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Wednesday 17 Jun 2015

Could your railway image win Landscape Photographer of the Year Award?

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National

The search is on to find the photography that best captures the spirit of today’s rail network as it relates to the landscape around it. Entries are now open for the Take a view - Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards 2015, which celebrates imagery of the best sights our country has to offer.

 

For the sixth year, Network Rail is supporting the competition, where amateur and professional photographers can highlight the very best imagery of Britain’s beautiful rural and urban scenery and compete for the top prize of £10,000.

The Network Rail ‘Lines in the Landscape’ Special Award - will be given for the best photography of Britain’s rail network. The winner of this will have the opportunity to take up an exclusive visit to Britain’s favourite railway landmark, the Forth Rail Bridge in Scotland. Here, weather permitting, there will be ample opportunity to photograph the 125-year old bridge from areas not accessible to the general public. Network Rail will also arrange for the lucky winner to take the engineers’ lift to the top of this iconic structure to capture some amazing views of the Forth and see the Bridge from a completely different perspective.

Last year’s winner of the rail award was a stunning aerial image of the tracks leading into London Bridge station, captured by Stephen Bright from Hook in Hampshire. Stephen's image featured in an exhibition of all the winning entries at Britain’s busiest railway station London Waterloo where millions of people viewed the exhibition for free.

 

 

Charlie Waite, renowned landscape photographer and competition founder is keen to encourage more people to enter the railway award. He said: “Judging this award is a great pleasure for me as Britain’s railways have always been close to my heart. Network Rail looks after an amazing 20,000 miles of track and owns over 2,500 stations and so the photographic opportunities are endless. I will be looking for an image that captures the spirit of today’s railways, be they in the busiest cities or most remote countryside. Details, urban views and sweeping tracks are all eligible and I am hoping to see many photographs that inspire.”

David Biggs, managing director of property at Network Rail, said: "This competition celebrates something very special - the way this country looks from its coasts, cities and countryside, much of which can be viewed or visited by our rail network. Last year’s winners’ exhibition at Waterloo Station proved extremely popular and we extended it by several weeks to allow even more people to see these amazing images. We are also looking to exhibit past winners at some of our other stations. I can’t wait to see this year’s Lines in the Landscape railway entries. My advice is get out and about by rail and get snapping.” 

Notes to Editors

An exhibition of winning entries will premiere in November 2015 and around 150 of the best photographs from the competition will appear in the Awards book – Landscape Photographer of the Year: Collection 9 - by AA Publishing.

All entries to the Awards must be uploaded via the competition website: www.take-a-view.co.ukand the closing date is 12th July 2015. Entry fees apply. Full terms and conditions can be found on the site.

The Network Rail ‘Lines in the Landscape’ Special Award will be presented to the one photographer who best captures the spirit of today’s rail network as it relates to the landscape around it. Images may be submitted for this Award of the operational national rail network anywhere in Great Britain (excluding Northern Ireland). Please note that images of any underground railway systems, light rail systems, heritage railways, disused infrastructure, pier railways or model railways are not eligible for this award. Images may be entered into any category of the main Award, but entrants must select from the appropriate dropdown on the entry form that it is also eligible for the Network Rail Award.

More information on how to enter can be found at: www.take-a-view.co.uk