Dorset girl a photographic winner

Dorset teenager, Gabrielle Barnes, the Young Landscape Photographer of the Year, will see her photograph displayed, alongside others celebrating the best of the UK, at Moors Valley Country Park and Forest until 8th November 2009.
 
Gabrielle’s picture is one of around 100 stunning images selected for exhibition from the thousands entered, and features poppies and maize at sunset on Dorset’s Handley Down.
 
“I was only 14 when I took the photograph for my GCSE portfolio,” said Gabrielle. “So actually winning such a prestigious competition came as a total shock. In fact the photograph really was a stroke of luck. I was out for a walk when I saw the low sun lighting up the poppies like flames. It was such a striking image that I went back with the camera the next day and was lucky enough to capture a very special moment.
 
“Dorset offers some really beautiful scenes to photographers, with its rolling countryside and the low summer sun so it’s worth carrying a camera as you never know what you may stumble upon.”

The county featured strongly in the competition with two other Dorset photographers being highly commended for their images in the Adult Classic View category. Mark Bauer received his commendation for a striking winter shot of first frost at Sturminster Newton, and Graham Hobbs for his dawn photograph of the beech avenue at Kingston Lacy.

The Landscape Photographer of the Year competition is the brainchild of internationally acclaimed landscape photographer, Charlie Waite, another Dorset resident, who has played a pivotal role in regenerating interest in landscape photography worldwide in recent years. With a total prize fund of over £20,000, national exhibition and a full colour book of the best entries, the competition which launched in 2007, is now acknowledged as one of the UK’s most exciting photographic awards.
 
“We are delighted that an award-winning East Dorset photograph can now be seen here in East Dorset by people who know and love the area,” said Katie Davies, Countryside Interpretation Ranger at Moors Valley Country Park and Forest.
 
 “Whilst the exhibition highlights the glorious diversity of the landscape across the UK, you can’t fail to be impressed by our local photographers who so graphically point out the beauty that surround us here on a day-to-day basis.”
 
The exhibition is in the Visitor Centre and can be seen between 9am and 4.30pm daily at Moors Valley Country Park and Forest. Entrance to the exhibition is free but car parking charges apply.
 
For more information please telephone 01425 470721 or visit www.moors-valley.co.uk