SNPA 2018 Winners Announced

The Scottish Nature Photography Awards are back with some stunning entries for it’s 8th consecutive year! 

Photographer Phil Johnston takes the crown this year with a summer spent focusing on a family of Roe Deer. Phil said: “I am absolutely delighted and stunned to have been awarded the title of Scottish Nature Photographer of the Year 2018. It’s a real honour to have my work recognised at such a high level.

“I love nothing more than being out in the sticks with my camera, seeing all the beauty that surrounds me and trying my best to capture those moments in time.

“On this particular evening in early July, I had already spent several hours with the Roe family but I had also seen a Fox around. I decided to try my luck along a narrow track that runs between some hedgerows and farmland where I had seen the Fox several times before. After an hour or so, I heard a rustling in the long grass and out popped not a Fox, but one of the Roe Deer twins! It pulled off some cow parsley flowers and started munching away. I made three or four frames before it vanished back into the dense grassland. It was a magical moment to see.”

I think its a cracker, it ticks all the boxes for me and provides that all important ‘awww’ factor!

Kaitlyn Clark (Age 8) took the top spot with her ‘Peek-a-boo’ image of a wee red squirrel. Kaitlyn said: “I was completely overwhelmed to find out I had won. I love wildlife and I enjoy going out with my parents on wildlife trips! My motto is ‘Enjoy the experience first and photographs second.’

“I was really happy to get the squirrel picture, they are so cute! I named it Peek-a-boo because the cheeky squirrel was actually playing peek-a-boo with me in the branches.”

Judge Niall Irvine said: “Kaitlyn’s picture is well composed with the tree branches framing the Red Squirrel. There’s a nice side light to the image and a feeling of spontaneity and movement.”

And finally Martin Gibb won the Student Nature Photographer of the Year - an award that is obviously close to my heart! He said: “I am delighted to have won the Student Scottish Nature Photographer of the Year 2018. It really is an honour and I feel truly humbled. This is my final year at City of Glasgow College and winning this competition, in what has been a challenging year for me, really has given me a spring in my step and caps off a fantastic journey.

“The sea has always been a draw for me and the theme of ‘Coastline’ was appealing from the outset. I am interested in geological forms within the landscape and Siccar Point near Edinburgh drew me as it is famous for Hutton’s Unconformity. Discovered in 1788 by James Hutton, considered to be the father of modern geology, it changed how the history of the earth was understood. The landscape here is steeply rocky and ruled by the power of the sea. It is a place to fill the senses.

“I wanted to show this location from three different viewpoints, one to give a close up feel of the textural elements of the rocks, and the other two views showing its place within the landscape.”

This year has again produced some beautiful entries and let’s hope we see some more in next years competition!