AN Okehampton landscape photographer has been named as a finalist in a prestigious international photography competition wth her misty shot of a Dartmoor beauty spot, writes Sarah Pitt.

Anna Curnow’s picture of the tangled moss-covered branches of an oak tree in Wistman’s Wood on Dartmoor has secured her place among six finalists following the first, second and third places in the International Garden Photographer of the Year’s (IGPOTY) Celebrating Our Oaks project.

Her photograph was published in The Times last week, and will also feature in a commemorative book published by IGPOTY, with a foreword by Dame Judi Dench. Photographers were invited to concentrate on oaks in the competition in conjunction with the the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew. There will also be a touring exhibition of the winning entries.

Anna said: ‘I’m very passionate about trees and with the subject being celebrating our oaks, I immediately thought of Wistman’s Wood. I had a couple of subjects in mind, and I went out and took these images. It was a massive surprise to find out that I had got somewhere to be honest.

‘The competition was all about celebrating ancient woods, and Wistman’s Wood is an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest). It is an ancient oak woodland and its trees are draped in moss, so I thought it would be a different take on the subject of oak trees.

‘I had had the idea in mind for some time and I was watching and waiting for the right day. I went up there on a misty day in September. It worked out really well. There was just this lovely atmosphere up there,’ she added. ‘I don’t normally enter competitions, but with this one I thought I’d give it a go. I’m chuffed to win, it is massively good exposure.’

Anna’s work is already well known on Dartmoor, not least because the Dartmoor National Park Authority have emblazoned their rangers’ vehicles with her Dartmoor landscapes. ‘My pictures are all across the moor on the sides of their Land Rovers, which is amazing,’ she said. One of her snowy scenes on the moor can be seen this month on a Christmas card in aid of the Dartmoor Preservation Association, which she allows to use one of her images each Christmas.

Anna, 45, has only been working full-time as a professional photographer for a few years.

‘I used to work at Lidl but that got too stressful,’ she said. ‘I’d always loved photography and I thought if I don’t follow this dream now I’m never going to do it. ‘I saved up a year’s worth of wages and thought, I’ve got that to fall back on, and I got on with it. Within a few months the Dartmoor National Park Authority got hold of me and asked if I’d do an exhibition in their Princetown Visitors Centre. To be honest I haven’t looked back since that day.’