Mark Renton, Magic Mountain Valley (LANDSCAPE 2026)

About 90 minutes' drive from our home there is a valley nestled between two alpine passes. While the mountains are not that high, they are covered in loose scree creating interesting, colourful patterns when there’s no snow or a rolling snowscape when there is snow. The weather can be quite changeable within the valley on the same day. The two lake pictures were taken about 30 minutes' drive apart, on the same day! The valley picture was taken in summer, just after driving out of torrential rain and heading into sunshine. I enjoy capturing “big picture” shots that allow the landscape form to be fully appreciated, while stitching allows be to keep the detail so I can zoom in to appreciate the micro scenes, the best of both worlds.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.