Winter Competition Winner
There is something about a winter scene that is different from any other. The crisp, cold blanket of snow gives photographers a blank canvas to explore, which is precisely what you did. We received thousands of entries showing the variety that the winter season has to offer, and we enjoyed visiting every corner of Europe and seeing the images that our Sony users had created.
We are pleased to announce that the winning image was taken by Andrea Zappia (@endrix1989) with his beautifully simple image of three snowcapped hills.
© Andrea Zappia | Sony α7R II + FE 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G OSS | 1/250s @ f/10, ISO 100
It was taken near the village of Hirzel, Switzerland, this past winter. These hills always look like three brothers and I've always seen the trees lush with green leaves in the spring and wanted to be able to photograph them in the winter with snow, the beautiful warm sunset light and bare trees.”
Andrea shot his winning image on his faithful Sony Alpha 7R II and now, thanks to winning the competition, he will be upgrading to an Alpha 7R IV. Andrea is already looking forward to going out and shooting more winter landscapes next year with his new camera in hand.
“I love shooting winter landscapes, the snow gives a clean look, and the light of winter sunsets and sunrises is something magical. But I also love the spring for night photography. It is the period in which you can photograph the arch of the Milky Way with its beautiful bright core, and I love the autumn for its landscapes and colours.”
We are already looking forward to seeing what Andrea produces on his new camera. Make sure you follow him on Instagram to see more of his landscape images.
Runners up
In second place was Carole De Finance (@caroledefinance_wildlife), who took a beautiful image of a fox in Yellowstone National Park, USA.
© Carole De Finance | Sony α7R III + FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS | 1/1000s @ f/6.3, ISO 800
Yellowstone in winter has a single open road which the animals also use because it is less difficult for them than walking in the thick blanket of snow. That morning, we were driving quietly when we spotted this beautiful fox hunting in the snow next to the road. We got out of the car. The fox stayed there for a while, 10 metres from us, fielding, taking breaks, observing its environment, without the stress of our presence. I then took the opportunity to make a series of images of this magnificent fox with its keen eyes and thick fur, keeping him warm for the winter.”
Shot on Carole’s Sony Alpha 7R III, with the high resolution of the sensor enabling her to capture all of the detail in the fox’s eyes, fur and the strands of grass poking through the snow, she notes “all the detail helps me relive the magic of this encounter.”
Finally, in third place was Ewa Jermakowicz’s (@notjustthedreams) image.
© Ewa Jermakowicz | Sony α7R IV + FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM | 30s @ f/16, ISO 125
It is a sunset shot over Vestrahorn mountain range from Stokksnes Peninsula beach. It is a well-known place in Southern Iceland because of its perfect reflection and black dunes at the beach.”
Ewa had been thinking about the image since first visiting the location a couple of years previously. On the day Ewa set off to get the shot, it looked like it wouldn’t be the right conditions; clouds were on the horizon, and a strong wind prevented a perfectly still reflection, but then suddenly, everything changed.
“It happened just like magic! The cloud over Vestrahorn changed its colour to pink for just a couple of minutes. I looked at my camera screen, and I knew that my dream had come true. Even more so when I discovered recently that the image had won a prize in the Alpha Winter Instagram competition!”
A huge thank you to everyone who entered our Alpha Winter competition round and congratulations to all of the winners. If you want to be in with winning some new Sony kit, make sure you follow @alphauniversebysony.eu on Instagram and keep up to date with all the latest from Sony Alpha.
