it's possibly too perfect, which is probably why you thought it looked like the leaf had been placed. If it looks too good to be true, there's always going to be that nagging thought in the back of the mind that it really is too good to be true. It would be a great shot for a poster with an inspirational slogan.
Not quite sure why I entered now, except a charity donation is always worth it. Had I known Neil Burnell was in it - ha ha, not a glimmer of a chance. Well done the winners.
Amazing images, and a really difficult choice well executed. Image 3, 'Special', you mention Andrew (Baruffi), but on the left it is labelled Jason Hudson. My husband and I discussed why fewer women are photographers (or at least ones who enter competitions). He said we are less competitive, which is the reason behind much of the pay disparity in certain jobs (but that's a whole different discussion). I said it is also because the perceived risk to a woman on her own (particularly with lots of expensive gear) in comparison to a man. There is also disposable income, to buy equipment, and time if you have caring duties (for children and parents). None of those reasons will apply to all women (and can also apply to men, disproportionately), but they will probably apply to enough women to make the difference in numbers of photographers.
I was going to add that it was probably another difference between men and women (not just photographers) as I was listening to you, so heard you say Andrew, but he was watching some of the other details, so saw Jason 😂
Your comment resonates so much with me. I have a 4 yo daughter, no car and I don’t feel safe to go out on my own and shoot landscapes. I had to focus on flowers and details in nature that I can find around my home or in my garden. Hopefully, things will change in the future and maybe, one day, I will enter the competition, too. This was a great cause and it was wonderful to see all these beautiful photos. Well done to everyone entering the competition!
Well done for the money raised and what a pleasure to view some absolutely stunning images. Just have to say my favourite top three were 1: Lubos Prchal, 2:Andrew Robertson, 3: Collin Toews. Amazing. When to we get to see them all printed big in a gallery?
Excellent. Brilliant raising so much for charity, and showing such amazing images. Will any become available to buy? Very telling comment about judges and opinions, haha.
Amazing images!! I think it would be a great idea to have the 50 shortlisted images printed into a book with the photographers names location ect and proceeds going to conservation. I’d buy one and I’m sure lots of other viewers would too.
Wow 1st place is insane, most of them are so good. I dont really agree on 7th place, also 5th doesnt really ring my bells but as you said, photography is subjective. Too bad im just learning about this, couldve give it a go. I guess next year. Thanks for the video and congratulations to 1st place winner, absolutely amazing photo!
A massive thanks to the awesome judges - Adam Gibbs, Mark Littlejohn, Mads Peter Iversen, Sarah Cederholm and James Popsys! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
I think the photographer's name on the 2nd runner up image is misplaced.
Anyway all images are outstanding 😌
It was such a nice experience to judge this competition, congratulations to the winners and thanks for the participation to everyone!
Well done Mads ... !!
Thank you so much Nigel, and all the other judges. It was the proudest moment of my photography journey so far coming runner up. Such a worthy cause as well. Congratulations to Neil too for an amazing image.
Well Done Jason, Great images. Keep creating you are awesome.
Thanks for the awesome image!!!
I thought your image was just spectacular. It was my favourite - well done!
@@paulasimson4939 thank you so much Paula. Glad you like it 😁
@@amitm3 thanks so much for the encouragement this has been a real shot in my arm
Nigel, congratulations on the fluent and easy to understand way you make the less simple message clear and understandable! Story, reasons, intentions, emotions, ease, charm, time: everything spot-on. What a great narrator you became!
Thanks for holding this contest..for a great cause. Thanks to all the judges as well.
The 7th place image is stunning, so many beautiful colours, shapes and patterns throughout.
Yep - I is certainly one that rewards a prolonged view
Congratulations to all of the winners and thank you, Nigel, for raising money for a worthy cause. A win, win for everyone involved.
Thanks Adam - appreciate the help judging!!!
Thank you for asking why so few women are participating. I can just respond for myself, but I feel that safety issues seriously limit women's ability to get out at predawn hours at awesome locations. It's hard to feel very confident that you have great images when you are so limited and restricted. It is a constant frustration for me! My husband is very concerned for my safety so I do not go if he feels it's not safe. Once in a while, he will go with me, but non-photographers just don't understand the need to get out there before dawn or staying out well past sunset. Out of sheer desperation, I started a photography club in my small town. Unfortunately, it didn't really yield anyone with my level of commitment so I only have company for easy little local outings. The serious limitations really stifle my creativity and vision. I guess the challenge for me it to figure out how to come up with something fabulous in my tiny, tiny universe. Thank you for creating the contest, the winning images are amazing!
Yes I think that maybe a reason but I have a lot of female photography friends that do get out early.
An excellent competition for a worthy cause, with some stunning finalists.
Well done and congratulations to all who entered and all who worked behind the scenes to make it happen.
Interesting to see the reality behind the process ! No system is without its flaws and at the end of the day as long as it's fair then that's as good as you can do. Congrats to the winners and those commended !
Incredible images. Congratulations to all the winners. I am exploring the variety of subjects available here in Devon. When it comes to motivation for women to get into landscape photography, I am held back by feeling vulnerable in remote areas. A solution perhaps would be to team up with another person which does not always work out.
What a difficult time you judges must have had. So many truly stunning photos just in the top fifty.
Fantastic outcome all round. Well done to all involved.
Thanks for sharing again Nigel
As a competitor who didn't come close to the stunning images that the judges selected, I want to say how meaningful participating in the competition was because it made me look at my images and consider those that I wanted to edit. I loved going over my old images with the focus that selecting for the competition provided. Nigel, you are a such an enthusiastic teacher who inspires so many of us to enjoy the photographs that we take. Many thanks to you and the other judges for your time and expertise.
Congratulations to all. Why there were very few from us ladies, because there are less of them doing landscape photography. Some of it probably comes down to physical capabilities. Maybe next year we will show you men how it is done.
Hope so!
Let's consider this competition a challenge that we can and will rise to.
Yeah Nicky show us men how it's done! I'd love to see women teach us men how we can be better photographers, because of course sex has everything to do with it.
Exactly my thoughts when Nigel asked why so few entries from ladies. It's not ability, it's simply that there are far fewer ladies shooting landscape (safety concerns?), proven by so few I meet when photographing landscapes or sport.
Now if it were portraits, weddings, children, travel, urban etc. I'm sure there would be far more entries and far more ladies amongst the winners.
Anyway I enjoyed watching this and hearing of the process used as well as the seeing the many quality entries. Fantastic winning shot.
Nigel, the 50 top and the winner are AMAZING photos. You should print a book and make an annual event out of this initiative , rasing money to charity every year. Great Initiative ! Congrats
Thanks for showing the background behind the judging, Nigel. The top 7 and how/why you chose them are a great inspiration in themselves to me and how I might elevate my own photography. Well done to Neil and everyone who made the top 50!
This was an absolutely fascinating video on how you all judged the competition Nigel, well done and I’m happy to have helped raise so much money for a good cause. I was fortunate enough to have one of my photos shortlisted (what a thrill!). Although completely unreasonable I would have loved to have been able to receive the criticism on my image, been a fly on the wall when the judge(s) viewed my photo. A chance to learn from someone much more experienced than myself. Again, completely unreasonable to expect that, I know, just a dream. Given your explanation on judging criteria I think I can see where I missed the mark. Thank you all again for the hard work and I’m certainly looking forward to the next competition!
I think that this is the first landscape photography competition that the judges got it 100% right! I completely agree with the placings of these fantastic images.Congrations to the winners but an even bigger congratulations to the judges because I see a lot of winning compositions that make me scratch my head. Well done guys!...😀👍👏🥰💯
Wow - Thanks so much to you and all the judges what a fantastic competition. Loved looking through the best images and hearing your talk about the process. Bring on the next one!
you are a really excellent teacher. best Iandscape photographer teacher I've seen on UA-cam
Thanks so much Andrew 👍🏼
Beautiful images. It was a great idea to run the competition with the charity benefit as the icing on the cake. The judging process sounded fair, and intense for all the judges so a million thanks to them for their expertise, time and opinions. They have selected wonderful images that inspire we less skilled photographers.
Great idea to host this competition. Thank you, Nigel, and all the judges for committing so much of your time to a great cause. Congratulations on raising the funds. And congratulations to all the entrants, finalists, and Neil Burnell!
Well deserved on the top ten! Thanks for explaining the process as well.
What an amazing collection of glorious images. I'm glad I entered as I thought it was important to make even a tiny donation to an important cause, but also because I'm one of the select group of 148 women who entered! I definitely don't specialize in landscape photography and my images reflect that, but it was fun to enter regardless. I really enjoyed you sharing the judging process with us, Nigel, very interesting.
Thanks Paula 👍🏼
Many thanks for running the competition and for the most transparent explanation of the judging process I have have seen. The images look amazing on the big screen, I guess they big prints are even better. Thanks for sharing and congratulations on raising so much money for charity.
I'm impressed you noticed the differences in numbers between men and women! This is quite common, unfortunately. I just looked at your page to enter for this year but the competition is already closed...Next time.
Great job with the contest Nigel. Love the concept of raising money for worthy causes. I look forward to next year's contest. I entered this year ... didn't win anything but then didn't expect to either. I'll enter again next year as well all for a good cause. Keep doing what you're doing!
Well done to all involved. As to ladies and photography, when I taught an adult education evening class it was always higher numbers compared to the men. I asked a few times and it seems the ladies liked the safety of the environment. They always turned out on the day we had a "field" trip, and one went on to win our local "in bloom" photography section. Not sure if this all adds up to anything, but one of your responses mentions feeling vulnerable in remote areas. Cheers Marshall
I totally agree on that. As a female photographer i am seriously limited on where and when I can go out to shoot. If my husband doesn't think a planned shoot is safe, I don't go. It's a challenge to find other photographers to go out shooting with. It really does limit what you can do as a landscape photographer. Sometimes my husband will go with me but he doesn't understand the need to get out before sunrise, so its almost impossible to catch the best light.
congratulations! well deserved -- thanks for all the great tutorials!! and photos.
Great video, great competition. Very informative to see your judging process. Thanks.
Fantastic shots and worthy winners.
Roll on next year's competition
Thank you Nigel for putting this competition together, along with all of the judges taking the time out to analyse and judge each image, thank you!
I am looking forward to the next one in 2021.
Wonderful winning images and great video explaining the judging process. Must admit I only entered at the last moment after having an image shortlisted in another competition and was feeling elated. Im really not a very competitive person and have always shied away from pitting my photographs against others. It's quite a daunting experience sharing the images I love and have an emotional connection with into the wider photographic world. That old saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder is very true in competitions. Shoot for yourself and enjoy the process and if others like your images, that's a wonderful added bonus! 😊
I completely understand and although I now share my images widely it was something I hated doing. I was scared from a camera club comp once and what was a fav image became a badly critiqued shot. It is why I tend to only say good thing about people’s images unless they asked me.
@@NigelDanson Love your pictures they are fabulous. Thanks so much for holding the competition and raising £10,000 for UNICEF for Covid-19. As someone who has lost a grandmother due to the illness it has been good to be proactive at this difficult time 🕊️
Diane, I agree with you completely! As a woman photographer with only about 3 years into serious photography, I am not into the competition aspect and shoot for the pure enjoyment. Judging and or receiving points is not for me. I like feedback on my photos and love learning from others competing and seeing their beautiful creative art. Next year, I plan to donate to the charity even if I don't compete.
@@sallyjberry805 What a lovely idea about donating next year and it's always good to see wonderful images from other photographers. In the 18 years I was a press photographer I only ever entered one comp and that was a Royal Rota contest. It was a bit of fun and I was shocked to be shortlisted and then be a runner up with a shot of Prince Charles! 😀👍
A wonderful contest to raise money for a good cause, Nigel! So glad you did this. I like the photos you showed and will look at website to see more. I am a woman and would have entered but I don't do Instagram. You chose some good judges, I am familiar with most of them. I liked the comedic input of James and his 838 photos to judge. so funny! Thanks again for doing this contest. It is such a joy to view other's photos and learn from them.
Nigel, Thanks for explaining the judging of these images. It was a great competition. I am so glad you will be running it in 2021.
The seven images are gorgeous, and very unique. My favorite is the third place photo. Great job by the judges.
Fantastic Nigel, congratulation to the finalist, very interesting that the white boarder of the winning image gives the presentation a true 3D presentation.
Thank You for organising this competition, it is really fantastic to see so much money being raised by this competition and to see how that money will go on to help people, this was the first competition I've entered and just being able to catch a glimpse of my photos amongst everyone elses at the start of the video was enough. I'm also glad to hear that you are going to run the competition again next year, I look forward to entering again
I really enjoyed being part of this fundraiser and competition. While I didn’t place at all it is amazing to see the quality photography entered and inspiration to enter again next year. Congratulations to all.
Thanks very much for all your work. I thoroughly enjoyed this post, and walk away highly inspired and educated. I think I’ve become a better photographer today…
Thank you Nigel for organising the contest and giving the wrap up on how the judges judged. Very interesting. Best regards,
Great competition, magnificent winning picture, what atmosphere! The runner up pictures are great also especially no. 7. Looking forward to next year, so much inspiration here and so much to work on!
So many WOW-pictures. Congratulations to all the winners !!!
Well done Nigel - I just reviewed all the images posted on your site and it is evermore evident that no matter how good we and our images get that a) there are always others that that we can aspire to and b) there is always something we can learn from one another regardless of where in the ranking that we fit. And it is evermore evident that no matter how beautiful Mother Nature gets that she always has something more beautiful to come. As an additional fund raiser idea, perhaps your winners would allow you to auction off a print of their image.
Thanks Nigel, very interesting to see the process. As just an enthusiast I'd have picked the same No. 1 from those 7 but personally Nos. 7 & 6 were my nos 2 & 3 (or 6&7! lol). Special congrats to Neil as I suck at woodland photography so am in awe of those who take it to such a level.
I totally missed this competition, but even if not - I would probably not have taken part, cause I don't like competing with everyone. It's kinda stupid, because your explanation sounded completely fair, but I do have not the best experience from participating in photography competitions before. And I still have to judge my one pictures before sending them in - naaa, too stressful 😉
Congrats to the winners for taking and sharing these pictures. And thanks to the judges for their trouble.
Photography aside you can be very proud of what you have achieved for such a worthy cause .... well-done mate, fabulous .... and of course an incredible winning image from Neil .. hopefully, one day see it in person printed large ...
Thumbs up for this video. I really am impressed by the thoughts you put into this competition. And thank you very much for making it so transparent, so everyone can understand how the results were made. In other competitions they are like „that‘s the winner. K thx bye.“ and as you said, sometimes you don‘t understand why this picture wins. But your way of judging the pictures is very well thought through. Thank you very much for this video.
Really well done. Excellent effort for a great cause.
Fantastic effort to raise that money, really well done everyone and big thanks for arranging it Nigel
Assuming Squarespace is really good, then how about putting up all the images for us to have a look at?
Congrats Nigel, $10K to UNICEF is no joke man! I think the male-to-female ratio question is certainly deserving of its own video. Of course it derives from their being far more men subscribing to photography Y/T channels, but I’ve often wondered why THAT is. When I was in college I feel like I knew so many great female photographers-pros, hobbyists, all levels-and yet the numbers, at least on Y/T, are highly skewed. Would be very interested in your take on that. Again, great work on this. I didn’t submit but I’ve loved watching the competition unfold.
Absolutely amazing. Loved all the images that you showed. They all deserve to win a competition. So many talents out there!
congratulations to all the winners the images were stunning
I have to say that I am so inspired by the many winners and commended images. I was able to spend a lot of time looking them all over (again and again), hoping that some of that knowledge and magic would rub off on me. I felt very fortunate to have had one of my entries shortlisted. Looking forward to next year!
Great to see what’s involved behind the scenes with a photography competition Nigel, thank you for sharing.
Nigel, My entries were nowhere near the quality of those Shortlisted & commended, but that's not to say I'm not happy with my entries, I see a few other are a bit disheartened. They shouldn't be. I'm happy that my entry fee may help those who need a helping hand!. I'll be back again next year and who knows🤞. Well Done Neil, Well done Nigel and the Judges. Keep safe to everyone!
I feel the same way about my entries. Most of them were shot on a very old Nikon D3100, then one on a phone and one on a Panasonic bridge camera. I feel like I did the best I could with them. It would be cool to perhaps see a critique video of a selection of images which missed the 150 shortlist and WHY they missed it, with Nigel giving tips on how the images could have been improved (either through different editing or better camera settings).
My only disappointment (without taking anything away from it) in regards to the winning image is that it's the type of image that Nigel likes to take/usually takes. So I kind of would have liked a more unconventional/unpredictable choice.
@Soumendranath Baidya the foreground in your shot is out of focus, and the shutter speed has allowed grasses to move and blur in a way which doesn't fit with the rest of the image, these two technical failings would knock it out of contention immediately.
In terms of composition, it feels a little unbalanced, with too much visual weight on the right compared to the left.
If you want to include prominent foreground elements like the mossy rocks, you need to ensure sharp focus from foreground to infinity.
You might have been better off using a smaller aperture and suffering a little diffraction, since diffraction wouldn't be as noticeable in such a soft misty scene.
Nice woodland shot, you've done well to find a reasonably uncluttered composition amidst the chaos, but yeah that foreground soft focus kills it for me as a viewer.
Thank you so much for your support of women photographers! I personally was not aware of the contest. Glad to see a woman was one of the contest judges, not sure if that would’ve helped me out if I had entered the contest 😁 Thanks again for your inspirational videos, hello Pebbles!🐶
Thanks Holly! Pebbles says 🐾
Congratulations to Neil, fantastic image. I absolutely adore image 6 and could look at that all day long :0)
very worthy competition finalists. Jaw dropping georgeous images. So good I feel like giving up!
Amazing images and very worthy winners! I particularly enjoyed the images because they were not all of mountains and lakes! The winning image is truly memorable!
Very beautiful images, thanks so much for discussing the process
Hi Nigel, I am bursting with pride that how well you guys have executed this. It is fair, it is methodical, judged by really really talented artists... and for a good cause. The judging process you explained is fair and yeah there can be winners and runner ups but the choice of the winners and commendations are not far off of what we all may also think and that tells you how fair it is. I am sorry but one tends to do some comparisons and when I see how fairly and respectfully you address and refer to the participants, I feel why the heck I ever wasted my time in watching some 'Critique the community' type vlogs on some popular channels. This is the way people should be judged for their art, time, and effort. Well Done!! Bloody Brilliant!
Thanks so much Amit - fairness and respect for everyone’s images was of prime importance
Wow, I didn't know you were a key part of such a high profile competition! That's great!
Speaking of seeing people, in the waterfall I see the right side of a man's face, you can even see the eye and the ear, with one hand coming out of the waterfall and placing something over his mouth and nose. All beautiful images. Congratulations to the winners and everyone who participated. I was going to participate, but at the moment I don't have any images that I felt were good enough to send, so I hope next year.
Some great photographs there. Congratulations to the winners.
Rolling Fog is my #1 and the chosen #1 Is my #2 out of the images shown here.
I'm definitely more for the slow burner and I found a lot of the so-called 'wow shots to be a bit superficial and even fake.
Rolling Fog is an image you can look at for years and still keep finding something new. Brilliant work. The composition is way ahead of any of the other images and you can get a real sense of being there which is crucial if you are to be able to relate.
Wow those top 7 images are frickin awesome. I’m a wildlife photographer and these make me want to switch to landscapes (oh and the cut to James - priceless)
Firstly thanks to Nigel and the team for all they contributed to this. Big congratulations to the top photos.
My thoughts on females entering is two fold; firstly a reasonable assumption is there is probably an equally opposite proportion of females to males in the portraiture and wedding / baby photography worlds. Secondly there could be the issue of self doubt and are my photos good enough? Women are assumed to be more emotional so would be more nervous if entering perhaps. Ideas and thoughts for healthy debate and not meant to cause hurt but it is definitely something to look at - perhaps a female landscape photographer to boost support and interaction???
From myself, it's not due to nervousness about entering. As a small-framed woman, two reasons why I don't feel comfortable going out on my own into isolated nature areas for landscape photography, are:
1. safety factor (from men who harass or worse); and,
2. ability to lug around a heavy load of camera gear.
The average man likely doesn't have to concern themselves with either of those, but for a lot of women, it's a reality (especially #1). Possibly why, at least in part, you might see more women than men doing portraiture & wedding/baby.
I think the quality of images is unbelievable and nowhere near anything I could take. I struggle a little with the idea that the winner is unique as I feel I have seen a LOT of gnarly trees in mist images from yourself, Nick Page etc. With James involved I would have expected something with a little more story, wonderful and exceptional as the image is. Anyway it’s a wonderful display of the beauty of photography just thought I’d share the initial thoughts I was struck with. Thanks for a great video 👍🏻
Interesting to understand how photo competitions are judged. Have always thought about entering competitions but never had the confidence, always see winning photos with such a wow factor.
Your winning photo would make an excellent writing prompt for a short story. How about a spinoff contest for writers of all ages? After watching you talk about how you could imagine creatures in the tree trunk shapes and paths through the woods, I thought to myself, he's got a woodland story just waiting to come out of him...
I would love to see more emphasis on using photographs in education, especially during end of year testing as writing prompts. It is so much easier for children to generate ideas from a photo than from a group of words.
Thanks for being so open on how you came to these well-deserved winners! I myself am a women and was doubting to add some images to the competition. In the end I didn't and I think because I don't feel good enough as a photographer... so my insecurity on my work held me back for sure... maybe this is true for other women photographers out there too? Maybe next year.... :-)
Beautiful images all of them 👌👏
Ansel Adams would be proud Nigel - well done to all. I'm of the more creative bent when it comes to this area of photography. I look at the top selections from the judged images and say, "what do they all have in common?" As well as what are the elements that made them differ from one another. I love contest for these reasons exclusively - they all make me a better photography - well done to all and to you Nigel.
Loved this explanation and loved the winners. I am one of the only two commended women ( wow, really?) and yet I only entered this for the good cause. I do not enter competitions anymore or entertain critiques unless they are from photographers whom I deeply respect. Your panel of judges are to me, the top photographers today. Too often a judge will be someone with little skills and/ or vision. Anyway, thanks Nigel; great charity and very well run competition.
Thanks for the kind words! Appreciate that you entered and shared you great photos 👍🏼
The winning pictures are so beautiful! For me, the leaf picture would have been the absolute winner, I love that one, it's so special! But the other pictures are stunning too!
Well done to all concerned. A great community effort.
Briefly make an appearance at 6:16 and 8:34! Lol. Well done all, especially for the amount raised for charity!
Well stopped! Thanks so much for entering
Some truly inspiring images there. Just kind of reminds me that I’m turning out crap when looking at these. 🤨
It's the same with women on IT conferences: they don't apply with talks as often as men do. One way is to invite them directly, don't wait for them to send photos. And make sure you have good diversity among the judges: right now it's one to six, which isn't very inviting for women.
I consider such ratios to be a challenge. Sort of like Annie Oakley. Who did a different kind of shooting.
For those who don't know who Annie Oakley was, she excelled at marksmanship. A male-dominated field in the 1800s as it is now. She didn't let that stop her.
My wife has pretty much zero interest in photography...is it one of those 'Men are from Mars and Women from Venus'/ 'Left brain, Right brain' things???
Thanks Nigel - great to get an insight into the thinking of the judges. My only minor complaint would be that it would have been nice to get an email to let those of us that didn’t make the shortlist know that our entries had been unsuccessful after the first round of judging had taken place.
Yep - my mistake. It was a hectic week (no excuse!)
@@NigelDanson Thanks for the reply Nigel - I appreciate it must have been a busy time and it would be quite a bit of extra work to do. Hope you are able to run the comp again next year though.
Looking forward to next year! 😁
Congratulations to all the winner!!! I love the 3rd place image, it's similar to the ice photo from Ben Horne he took last winter!!
Will be entering the competition again next year!
Thanks, Dr Danson. I would hate to have to judge the top image of these finalists. Congratulations to all!
More female photographers should enter competitions! I am so glad I entered this one.
Thanks Claire! Yep they should... 🤷🏼♂️
@@NigelDanson I think women in general are more critical of their work and less likely to think they stand a chance than most men are possibly.
Fabulous photography by all , it was good to hear about the process, it would be good to hear more about women in landscape photography , I think they are under represented , not entirely sure why that is, I think there are many reasons for it. It would be interesting to explore it. :)
I know I'm late, but thought I'd chip in. First thing is that the top seven were all great photos. I do like the winner, it reminds me of Fangorn from LotR (the imagery from the book, not the films), but it's not the one I'd pick. It's just too busy for me. My choice would have been the "Monet". The colours, and composition are gorgeous, and it's technically excellent. Perhaps it lost out precisely because it looked like a Monet? I.e. it didn't have that originality you were after. If so, I think that's harsh.
I also liked the windmill - as you say, it's the light that makes it. The composition, with the intersecting lines of the hills broken up by the beautifully lit trees, is just lovely. My only criticism would be that the tree to the front right looks odd and once seen, it is a bit distracting. That may be just how it comes across in the video though.
What was the black blob in the top right (what you usually call "left") on the infrared image? Was that in the RAW file? If so, did nobody spot it?
I thought the Yosemite picture, while striking, looked like the colours were artificially enhanced. It looked like the saturation had been boosted too much in Lightroom (I'm not saying it was boosted, just that it looks unnaturally saturated).
For the rolling fog picture , I think rather than your suggestion of zooming closer, it would have benefitted from cropping off a bit of the foreground. Not enough to completely remove the view of pebbles on the lake bed, which I think is an important part of the shot, but enough to make it more of a panoramic shot, and drawing more attention to the line of trees on the far shore.
The leaf on ice was also a cracking shot. If anything, I think its downfall is that it's possibly too perfect, which is probably why you thought it looked like the leaf had been placed. If it looks too good to be true, there's always going to be that nagging thought in the back of the mind that it really is too good to be true. It would be a great shot for a poster with an inspirational slogan.
Not quite sure why I entered now, except a charity donation is always worth it. Had I known Neil Burnell was in it - ha ha, not a glimmer of a chance. Well done the winners.
👍🏼
Beautiful images! Not sure why so few women entered. I’ll have to step up my game and enter next year!
Yep! Thanks!
Please make link to the top photos available. Thanks. Love your videos
It is in the description 👍🏼
Amazing images, and a really difficult choice well executed.
Image 3, 'Special', you mention Andrew (Baruffi), but on the left it is labelled Jason Hudson.
My husband and I discussed why fewer women are photographers (or at least ones who enter competitions). He said we are less competitive, which is the reason behind much of the pay disparity in certain jobs (but that's a whole different discussion). I said it is also because the perceived risk to a woman on her own (particularly with lots of expensive gear) in comparison to a man. There is also disposable income, to buy equipment, and time if you have caring duties (for children and parents). None of those reasons will apply to all women (and can also apply to men, disproportionately), but they will probably apply to enough women to make the difference in numbers of photographers.
Yep - my mistake on the video
I was going to add that it was probably another difference between men and women (not just photographers) as I was listening to you, so heard you say Andrew, but he was watching some of the other details, so saw Jason 😂
Your comment resonates so much with me. I have a 4 yo daughter, no car and I don’t feel safe to go out on my own and shoot landscapes. I had to focus on flowers and details in nature that I can find around my home or in my garden. Hopefully, things will change in the future and maybe, one day, I will enter the competition, too. This was a great cause and it was wonderful to see all these beautiful photos. Well done to everyone entering the competition!
Congrats Winner...
Well done for the money raised and what a pleasure to view some absolutely stunning images. Just have to say my favourite top three were 1: Lubos Prchal, 2:Andrew Robertson, 3: Collin Toews. Amazing. When to we get to see them all printed big in a gallery?
When you asked RAW file, is it just the base file or all files that included in the photo like some blending and stacking?
Excellent. Brilliant raising so much for charity, and showing such amazing images. Will any become available to buy? Very telling comment about judges and opinions, haha.
Amazing images!! I think it would be a great idea to have the 50 shortlisted images printed into a book with the photographers names location ect and proceeds going to conservation. I’d buy one and I’m sure lots of other viewers would too.
Hi Thomas - I considered it and maybe next year....
Great video Nigel, and what a great selection of images, loved the top two the most, either could of won it easily.
Wow 1st place is insane, most of them are so good. I dont really agree on 7th place, also 5th doesnt really ring my bells but as you said, photography is subjective. Too bad im just learning about this, couldve give it a go. I guess next year. Thanks for the video and congratulations to 1st place winner, absolutely amazing photo!
It would be interesting to see that Zoom call discussing the last 15 images
The only thing I want to know is which cameras' and lens the winners use. Oh, and how much work was done after in post edit.