Capture the Magic 2012

The Benromach Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival Photographic Competition 2012

The Competition has now closed and Judging took place on 10 January 2012.  The winners and runners up are announced. The exhibition of 22 images will be launched at the Scottish Parlaiment on 26 January 2012 and will then be displayed in the Scotch Whisky Experience, Royal Mile Edinburgh from 27 Januray to 29 February.  The exhibition will return to Speyside in March 2012.

The Benromach Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival Photographic Competition 2012

There was an excellent entry for the Competition with 175 entries from all over the UK and also Europe. Allan Gawthorpe, past President of the Scottish Photographic Federation, chaired the judging panel, which comprised Ian Urquhart from the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival, Michael Urquhart from Gordon and MacPhail, Elizabeth Oliver and Bob Bruce, the Chief Photographer for the Northern Scot our local newspaper. The judges selected the overall winner, the winners and runners up in the 3 categories and the 22 images that make up the Benromach Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival Photographic Exhibition.

ALLAN ADAM of Linkwood, Elgin was the overall winner of the competition with his image "Poppy Hare". Allan said he was very pleased that the 2012 competition had included a category covering Flora and Fauna. He explained, "the focus of my photography of the past few years has moved to wildlife photography. I had heard that brown hares had been seen at Thomshill. I staked out the poppy field from a building site for 2 weeks before I captured the image". In addition to winning the overall prize, Allan swept the board in the Flora and Fauna Category with his winning image of a Red Squirrel titled "Sunny Red". His image "Curlew Flight" which was taken on the Dava Moor, the heather-clad hills between Forres and Grantown on Spey, was selected as the runner up in the Flora and Fauna Category by the judges.

JULIE MUNRO of Forres was the winner of the Speyside Distilleries category with a beautifully composed night shot of the Benromach Distillery Visitor's Centre. Julie said that she took the photograph during an organised visit by the Forres Camera Club to the Distillery. "While everyone else was concentrating on taking pictures inside the distillery, I popped outside and captured the image".

JIM ROBERTSON of Lossiemouth was the winner in the Icons of Speyside category was with an evening shot of the west beach and Lossiemouth Lighthouse titled "Evening Light". Jim said, his photographic session from the rocks nearly ended in disaster: "While waiting for the sunset to develop that evening, the tide came in and I had to wade ashore from my vantage point, but the image was ‘in the can'".

The runners up in the 3 categories were as follows:

Flora and Fauna: ALLAN ADAM of Elgin with his image "Curlew Flight"

Speyside Distilleries: BRENDA COOPER of Craigellachie with her image "Speyside Cooperage"

Icons of Speyside: ALAN BUTTERFIELD of Aberlour with his image "Cutting the Barley,
Balvenie Castle"

To view the winners runners up and the photographs that comprise the Photographic Exhibition click here