The results of the fifth round of our prestigious Amateur Photographer of the Year are in! Matteo Strassera wins the top place in this round with a striking minimal desert landscape taken in the UAE, with Lucy Monckton coming first in the Young APOY competition. Here are the top ten images uploaded to Photocrowd from APOY Round Five, Landscapes, with comments by the AP team and our guest judge. Landscape can be everything from an epic, breathtaking scene to a tiny, abstract detail in a rock; it can be a long exposure that strips back a composition to its basic elements; and it can be something that allows us to see the world anew.
That’s why it regularly tops the charts of favourite genres among amateur photographers, and that’s why this round is always of such a high standard. Very often, what makes a photograph memorable is its ability to conjure up an image of something other than that being depicted. In this case, Matteo’s stunning, minimal image of a desert in the UAE appears almost like a solar flare emanating from the sun.
The beauty of this picture is that the viewer needs no more information at all than what we are given. The strip of ridged bright orange that takes the eye from bottom left to top right is more than sufficient, with the way the detail fades to black anchoring the composition top and bottom. But it’s about so much more than technical excellence – instead, it’s about the sense of vastness, peace and solitude that is conveyed with stunning clarity.
An epic scene, beautifully captured. Similarly to Matteo’s winning image, Gary has also conveyed a wonderful sense of place in this sunset shot, taken at Caddo Lake in east Texas. It’s almost as if the bald cypress trees exist to be shot in silhouette form; their distinctive trunks and the frond-like branches have been captured perfectly.
And the wisps of mist rising in the distance help to complete the scene. He has exposed well, ensuring the sun isn’t burnt out and creating too much of a hotspot in the composition. It’s an image that transports the viewer to the scene – we can hear the insects buzzing (and possibly even feel them biting), as well as the lapping of the water.
It’s almost sinister in its beauty. Guest judge Paul Sanders says: ‘I am always drawn to photographs that move me emotionally; this means that I have to feel some of what the photographer felt when they experienced the making of their image. This image of a volcanic eruption in Iceland filled me with awe.
It made the hairs on my arms stand up because of the sheer power and beauty of the earth being both formed and destroyed at the same time. ‘I surprised myself by picking this particular image because I normally prefer monochrome and I have grown a bit bored by drone shots. However, this image really made me pay attention to it.
‘There is great majesty to the sheer destructive and creative forces at work but also a lovely contrast on the right with the steam offering a calming juxtaposition to the lava flow. The high viewpoint gives us not only scale but also three-dimensional depth. An image I wish I’d made myself.
’ Never shoot landscapes in the middle of the day, so goes the adage. Ashley chose to ignore that advice when he trekked out to The Wave, on the border of Utah and north Arizona, and with great success. The intensity of the blue sky sets off the incredible richness and texture of the wind-carved sandstone, while the reflection of the cotton-wool cloud provides balance.
Shooting at the wide end of his lens means Ashley has been able to capture the ‘swoop’ of the ridges rushing in from the edges, and creating movement and dynamism. A mist-cloaked scene is like catnip to the landscape photographer, and Andrew’s magical image is an outstanding example. A crucial part of its success is the separation between the trees on the left of the frame.
The negative space created between them means they don’t merge into one grey clump. The bare branches at the top of the frame keep our eye within its boundaries, and there’s just enough detail to ensure things aren’t too soft and featureless. Gorgeous and atmospheric.
Caroline has captured a classic Tuscan scene and made it part travel image, part landscape. Waiting for the last vestiges of the evening sun, she chose just the right moment to release the shutter, with the church positively glowing within its lush, green surroundings. She has composed classically, too, keeping the church on the intersection of the thirds, and it works beautifully.
If she had placed it anywhere else within the frame, it would have been off balance. By keeping the building small in the frame, she allows the viewer to appreciate and revel in the landscape and the beauty of the big sky. It’s a lovely, contemplative image.
Am image doesn’t need to depict a unique or dramatic landscape to catch the eye. Equally, as demonstrated by Hywel’s capture of Fairy Glen in north Wales, water flowing through lush, green surroundings, with the softest light picking out all the essential details have just as much impact. Composing with the rocks on the bottom left means our eye remains locked within the frame, moving up and into the middle distance.
The 15-second shutter speed is enough to capture a sense of movement without blanking out the detail in the water, and the shades of gold and green invoke a sense of peace. There’s a delicacy to this image that makes it compelling and memorable. In APOY, we have seen many images of Namibian sand dunes over the years, but none like this.
Instead of waiting until the scene is free of people, instead Varnavas has embraced their presence, and that’s what makes the shot such a success. The three sets of figures give a superb sense of scale, almost like human speech marks. The shadows they cast add further depth, and converting to black & white emphasises the near-abstract qualities of the landscape.
Pete has titled this image ‘Creating Calm’, and it’s a very appropriate name. The seven-and-a-half-minute exposure has flattened everything out, from the light to the water, and the result is wonderful, and suits the minimal composition perfectly. The beacon on the left of the frame is crucial, creating a subtle diagonal that leads to the lighthouse on the right.
Processing is excellent, too, with a muted and restricted colour palette that enhances the overall effect that Pete has done so well to achieve. Jevgenijs’s image caught the eye of the judges as it takes a different approach to landscape, setting up a scene with a human element to tell a story. He says he wanted to create something mysterious, and he has succeeded.
He has placed his model in exactly the right spot, where she is highlighted by the glorious light within the frame. Without her, it would have been a pretty shot, but with her, there is depth and intrigue, and it leaves the viewer wanting to know more. Lucy Monckton, our overall Young APOY winner in 2021, is making waves again, not least with this very well composed image taken in Svalbard.
The cracks in the ice lead the eye directly to the snow-covered peaks beyond, and converting to black & white means that the viewer’s focus remains on the shapes that nature has carved in this epic landscape. Tessa, who is a member of Stafford Photographic Society (currently sitting in third place in our camera clubs competition) has captured a familiar scene extremely well. She made the most of the dreich Scottish conditions to produce an image that’s full of atmosphere, with the distant cottage providing a much-needed sense of scale.
She earned ten points for her camera club when she uploaded her image, which goes towards its overall tally and keeps it in a strong position. For the second month in a row, and at the halfway point in the competition, Sara Jazbar is at the top of the leaderboard. Gary Hunter, in second place, is a newcomer to the top ten, jumping into second place thanks to the 90 points he scored for his image.
The fact that we have six entrants tying in joint eighth place shows just how tight things are. Lucy Monckton has edged away in the Young APOY ratings, while Plymouth Camera Club are going great guns and are an impressive 215 points ahead of their nearest rival. Will all these current leaders hold onto their positions? Only time will tell! What gear did our top ten photographers use? No fewer than four photographers – Matteo Strassera in first place, Gary Hunter in second, Ashley Fountain in fourth and Andrew Robertson in fifth – shot their images using the .
This premium mirrorless camera features a 45MP Dual Pixel CMOS AF sensor, ISO 100-51,200, 5,940 selectable AF positions and a 5.76-million-dot electronic viewfinder. When reviewed in AP, it was described as ‘incredibly versatile, and as capable of churning out superb high-resolution landscape shots as it is capturing high-speed action sequences at a blistering 20fps with continuous AF.
’ This outstanding camera can be found at Camera Centre UK for £3,699. Taking both first and third places, Matteo Strassera shot the latter using a Classic. This drone features up to 46 minutes of flight time, a 20MP Four Thirds CMOS sensor, 24mm-equivalent f/2.
8 lens, 3-axis stabilisation and 895g take-off weight. Find it at Camera Centre UK for £1,119 including standard controller. In eighth, Varnavas Papanastassiou used a macro lens.
Compatible with FX-format Nikon Z-mount cameras, its wide aperture allows shooting in low-light conditions and, of course, it’s as useful as a ‘normal’ lens as it is a macro. Its minimum focusing distance is 29cm, and it has a fast and responsive autofocus. It can be bought at Camera Centre UK for £899.
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