Image of the Year 2009
Talisker Bay, Isle of Skye by James Goodchild
In a change from previous years, voting in the 2009 Digital Dawn Image of the Year competition was restricted to photographers from the courses which meant that the number of votes cast was slightly less. But course leader Garry Brannigan still received more than 300 emails and many made the point that the task of choosing the eventual winner was far from easy as the standard was particuarly high.
After such a close competition last year when just three votes separated first and second place, the 2009 contest was surprisingly even closer and sent Garry with furrowed brow into a quiet corner for a re-count. Eventually the winner of our £250 course voucher was James Goodchild's dramatic sunset image from Talisker Bay made during our October course on the Isle of Skye.
James received 74 votes, just one more than Image No 4: Grant Willoughby's quieter but equally individual sunset photograph made at Budle Bay during our March course in Northumberland. So despite Garry preaching that there is much more to landscape photography than only sunrise and sunset, nearly half the votes were for two images made right at the end of the day!
In another break with convention I have decided that now the competition has closed I will allow myself the luxury of casting my own vote, which this year goes to Mike Cheetham for Image No 23, made in the middle of the day during our Ullapool course in February. The forces of nature always catch my eye as a subject for a photograph and here the swirl of snow dusting an iced-over loch has been formed by the wind. Usually so powerful, especially in the Scottish Highlands, here the wind has worked in subtler ways to produce a shape with so much free-flowing energy. And just as the two sunset images are magical moments captured, the wind across Lochanan Dubha gusted just a moment after Mike made his image and the swirl's beauty was gone.
1: Grinton Moor, Swaledale by Michael Lyall
2: Achnahaird Bay, Inverpolly by Jill Eastham
3: Howick Haven, Northumberland by Rachel McCann
4: Budle Bay, Northumberland by Grant Willoughby
5: Friar's Crag, Derwentwater, Lake District by Rob Appleby
6: Hudswell Woods, Swaledale by Julie Wilks
7: The Ings, Derwent Water, Lake District by Hilary Kirk
8: Loch Airigh na Saorach, Sleat Peninsula, Isle of Skye by Jill Eastham
9: From Friar's Crag, Derwentwater, Lake District by Mark Saunders
10: Friar's Crag, Derwentwater, Lake District by Gordon Gibbons
11: Monk's House Rocks, Northumberland by Eleanor Coate
12: River Swale, Richmond, Swaledale by Annette Kuhn
13: Loch Hourn, Sound of Sleat, Isle of Skye by Sasha Viergever
14: Beadnell Bay, Northumberland by Will Thompson
15: Friar's Crag, Derwentwater, Lake District by Hilary Kirk
16: Wain Wath Force, Swaledale by Martin Doonan
17: Embleton Bay, Northumberland by Eleanor Coate
18: Hudswell Woods, Swaledale by James Goodchild
19: Loch Lurgainn, Inverpolly by Andrew Leaney
20: Low Hows Wood, Borrowdale, Lake District by Martin Worth
22: Talisker Bay, Isle of Skye by Will Thompson
23: Lochanan Dubha, Inverpolly by Mike Cheetham
24: Howick Haven, Northumberland by Margaret Martin
25: Budle Bay, Northumberland by Paul Pickard
26: Hudswell Woods, Swaledale by Martin Doonan
27: Latrigg, Derwentwater, Lake District by Ken Dickenson
28: Lower Breakish, Isle of Skye by Lisa Burdett
29: Cul Beag from Stac Pollaidh, Inverpolly by Len Mackland
30: Low Hows Wood, Borrowdale by Julie Skelton
31: Wain Wath Force, Swaledale by Lesley Pegrum
32: Monk's House Rocks, Northumberland by John Hendrickson
33: Low Hows Wood, Borrowdale, Lake District by Hilary Kirk
34: Catbells from Friar's Crag, Derwentwater, Lake District by Jackie Matear
35: Grinton Moor, Swaledale by Ruth Ricketts
36: From Friar's Crag, Derwentwater, Lake District by Gordon Gibbons
37: Hawes End, Derwentwater, Lake District by Julie Skelton
38: Catbells from Calfclose Bay, Derwentwater, Lake District by Katrina Brayshaw
39: Hudswell Woods, Swaledale by Christine Payne
40: Bamburgh, Northumberland by Richard Waller
41: Grinton Moor, Swaledale by James Goodchild
42: Buttermere, Lake District by Maurice Baker
43: Rumbling Kern, Northumberland by Chris Wragg
44: Buttermere foreshore, Lake District by Bob Roberts
45: Hawes End, Derwentwater, Lake District by Jean Walker
46: Wain Wath Force, Swaledale by Margaret Harding
47: The Fairy Pools, Glen Brittle, Isle of Skye by Jill Eastham
48: Grinton Moor, Swaledale by Ken Grace
49: Sleat Peninsula, Isle of Skye by James Goodchild
50: Buttermere foreshore, lake District by Alastair Ratcliffe
51: Hudswell Woods, Swaledale by Margaret Harding
52: Monk's House Rocks, Northumberland by John Hendrickson
53: Neist Point, Isle of Skye by Sasha Viergever
54: Loch Hourn, Sound of Sleat, Isle of Skye by Jamie Bodley-Scott
55: Hudswell Woods, Swaledale by Julie Wilks
57: Borrowdale from Friar's Crag, Derwentwater, Lake District by Julie Skelton
58: Loch Lurgainn, Inverpolly by Robert Hewitt