Skye man scoops Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year award

Dumfries-born photographer Nick Hanson, has been announced as this year’s winner of the Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year Award.

Skye-based Nick beat off strong competition from thousands of entries submitted from across the globe to win the prestigious accolade with his magnificently evocative images shot in the Scottish Highlands and Islands.

Autumn in Glen Affric

His evocative winning images were shot in the Cairngorms, Skye and Glen Affric with his Canon digital camera. They included ‘Autumn colours”, a shot of mist dancing around some golden grasses on a cold night by the side of Loch Pityoulish in the Cairngorms National Park; ‘Glamaig Reflection’, capturing the snow-capped peak of Glamaig mountain, reflected in a tranquil loch as the sun started to rise behind the  red hills on the Isle of Skye; and ‘Autumn in Glen Affric’, a shot of birches and ferns rendered as a canvas of brilliant colour and subtle movement at one of Scotland’s best examples of the great Caledonian Forest in Glen Affric.

Glamaig reflection

‘Glamaig Reflection’, also received one of the 10 Wild Places Awards, sponsored by the John Muir Trust, which owns and manages Glamaig and the surrounding  land.

Autumn colours on Loch Pityoulish

In addition to the overall title, The Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year competition consists of eleven other categories, including a range of awards sponsored by supporting organisations that include AcademyClass, Formatt Hitech, The Isle of Harris Distillery, Loxley Colour, Caledonian MacBrayne, Scottish Natural Heritage, Historic Environment Scotland and the John Muir Trust.

The competition, now in its third year, is the brainchild of Fife-based landscape photographer, Stuart Low who put it together to promote and inspire photographers of all levels to explore Scotland’s diverse rural, urban and coastal landscapes, and to  promote Scotland’s natural, cultural and historic heritage to an international audience.  Winning entries will be published in a series of public exhibitions and in a special edition book that will be published on 10th March 2017

Stuart Low, the founder and head judge of the competition said: “The competition goes from strength to strength and this follows on from the incredible success of the first two years.

Last year’s book sold out in record time and we’ve already had pre-orders for this year’s book when it comes out in March. We had major exhibitions like the one at Ocean Terminal that was a huge hit with the public and on the back of that, we’ve been booked up again for this year.

Once again, photographers from right across the world entered the competition. They took to the mountains, the islands, the coasts and the streets, and they captured the most stunning and diverse views of our spectacular country. My congratulations to them all!”

Find out more at  www.slpoty.co.uk