BBC Look North - Winning Weather Shot

Hello again.
Earlier this week my 'Buttermere Dawn' shot won the August weather competition on BBC Look North. It will now feature on the 2014 'Children In Need' Calendar, which I'm chuffed to bits about. The calendar, which sells in thousands each year, is due to go on sale in November, as its release coincides with 'Children' In Need day. It was first time lucky for me, as I'd never previously submitted one of my photo's to BBC TV for one reason or another, so it was a big surprise to win the competition in August, even though my photo had been shown earlier on two consecutive nights. It seems quite a while ago that I was stood at the waters edge at Buttermere, yet it was only three weeks since that day, and one that I won't forget in a hurry. Many thanks go to the judge who picked out my shot, Alison Leddy, and even better that she is a landscape photographer herself, so she obviously knows what makes a great shot. It must have been a difficult choice for her to make though, as I was up against some big competition, judging by the batch of shots that were shown in the run up to announcing the overall winner. You'll see them all in the video clip below. So, without further ado, here it is...

See ya all later,
Ash

More TV Exposure! (Parts 60-62)

Last weekend, Bank Holiday, was spent in the Lake District as part of a two night camping trip. The weather was brilliant throughout, with not a single drop of rainfall, which is quite a rarity in Cumbria, even in Summer. We pitched our tent at Castlerigg Farm, Keswick, which was our fourth visit to the site over the last two years and certainly one site we'll be revisiting in 2014. On Monday morning I was up early and heading out in pitch darkness for a sunrise at Buttermere. A 5am alarm call started the show, before the 40 minute car journey through Seatoller, then the climb onto Honister Pass, before descending through the valley and into Buttermere. Upon arrival visibility was very poor. I stuck around though, being a patient and persevering type of photographer (he he), and was duly rewarded with one of the best scenes I've ever witnessed - it really was something else. The Buttermere pines, reputed to be the most photographed set of trees in the UK, along with a still lake, giving a glass like reflection that was screaming out to be photographed. The mountainous backdrop added to the picture, so there was no time to stand on ceremony as the scene in front of me only lasted a short while before the water began to ripple and the reflection disappeared. By the time that eventually happened the shots were in the bag. I'm looking forward to opening the folder with the other shots in, to see if there are more gems to work with. Here is one that I sent in to regional TV, as a weather shot. My photograph, which is titled 'First Light, Buttermere', was shown on ITV Border at 6.30pm on Wednesday 28th August, then again on BBC Look North 30 minutes later! 48 hours later it resurfaced on BBC once again during another weather forecast. Here are the screenshots, along with the original, converted from RAW to JPEG and downsized for the web use.

A full blog entry of my Lake District camping trip will appear here shortly. Until then...take care

Ash