Wild about Whitstable photography competition

During Wild about Whitstable week the challenge was set ... can you capture the Wild World of Whitstable with a photograph?

The brief was broad: Our natural world gives us such glories, from beautiful Maritime panoramas, stunning sunsets, dramatic landscapes, rare plants, wildflowers and incredible birds and insects. What is the one aspect of our natural world which you would like to share through a photograph?

We had so many incredible entries and it fell to international photographer Alistair Philip Wiper to judge the competition across our four categories. The Wildabout Whitstable team and The Horsebridge want to thank everyone who entered and to Alastair for making the tough choices to select our winners!

Come and see the winners for yourself as they are now framed and hung in the public spaces in the arts centre.

And the winners are:

Ages 5 to 11 category winners

Judge's comments

1st - Ilsa: "I love the composition, the way the flower is right in the middle of the frame, surrounded by green; the colours are great, and the focus is spot on."

2nd - Evie: "Great composition, capturing an iconic Whitstable sight, with lots of detail in the foreground trailing into an infinite background."

3rd - Tomasz: "Brilliant abstract image; well done for experimenting."

Ages 12 to 17 category winners

Judge's comments

1st - Morgan: "Fantastic composition and light, as though we are entering a miniature mushroom world."

2nd - Morgan: "Great light and colours, looks like a professional postcard."

3rd - Daniel: "Perfect timing for capturing the beautiful colours and atmosphere."

Ages 18 and over category winners

Judge's comments

1st - Tom Banbury: "This image has a lot to look at - beautiful light and colours, the clear sea and the sense of a town in the background. The way the sunlight captures the people walking on the right-hand side is perfect and makes the image."

2nd - John Wells: "This is simply a beautiful image. The composition of the cloud, the way the light hits it, and the minimalism really helps the viewer to get lost in the picture."

3rd - Chris Williamson: "A really good sunset picture is hard to capture, and this is very well done. The simplicity of the composition, with the sun right in the middle and no other detail except for beautiful colours, really sets up the atmosphere and draws our attention to that amazing moment right before the sun disappears. "

Professional photographer category winners

Judge's comments

1st - Louisa Peacock: "Love the fantasy element and the absolutely perfect lighting here. It looks very high-end, as though it could be a poster for a movie or an expensive perfume. Really well executed."

2nd - Louisa Peacock: "Beautiful lighting and body positioning, reminiscent of a classical sculpture."

3rd - Olha Lukanina: "I love the way the sea blends into the sky, and the peaceful early morning feeling before the rest of the world has got going."

Highly recommended