This stunning picture of Pendle Hill draped in snow was four years in the making, but it was well worth the wait. It was chosen by our judges as the winner of our 2022 photography competition and it was marked out as a winner the moment it was taken.
Lee Mansfield is a keen amateur photographer who fell in love with the hobby as a teenager in Burnley in the 1980s. Now working in IT, he spends his weekends travelling rural Lancashire with his camera. The winning shot was taken last Christmas, in the week our competition was launched.
‘I spent four years trying to get that shot,’ he said. ‘Every year when it snowed I went to that spot, but the conditions just weren’t quite right until last year. I knew in my mind how I wanted it to look – it was taken with a long exposure so there’s some movement in the clouds.
‘It all just came together last Christmas. I got there about 11am and setup my tripod, when I arrived the conditions were ok, the snow looked good the sky was moving but the reflection was not the best because of the light. I waited about 30 minutes, then decided it was not going to work. I decided to pack up my gear away then all of a sudden the sun hit the lake casting the most beautiful reflection of Pendle Hill I have ever seen.
‘Knowing my settings, I quickly setup my camera mounted it on my tripod then took a 30 second long exposure – allowing me to capture the movement in the cloud and the calmness of the lake.
‘A man who was walking past when I took it said to me: “that’s the winning shot”. And he was right. I felt so proud and it was definitely worth all the failed trips to capture this photo,’ said Lee, who wins a versatile and lightweight compact Sony ZV-1 camera worth £699.
Lee really started taking his photography seriously in the last four years and has developed a particular passion for photographs of the moon. And although he has had some published in national newspapers, this is the first competition he has won.
‘This is only the second competition I’ve ever entered, I came second in the first one. I’m definitely going to be entering some more next year though.’
Second prize this year went to Amanda Wood, for her shot of Buttermere. She wins a £200 voucher from our competition sponsor Wilkinson Cameras.
Her prize-winning image was taken on a weekend away from her home in Stoke and she said: ‘The Lake District is one of my favourite places to visit and I was very happy with that shot. I particularly enjoy landscape photography and I really liked the colours and atmosphere of that picture.
‘I’d never entered a competition before but I read about this one online and decided to give it a go – I'm pleased I did!’
Kerry Sanabrias came third with her shot of Morecambe Bay and wins a £100 Wilkinson Camera voucher. The picture was taken on an iPhone, proving great photography doesn’t need bag loads of expensive camera equipment.
‘I love that section of the beach and I’ve got lots of different shots of it, but the sky is always changing so they’re all different,’ she said. ‘I’m trying to get better at taking pictures with a long exposure so I’m really chuffed to win this.’
These three images are featured in our 2023 Lancashire Life calendar that you can pick up with our December 2022 issue at all good stockists - store finder seymour.co.uk/storefinder
