Londonderry man Ronan Daly wins snapper award with Fanad shot

Londonderry man Ronan Daly has been crowned UTV Snapper of the Year 2015 for his image of Fanad Head Lighthouse, County Donegal.

The 34 year old from County Londonderry put his photography skills to good use capturing the stunning image of the iconic lighthouse at midnight in October of this year using a 6 minute exposure.

The competition which was launched by Joe Mahon in September to celebrate his new series on UTV, Lesser Spotted Journeys, saw almost 2,500 entries from budding snappers wanting to capture the special and iconic local places that meant most to them.

The judges included Lesser Spotted Journeys presenter Joe Mahon, UTV presenter Rita Fitzgerald and award winning photographer Hugh Russell. As overall Snapper of the Year 2015 Ronan receives £500 of photography equipment of his choice.

Another photographer from Londonderry, Gerry Brady, also made it as one of the 12 finalists securing his place in the calendar. Gerry’s characterful image captured a rather curious looking cow in a small derelict house in Feymore, Creeslough also in County Donegal.

Speaking about how difficult a job the judges had in choosing the winner Joe Mahon said,

“There were literally hundreds of images we could have chosen as the 12 finalists so whittling it down was an extremely difficult task. We received a real mix of urban and rural locations this time round - some well-known and others hidden gems.

“I suppose what we were looking for was a level of skill coupled with imagination, but ultimately we chose images which made us think, “I wish I had captured that!”

“Congratulations to Ronan, he should be very proud of what is a truly stunning shot of the lighthouse. And although there could only be one overall winner, I would like to thank everyone who entered the Lesser Spotted Snapper competition.”

Viewers can join in the conversation by tweeting ‘@utv’ during the show using the hashtag #LesserSpotted.