Harvest time in Shropshire celebrated in photo competition - in pictures

Wem Civic Society challenged residents to put their own spin on the brief for the annual photographic competition.

The competition, which was judged by Dave Granger and Mark Lockett, was won by Sandie Smith for her photograph named Cereal and Insects near Sleap Airport.

The judges said it is clear, has an uncomplicated composition, with excellent soft colour.

Tomas Benbow was named runner-up for his photograph, Alpaca Fleece ready for Harvest, and was praised for thinking outside the box.

"The image is eye-catching and full of humour," the judges said. "The personality of the alpaca is neatly captured."

One of the highly commended entries was from 10-year-old Grace Newcombe from Wem.

She said: "I have a pony and like being outside taking photographs. I walk around with my camera and my dog and just see what I can take pictures of. I've been doing it since I was about eight.

"I like bees and think they're important so when I saw one on the flower I took a picture of it."

Shelagh Richardson was highly commended by the judges for her two photographs Harvesting in the Wind and After the Harvest.

She said: "The standard of the competition was extremely high this year so it was wonderful to be commended.

"I took the photograph of the wind turbines while I was searching for ancestors in North Wales. My husband and I were driving down the coast on a misty morning and the turbines had just started to move. The blue colours looked wonderful and the photograph came out monochrome. It was an incredible sight.

"A lot of people say wind turbines aren't very attractive but I think they look great in this photo as it was a glorious morning. It was quite an easy photograph to to actually because unlike wildlife they don't move. When you're trying to take a picture of a bird it can be really difficult as you wait until the last minute and suddenly it's gone."

Her second commended photograph of the hay bales was taken three or four weeks ago in Wem.

"We set the brief of the competition quite early on in the year so people have a lot of time to think about it. I was walking along one day when I saw the bales and just thought that sums up harvest. The light fell perfectly on them.

Liz Mayer said she was surprised to be highly commended for her photograph of a red admiral butterfly harvesting an apple.

"I love taking photographs around my garden as I do have quite a lot of birds and butterflies," she said. "I looked out and saw the butterfly having a feast on the apple and thought that was harvest.

"I entered the competition last year and got a highly commended but I was surprised this year as the weather has been so mixed so trying to get photographs under the harvest brief has not been easy."

The final amateur photographer to receive praise from the judges was Julie Woolfenden for her photograph showing a hedgerow of damsons ready for harvest.

The judges said it was well framed with excellent lighting.

The winning and commended entries are on display in Wem Library.