My story
It was the last day of November 2020, I’d taken a day off work and decided to head to Ridley Park in Blyth for a walk around the park and take my camera, after all you never know what you may see. As I drove along the coast, directly in front of me, one of the widest rainbows I’ve ever seen appeared before my eyes and I instantly knew this was something special.
Without a second thought, I changed my plans and headed for the car park near Blyth Battery. As I got out of the car, the rainbow divided the sky into the contrast of night and day. To the left of the stunning rainbow it was really bright, almost like a sunset or sunrise, and to the right it was becoming darker and darker. The colours of the rainbow became stronger and more vibrant, and a double rainbow appeared. I took many photos, but this one was my favourite, I loved that the colours of the rainbow were represented in the colours of the beach huts, and that the rainbow’s end looked to be hiding behind one of the beach huts. The positioning of the second rainbow placed the wind turbine out to sea directly in the middle of the rainbows, giving an additional depth and perspective of scale. I absolutely love our area and to me being able to capture this moment in time was very special. Within a minute of taking this shot the torrential rain came down and I got absolutely drenched!!! I didn’t make it to Ridley Park that day but I returned home soaking wet with a great big smile on my face.
Technical information: Image taken at 65mm focal length, ISO 800, f/4.0, 1/4000 sec, handheld
Photographic equipment: Canon EOS 6D with Canon lens 24-105.
My image was first of all selected as one of the six finalists and then chosen as the winning entry in the landscape category.
As well as a monetary award, the prize also included being featured in two editions of the Living North Magazine, having my photograph on display in the Biscuit Factory Art Gallery in Newcastle for a month and the highlight was having my image projected on the side of the Baltic Contemporary Art Gallery for an evening in December 2021.
Here is a photograph of the project that I took during the evening as the Millennium Bridge appeared in rainbow colours.
