Farmers Weekly Photography Competition 2022 – the top shots

Thank you to everyone who entered this year’s Photography Competition.

We’ve really enjoyed looking at your photos – they provide a fantastic snapshot of farming, the countryside and rural life. 

Here are the winners and two highly commended entries in each of the eight categories. 

We will be announcing the overall winner and two runners-up, which share the £500 prize money, in the 6 January issue of Farmers Weekly.

See also: Browse all the photos entered for this year’s competition

Livestock

Winner

Charlie Baldwyn took this picture on the family farm on a September evening.

“The field is 1,200ft above see level, so we are often above the mist that sits over the town of Brecon in the valley bottom below Pen y Fan,” says Charlie.

Runners-up

This was taken by Donna Ashlee from near Ashford, Kent, who is a vice-principal at a secondary school where she helps run the school farm.

Her husband is a first-generation farmer with cows and sheep, and the family also keep a few pigs.

Lucy Griffiths, who is currently studying at Harper Adams University, captured this image on her home farm in mid-Wales during autumn calving 2021. She titled it “Motherly Love”.

Black-and-white

Winner

“I like taking lots of pictures with my phone, just hoping I get the odd decent one,” says Kirstie Duncan.

She certainly managed it with this lovely image of ewes getting sorted into groups, ready for the tups, at Wester Deloraine Farm near Selkirk, in the Scottish Borders.

Runners-up

Richard Laing took this near Durham. “It was the last field to drill of the year and we were dodging showers,” he says.

“I was on the power harrow and my dad, David, was drilling. I saw a good shot so, on the next run, I stopped the tractor and snapped the photo with my phone.”

Taken by Jane Murrell in the parlour at Whitwell Farm, Hertfordshire, this image captures her niece, Helen Griggs.

“She is a very valued member of staff and, despite having never worked on a farm before coming here, is now able to take on all diary duties with extreme care and confidence,” says Jane.

Landscapes

Winner

Emma Deeley Cook, an arable farmer from Oxfordshire, captured this image early one morning heading out to feed the chickens. “I just love taking pictures and am lucky to have nature outside my back door,” says Emma.

Runners-up

Hannah Taylor encountered this view – with Buttermere and Crummock Water in the distance – while on a fell walk in Cumbria in April. “I was lucky to get the sheep’s attention in the photo as she was looking at my dog,” she says.

Liz Oliver captured this misty late afternoon scene on the marshes in Norton Subcourse, Norfolk, in November .

Machinery

Winner

Sam Bannister used his drone to get this striking image on a sunny autumn evening at a friend’s farm at Butterwick on the Yorkshire Wolds.

People

Winner

Kerry Adams got into farming photography “by accident” when she was invited by friends to a threshing day.

She’s now often at events and on local farms – and a steam fair in Leicestershire provided this image of someone cleaning a traction engine.

“I’ve always loved the great outdoors and the countryside – photography has just helped me appreciate it even more,” says Kerry.

Runners-up

“Hands up if you want feeding” was what Joanne Barker titled this picture of her daughter Emily. The family are beef and sheep farmers on the north-east coast of Yorkshire, near Whitby.

“We had 16 pet lambs this spring and Emily really loved helping to feed them every day,” says Joanne.

Young photographer

Winner

Lambs at play provided Oliver Wass with inspiration. “I am an 11-year-old who likes to take pictures of wildlife on the farm,” says Oliver from Northamptonshire.

Runners-up

Matthew Bullock from Kent immortalised this scene. “I was going to feed the cows before school and saw the sky, so I took the picture,” he says. “I’m 14 and love farming.”

Memories of harvest in Monmouthshire are evoked by this shot from George Whittal-Williams. It perfectly captures a dusty haze that would have been familiar to many during harvest 2022.

Wildlife

Winner

Hampshire arable farmer Neil Saunders took this picture, “All Ears”, in a wheat field in June.

“For years, I only used a compact or bridge camera, but just over a year ago I bought a DSLR camera and a zoom lens to try to improve my wildlife photography,” he says.

Runners-up

Agronomist Simon Day always has his pocket digital camera with him when he’s out crop walking and he spotted this thick-legged flower beetle at Marsh Gibbon, Oxfordshire, in a stewardship field containing a range of natural flowering species. 

“Right place, right time,” says Rachelle Batty, talking about the good fortune that allowed her to get this shot.

“We were moving some cows and my son spotted it just sat there,” says Rachelle, who lives on a farm near Windemere, Cumbria.

Pets

Winner

Ryan Bundy from Chitterne, Wiltshire, enjoys taking photos at ploughing matches – and he spotted this contented canine at one of his recent outings.

Runners-up

This is Meg “keeping a watchful eye on the job while we were getting the lambs ready for the Mule gimmer lamb sales”, says Tina Spence from Thornton Rust, North Yorkshire.

“She is one of the youngest of our working sheepdogs – she has a fantastic temperament and just wants to be everybody’s friend.”

“Our two beloved donkeys,” is how Ciara Mckenna describes this pair, Treacle and Matty, at Oswestry, Shropshire.