Well there’s a pleasant surprise. Back in December I stumbled upon an Italian nature photography competition called Oasis. After a quick look around the site and after recognising the names of several winners from previous years, I decided to enter. I didn’t hear anything back from the competition other than one email to say winners would be picked in mid-January and winners announced on 1st Feb. With the year so far being over run with house hunting (and now trying to complete on a purchase) I forgot all about the competition.

However, last week an email arrived saying winners had been announced and so I thought I’d look to see who’s images made the cut. In doing so I discovered several of mine had made it through several rounds of the judging, with the shot above actually being one of the listed winners, with the equivalent of a commended or honourable mention in the Amici Di Casa category (which simply translated is for pets, although covers all animals that are not truly wild and ranges from farm animals to pets – so the above image of a New Forest pony silhouette suited it perfectly).

Having spent the last month house hunting at every opportunity and filling out solicitors contracts and forms, it was certainly a welcome distraction to discover!