Winners snap winter scenes in freeze frame

WHILE most were huddled up inside during the big freeze, quite a lot of you had cold snap-happy fingers and were out capturing the beauty of December and January’s winter wonderland.

As part of a photography competition run by the Irish Examiner, budding photographers were invited to send in their “Winter Scenes” pictures to be in with a chance to win some fabulous prizes courtesy of Soundstore, HP Photo Centres and Canon.

A staggering 2,500 entries were received and these were eventually whittled down to three deserving winners.

First prize went to Áine McDermott, originally from Longford but living in Dublin, for her photo of clothes pegs, “Christmas in Longford”.

“I went home for Christmas and on Christmas Day after dinner I realised I had taken the exact same picture a month before when it was sunny,” said Áine. “But seeing the pegs covered in snow, I think, showed exactly how chilly it was out and the cabin fever that people had from being trapped inside — you certainly wouldn’t have been washing clothes in that weather!”

Second place went to David Quinlan from Waterfall, Co Cork for his picture “Against the Snods”.

“The picture was taken last year in the snow on a cool December morning where a bunch of family and neighbours trekked across a few fields out in Waterfall to a near by slope,” said David. “After sledding I decided it would be nice to have a group photo so I asked everybody to get together.

“There was one person missing though — the target — and as they prepared their snowballs, I prepared my camera.”

Third place went to Helen Norton from Newmarket, Co Cork for “A Room With A View”.

Helen said she was always interested in taking photos and has been asking for a new camera every Christmas for years.

“I take a picture in that spot every season but I think this one in particular is special,” Helen said.

Commenting on the huge volume of competition entries, Irish Examiner Executive Editor Dolan O’Hagan thanked all those who had entered.

“The standard was quite simply superb and made selecting our winners an almost impossible task. That claim is often made in such circumstances but anyone who thinks I am being polite should take the time and have a look at the gallery of pictures we have put together on irishexaminer.com.”

Mr O’Hagan thanked the competition sponsors and congratulated the winners, “despite the welcome headache the quality of their entries presented to the judges”.

OVERALL WINNER: Christmas in Longford by Áine McDermott, Ranelagh, Dublin.

SECOND PRIZE: Against the Snods by David Quinlan, Waterfall, Co Cork.

THIRD PRIZE: A Room With A View by Helen Norton, Newmarket, Co Cork.