The winners of the 2012 Outdoor Photographer of the Year competition have been revealed. David Baker has been announced as the overall winner for his stunning image of his local beach in Southbourne, Dorset (above). David was presented with his award and £1000 prize on the PhotoBox stage at The Outdoors Show, while the category winners (Robert McBride, Scott Grubb, Björn Billing, Joshua Holko and Gergory van den Top) each received a £250 voucher from Wex Photographic.

Outdoor Photographer of the Year Press Release

Winners of the Outdoor Photographer of the Year competition announced at The Outdoors Show!

This year, Outdoor Photography joined forces with The Outdoors Show to make the Outdoor Photographer of the Year 2012 competition the best yet. In its third year, the competition, which is run by Outdoor Photography magazine, received a record number of entries from all over the world. The competition offered six categories across the genres of landscape, wildlife, nature and adventure with the chance of winning some fantastic prizes! The winners were announced at the Outdoor Photography PhotoBox lecture theatre (at The Outdoors Show) last weekend, where their photographs were also exhibited over the four days.

Outdoor Photography is delighted to announce David Baker (UK) as overall winner of the Outdoor Photographer of the Year 2012 with his stunning image of his local beach in Southbourne, Dorset.

David Baker on his winning photograph and the OPOTY competition:
“I had in essence followed a storm from Southampton to Southbourne. Usually, these break up across the Isle of Wight ensuring really interesting weather patterns from Southbourne. I arrived a little early and the impending stormy weather can be seen gathering on the extreme left.  The good thing about Southbourne is that there are undulations at the shoreline in the sand between the sea groynes and these can produce absorbing sea trails. It was really a case of choosing one of these and ensuring a shutter speed of 0.6 to 2 seconds to produce a pleasing wave pattern. That’s the excitement really and part of the reason for being a committed coast hugger. Despite the impending stormy weather, I think there’s a sense of calm. The image sums up my photographic life as a seascaper – sand, sea and great light.”

“As for the win…! Yes, still on cloud nine and really overwhelmed. I’m really pleased that an image of my (almost) local patch is the one that was chosen, especially in a category that’s so very important to me.”

The Outdoors Show was a huge success over the weekend. The winning images, printed over one metre wide, looked fantastic on the OP PhotoBox lecture theatre, which also featured talks from top professional photographers such as Andy Rouse, Florian Schulz, Sue Flood, Timothy Allen, Pete Bridgwood, Seb Rogers and Pete Webb.

David Baker was presented with his award and prize (£1000), on the PhotoBox stage and the category winners each received a £250 voucher from Wex Photographic, one of the UK’s leading online photographic retailers.

Steve Watkins, editor of Outdoor Photography:
“This competition is rapidly becoming one of the most sought after awards by outdoor photographers around the globe. We were delighted to team up with The Outdoors Show this year to be able to showcase the exhibition of winning images to the largest audience yet, and we have received some truly breathtaking photographs.”

The Outdoor Photographer of the Year 2012 winners:

Outdoor Photographer of the Year 2012
Southbourne, Dorset – David Baker (UK)

Light on the Land
Storm over Glencoe, Scotland – Robert McBride (UK)

Wildlife Insight
Climbing Leopard (panthera pardus – captive), South Africa – Scott Grubb (UK)

Nature in Close-up
Spring flowers, Sweden – Björn Billing (Sweden)

At The Water’s Edge
Southbourne, Dorset – David Baker (UK)

Spirit of Adventure
Mountain climbers, Antartica – Joshua Holko (Australia)

Young Photographer of the Year
Black darter – Gregory van den Top (Netherlands)

The winners’ images are live at www.opoty.co.uk and we will be adding the runner-up images and some other favourites to the site over the next few days.

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