Laytown photographer lauded in coastal photography competition

A Laytown photographer was shortlisted among the top ten images in the 'People and the Coast' and 'Coastal Heritage' categories at recent 13th edition of their Love Your Coast photography competition.

At an award ceremony in the Smock Alley Theatre, in Dublin on Thursday the 3rd of November Clean Coasts and the photographers who were shortlisted, were happy to be back celebrating the beauty of the Irish coast in person.

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.

This year, we receive over 1,100 entries and the 50 best images were shortlisted and displayed at our event at Smock Alley.

Darragh Gorman with his “Splash”, captured in Mullaghmore Co. Sligo has been awarded the title of Image of the Year.

Dave Stanley’s images “Paradise Beach” and “Laytown Viaduct”, both taken in Laytown, where shortlisted among the top ten images in the People and the Coast and Coastal Heritage Categories, respectively.

About 'Paradise Beach', Dave said: “Unusual to see nuns in full habit nowadays and even more so to see them 'having the craic' strolling along the beach in the winter’s sun. I wanted to get them unawares so I ran ahead and managed to capture that sense of fun with my long lens. Afterwards, I introduced myself to the sisters (Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Convent in Ardee) and they were very open and uplifting to talk to.”

About 'Laytown Viaduct', Dave commented that he always wanted to capture the majesty of this viaduct and planned his shot when he discovered that the Railway Preservation Society was running a steam engine. After hours of waiting and standing in the rain, almost magically the sun appeared and Dave heard the chugging of the approaching engine.

A list of all the wining and shortlisted images for each category can be found here.

(Editor's Note: These are well worth a few minutes of your time, stunning images!)

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.

Coastal Communities Manager Sinead McCoy said: “We were delighted to be able to celebrate in person again both the beauty of the Irish coast and the talent of the photographers who entered our competition, after a two-year break.

Over the last 13 years, the competition has been very successful and very well received. For Clean Coasts, this is more than just a photography competition: we are an island nation, and our coast and marine environment are incredibly important to us. Clean Coasts has over 1,800 volunteer groups who are doing amazing work when it comes to managing and protecting our marine environment, so these photographs are a way for everybody to appreciate and celebrate our coast and be inspired to get involved too.”