Three amazing captures of Donegal’s coastline have won prizes in the Clean Coasts ‘Love Your Coast’ photography competition.
The 13th annual awards took place on Thursday at an in-person award ceremony in the Smock Alley Theatre, in Dublin.
Bundoran-based photographer Darragh Gorman’s “Splash”, captured in Mullaghmore Co. Sligo was awarded the title of Image of the Year.
1st Place & Overall Winner
Darragh Gorman – Splash, Mullaghmore Co. Sligo
Darragh’s “Sun Surfer” taken in Bundoran was also awarded the third place in the Creativity and the Coast category.
Darragh commented: “I have surfed and photographed this area more times than I can remember. I have tried for years to get a surfer in action with Classiebawn Castle in the background. It’s fairly straightforward to photograph a surfer, a castle and a sunset but lining them all up took some patience and a lot of luck.”
Sun Surfer: Darragh Gorman
Other scenes from Donegal made it to the Top 50 images, including Gary McCall with “Peaty River Meets the Atlantic” shot in Dunfanaghy and Samantha O’Connor with “Sunset at Fanad Lighthouse, co. Donegal” captures in the Fanad Penisula. The photos were shortlisted in the top ten in the Creativity and the Coast and Coastal Landscape categories, respectively.
Samantha O’Connor – Sunset at Fanad Lighthouse, Co. Donegal
Gary McCall -Peaty River meets the Atlantic, North-Donegal
For the past 13 years, the Love Your Coast photography competition has been inviting photographers to capture the uniqueness of our coastal landscape, heritage, wildlife, communities and more, and to submit their best shot across five categories – Coastal Heritage, Coastal Landscape, People & the Coast, Wildlife & the Coast and Creativity and the Coast – for a chance to win prizes from a €5,000 prize fund and plenty of exposure opportunities.
Working with communities on the ground, Clean Coasts’ mission is to help foster pride in our coastline, supporting Clean Coasts communities, groups, and volunteers to tackle issues affecting their local area. This competition provides an opportunity to view the coast and our waterways that the Clean Coasts programme works to protect from a completely different perspective and see the beauty captured therein.