And the winner is...

This is the winner of the photo-contest announced by Finnmarksløpet. Winning 1st prize means that the photo will be the official poster for Finnmarksløpet 2010. 2010 is also the 30 year anniversary for the race. Photographer Øyvind Nordahl Næss sent his shot right before the deadline. - Luckily, I remembered, says a happy Nordahl Næss.

Fantastic response. More than 200 photos were sent to Finnmarksløpet's photo contest. The winning shot will be used as the poster of the 2010-race. This poster will be special as the race celebrates its 30 year anniversary in 2010. - We wanted to do something different because of the anniversary, but we never imagined that the photo contest was going to be such a big hit, says general manager of the race Gro Anett Olaussen. It was not an easy task for the jury to select the best photo. - Many photos were part of the run-up to win, but in the end a unanimous jury decided on Nordahl Næss' photo.

Just in time. Nordahl Næss' photo arrived Finnmarksløpet's office only 12 minutes before the deadline on October 25th. When www.finnmarkslopet.no got in touch with Øyvind to congratulate he was both surprised and happy. - This was great, I did not expect this. There were so many other nice photos. You submitted your photo very close to deadline? - Yes, suddenly I remembered that I wanted to send a photo. I had been out training dogs and luckily I had stored a message-alarm on my computer reminding me that I needed to send it, Øyvind says.

Along for the ride. Originally from Kirkenes, in Finnmark, Øyvind now lives in Trondheim in central Norway. He mushes long-distance sled-dog races, and works as a photographer for Norwegian newspaper VG. He lives at a nice place called Lian with his girlfriend Alette, 3 kids and 20 dogs. When asked whether his camera comes along on all his trips, Øyvind answers: - I almost always kept it with me before, but now that I work as a professional photographer it is nice to sometimes not bring it! Then, of course, I miss out on a lot of great photo opportunities, but I actually use my cell-phone camera alot. The quality of photos from my mobile phone is good enough for my web-page and it is easy to bring the phone. However, the winner-shot is not taken with a mobile camera. - When I do go on trips and bring a bigger camera it is to do proper photo-work. On the photo that won you see Forolhogna 1332 moh. in the background. The mountain is the highest in Forolhogna Nationalpark, in the municipality of Os in the county of Hedemark, says Øyvind.

The Jury's decision. The jury's decision was unanimous and as follows: "The photo is wild, beautiful and challenging. It is well composed with repetitions (sled-dog teams) which gives rhythm and dynamics to the photo. The photo has depth, especially due to the line that stretches into it. The teams are its focus, and the colours are typical also for Finnmark. The mountain/peak in the background is light and may symbolize "the goal", "the peak" or "the long journey". The photo also connects with the core values of Finnmarksløpet that are endurance, purity, closeness and arctic blue." 

Not a coincidence. Even though the photo was sent right before the deadline, Nordahl Næss had gone through his arcives beforehand. - I had given some thoughts to which photo would be suitable for what the jury asked. It was no coincidence that exactly this photo was submitted to the contest, but a bit of luck made me send it in time, says a happy winner.

As winner of the photo contest Øyvind Nordahl Næss wins photo equipment worth NOK 3000.- from

 

Congratulations from the Jury, Finnmarksløpet og enfotobutikk.no

 

Visit Øyving og Alettes homepage: http://www.lianhusky.com

Look at all submitted photos in the following local newspapers: Altaposten, klikk her or Finnmark Dagblad, klikk her