Nw Storm Chase Photos Win Award

[Blackie]

Hi all

A few weeks after the event, but I thought this might be of interest to fellow NW members. I was very honoured to win the title of Travel Photographer of the Year in the inaugural and prestigious Travel Press Awards at the end of November. I had to submit a portfolio of up to five photos which had been published during the preceding year, so for my entry I chose a couple of the photographs I took while on the first Netweather storm chase tour in 2008 with Michael Fish - which were published in the March/April issue of The Travel & Leisure Magazine.

For those who don't know of it, the magazine is distributed in London and the Home Counties as well as being online. I was asked to take over as editor of it at the beginning of 2009 after the previous editor sadly died very suddenly from cancer. We then relaunched it as a bi-monthly publication (it was previously quarterly) starting with the March/April issue. That issue is no longer online, but I am attaching a link to a PDF of the article.

Riders on the Storm, The Travel & Leisure Magazine March-April 2009.pdf

I am also attaching the two photos in question, both of which were of the same supercell in Southwest Kansas.

In case anyone wants to see the others, there is one of traditional feluccas sailing on the Nile (used as the front cover shot in the May/June issue of The Travel & Leisure Magazine) plus two taken in Guangxi province in China. One was of hot air balloons over the Yulong River and the iconic karst mountain scenery of Yangshuo (published in travel trade magazine TTG), and the other was of a vividly-illuminated rock formation called the Crystal Palace in Reed Flute Cave, in the city of Guilin (published as a double-page photograph in fah Thai, the in-flight magazine for Bangkok Airways). I can post PDFs of those articles, should anyone be interested in seeing them as well.

The awards announcement is online on this link: http://www.e-tid.com/News-Home/Travel-Press-Awards-winners-announced.aspx.

The local Evening Echo newspaper ran a story on me winning the award last Wednesday, with a couple of the photographs from the portfolio. I managed to get a mention of Paul Sherman in it. The story is online on this link: http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/4825705.print/

I was also interviewed for an hour by an American internet radio station, Blog Talk Radio, just before Christmas. It was for a show called Adrenalin Living. The presenter was very interested in the storm chase, so I talked about Netweather and the storm chase tours during the interview. This is the link for it: http://tinyurl.com/yjfnjba.

The Times was going to run a story on storm chasing they commissioned from me, based on the 2008 NW chase, in an adventure supplement last spring together with a number of photos from it. Sadly, lack of advertising meant it got canned at the last minute. I don't know if they will try to resurrect it for this coming spring, but will post an alert about it if they do.

All the winning images from the award are on my website (www.peterellegard.co.uk). And although the storm chase issue of The Travel & Leisure Magazine is not online now, you can view the latest issue by going to www.tlmags.com or clicking on this link: http://en.calameo.com/read/00005930157a24798b81a

Happy New Year everyone - and happy storm chasing for those who go in 2010. And if you are thinking about it and haven't made up your mind yet...go for it. You really will have a fantastic time in the company of some very knowledgeable and friendly people.

Blackie (aka Peter)

PS...Paul/mods - please move this to the appropriate area if this is posted into the wrong section.

PPS...I have a gallery of photos from the 2008 storm chase I can upload if anyone would like to see them.

[Blackie]

Sorry - a couple of the links don't appear to be working properly.

This is the correct link for the Blog Talk Radio podcast: http://tobtr.com/s/813241

And this is the one for the Travel Press Awards winners: http://www.e-tid.com/News-Home/Travel-Press-Awards-winners-announced.aspx

Edited January 2, 2010 by Blackie

[Cookie]

well done mate.

great work.

[Bunny Girl]

Been a long time since I have been on the site, but have been lurking around the winter discussions and of course photography, and saw your post - well done on the award and good to see the pics on here. Love the storm chase ones of course, but particularly like the balloons in China, my favourite. Good luck with the mag too for 2010. All the best!

[Blackie]

Thanks BG and cookie