Photographer wins award with misty morning shadow

A PHOTOGRAPHER from Peppard Common won his second international award at a competition in Italy.

Chris Harrison, 34, was honoured for his misty morning drone shot at the Siena Awards on September 27.

The image, The Long Shadow, depicts a leafless tree casting a shadow on to low-lying mist, as the sun rose above a small hill in Brightwell Barrow.

Mr Harrison, who won in the landscape category at the British Photography Awards last year, said the image looks simple but contains details to be studied.

He said: “It’s that combination of simplicity and photography but, when you look closer, you really get the detail and little nuances.

“The trees are without leaves, where you can see the mist filtering through and you can see the ground has just been ploughed recently.

“Miraculously, everything is lined up, taking the impactful initial view into something you can really study.” Driving up to the location, Mr Harrison had a feeling the conditions would be just right. However, initially, he thought another photograph he took, Above the Mist, would work better than the award-winning one.

He said: “I was driving there in the early morning and knew it was going to be misty, as I could still see it hanging in the air.

“I had initially planned to go into the woodland nearby but, when I arrived, I saw the mist sitting below the trees on the hill, so I sent the drone up because it’s not very common to get one of these phenomena.

“The sunrise reached a point where the shadow emerged, which only lasted a minute as it changes so fast, so I had to get the drone in the right position to be able to capture it and compose it in the way that I liked.

“The other image from the ground was captured with my camera using a long lens, which really captures all the pastel orange and pink colours. I really love that picture but I couldn’t tell how good the long shadow was until I got it on to a bigger screen.

“When I reviewed it and could see the dark and light parts of the photograph and the shadow itself, I knew it was an image that would be worthy of at least sharing on Instagram but I’m glad I entered it.”

Mr Harrison’s The Long Shadow also made it into the top 101 images at the International Aerial Photographer of the Year and was shortlisted for the 2025 British Photography Awards in the drone category.

He described receiving the award in Italy as a humbling experience.

Mr Harrison said: “It was in this beautiful old theatre, which was beautifully painted, decorated and full of people.

“When it got to my category, they plucked me out of the audience and took me away.

“I bumped into people whom I knew from social media, who are really prominent in international photography competitions but we didn’t know why we were there, until they said, ‘Oh, you’ve won’.”

“We were all laughing at each other and couldn’t believe it, and I felt so humbled as I walked up the gold carpet, where we all collected our glass trophies, dressed up in black tie on the stage.

“I had no idea that I would actually win. Even if I were to get highly commended, I would have been over the moon. It was a surprise to be in the mix with some of the best photographers in the world.”

Mr Harrison looks ahead to hopefully receiving an award at the British Photography Awards on November 3 and capturing the changing red and orange leaves of autumn in nearby woodlands.

He will display his award-winning photograph during the Henley Arts and Crafts Guild exhibition held in the town hall in Market Place, which starts today (Friday) and runs to October 28.