ASPC has held a photography competition, now, for 4 years. We have always been very pleased with the response and highly impressed with the quality. This year’s invitation to enter, resulted in 300 entries, which we at ASPC find very encouraging.

Following our normal method, we attempted to narrow the choice down to 12 winners – no easy task given the quality of the entries received. Each of our winners receives a modest prize and, in addition, each photograph will feature on our public website for a month during the following 12 months.

Our April winner – Di Thomson – has given us a lovely, atmospheric, view, looking towards the sun as it tends towards the western horizon. In reality, of course, it is us who are turning away from the sun, as our planet spins at something approaching 650 mph.

The view is taken from the top of Dunnydeer, near Insch, looking towards Tap O’Noth, and what a view it is. The quality of the light, almost hazy, vaguely misty, might be what the word crepuscular is meant to convey. The quality of the light certainly enhances the view, lending a softness to the landscape, and an air of alluring remoteness to Tap O’Noth.

This image, immediately called to mind Thomas Gray’s Elegy in a Country Churchyard:-

“Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,

And all the air a solemn stillness holds,

Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,

And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds:”

Di has beautifully captured the sense of the end of a special day.

If you’re interested in learning more about each one of our images as part of our photography competition, then why not take a look at one of our previous submissions, here.