Ancient oaks, high tech down jackets and photo competitions

Some of you may remember my blog of last year about the strange world that is photographic competitions - and the fact that I don’t have a very good record in them… you can read about it here if you are so inclined. My suspicions aired in that blog were well and truly confirmed when, once again, I had my usual reject email from LPOTY ;) No surprises there… However, I did have a rather nice surprise awaiting me last week when I discovered I had actually won a photography competition! The competition in question did not end in OTY but the entries I saw did include some wonderfully dramatic mountain photography, in particular. So, I suppose it may seem a bit strange for me to have won this competition with a photograph of trees…? ;) It was a joint initiative run by The Outdoor Times and a new and exciting outdoor clothing brand named Jottnar - British, but the name is very much Norwegian. Clothing is perhaps not quite the right word - we are talking very high spec technical clothing for extreme outdoor conditions. The theme of the competition was the Jottnar slogan - Conquering Giants. The prize was an extremely tempting looking down jacket.

I saw the competition published on twitter a number of times and was immediately taken with what looked a superb down jacket, and duly noted it as something I might enter. At some point I remembered my photograph of battling oak trees in Padley Gorge taken last Autumn and I just felt this was a perfect fit for the Conquering Giants theme. Luckily for me, Jottnar and The Outdoor Times felt the same, and it was rather a thrill to win said coveted jacket - well, to be honest, for me to win any competition is quite an excitement, with my record! ;0) The jacket arrived this week and is a seriously impressive bit of kit - the design is superb, it’s light as a feather but warm as toast It has also arrived just in time for our imminent trip to Norway (appropriately) for some cross country skiing in Norway. We’re off tomorrow and it’s due to be very cold - can’t wait! I’ll report back on how the jacket performed ;)